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Final Thoughts

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It’s hard to believe that this project is complete. I feel like I have been working on it for far longer than a semester. 

 

At first I was intimidated. I had more creative freedom than any previous project and one looming deadline. But as I approach the finish line, I recognize that this project has given me a newfound confidence in my compositional ability. It showed me that I am able to produce meaningful written work beyond the bounds of a structured assignment. Most importantly, I had fun doing it. I found it deeply rewarding to monitor my growth as the project progressed. 

 

As I read and reread my final pieces, I am left pondering the future of my relationship with The 1975. I was only twelve years old when their debut album was released, about five years younger than their target audience (which I have identified as approximately seventeen). Matty Healy was twenty-four. As I aged into my prime adolescent years, I was able to appreciate music from both their past and present discography. At that time, there were three complete albums, all of which felt relatable to my adolescent experience. Especially the teenage angst. 

 

Now, seventeen was four years ago, and Healy is thirty-four. That’s a fairly significant age gap between today’s teenagers. And it feels like he is starting to recognize that through this album. This one is different, it’s more mature. And I think that the reason I appreciate it so much is because it signifies my maturing relationship with the band. We’ve grown up together. 

 

I can’t predict what will come next. Will I love their next album in the same way? Will I be too old? Will I ever love an album the same way? Have I accidentally set a new impossible standard: in order to love an album, I have to be inspired to write over thirty pages about it? I really can’t imagine a world where I stop listening to The 1975. I’m in too deep. We’ve been through too much together. But I am grateful to have this project to look back on, to serve as a reminder of how music impacted my in-between years. That strange time when you don’t feel like you belong in any cohort — too old to be a teenager and too young to be an adult. Being Funny in a Foreign Language is now my most treasured musical artifact. So seriously, if you haven’t listened to it yet, take the time to do that now. Listen and then reread. And I hope you hear what I hear. 

 

Thanks for going on this journey with me. 

- Julia

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