Matty Healy debuted a new look on Tuesday as he stepped out in New York City, after becoming the latest target for Taylor Swift on her new album.
The 1975 singer, 35, cut a typically casual figure on his outing, but looked noticeably different from his usual appearance.
He sported a much shorter haircut, having shorn off his signature long rockstar curls, and a distinct moustache.
Matty wore a T-shirt emblazoned with a Union Jack and drawing of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher with the words: ‘Don’t Falk with me Argentina’ in reference to the 1982 Falklands War and Evita track.
The vintage shirt allowed a glimpse at his vast tattoo collection on his arm and he teamed it with a pair of brown corduroy trousers.
Matty Healy debuted a new look on Tuesday as he stepped out in New York City , after becoming the latest target for Taylor Swift on her new album
The 1975 singer, 35, cut a typically casual figure on his outing, but looked noticeably different from his usual appearance
He sported a much shorter haircut, having shorn off his signature long rockstar curls, and a distinct moustache (pictured with usual hairdo in January)
The Chocolate hitmaker completed his look with a patterned money purse looped on his trousers and pair of classic black Converse.
Matty’s outing coms after he broke his silence on his ex-girlfriend Taylor’s new album The Tortured Poets Department, which documents their failed romance.
The pop star, 34, released her heartbreak album last month, with Matty being the surprising focus of many of the songs.
Matty and Taylor dated briefly after her split from her long-term boyfriend Joe Alwyn last year, but despite the short relationship plenty of songs on the record appear to be about him.
Fortnight (feat. Post Malone) and in particular The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived seem to reference the star and the heartbreak Taylor felt when things ended, prompting renewed fan scrutiny of the period that they dated.
The lyrics in the latter song refer to a man in a ‘Jehovah’s Witness suit’ and ‘rusting my sparkling summer’.
Matty is known for wearing distinctive black suits during live performances and the pair are believed to have broken up in June 2023.
While the title is noteworthy, given that Matty’s stature is an object of some debate, with him previously revealing: ‘Everyone in [the 1975] is 6’4” and I’m 5’10”, so everyone thinks that I’m 5’5”.’
Matty’s outing coms after he broke his silence on his ex-girlfriend Taylor’s new album The Tortured Poets Department, which documents their failed romance
The pop star, 34, released her heartbreak album last month, with Matty being the surprising focus of many of the songs (Taylor pictured last year)
Matty and Taylor dated briefly after her split from her long-term boyfriend Joe Alwyn last year, but despite the short relationship plenty of songs on the record appear to be about him (pictured together last May)
More recently, he addressed these short man allegations by telling a fan that he was ‘sick to f***ing death of this’, insisting that he is ‘a big boy.’
While, I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can), sees Taylor appear to refer to chain smoking, booze loving Matty, as she sings: ‘The smoke cloud billows out his mouth like a freight train through a small town / The jokes that he told across the bar were revolting and far too loud.’
Fans had expressed their concerns when Taylor started dating bad boy rocker and it seems her friends had the same reservations.
She sings: ‘They shake their heads, saying, “God help her” when I tell ‘em he’s my man / But your good Lord doesn’t need to lift a finger / I can fix him, no really I can / And only I can.’
Title track The Tortured Poets Department features the lyric ‘who uses typewriters anyway?’ – with some fans noting Matty revealed in a 2019 interview he ‘really likes’ using the old-fashioned machines.
And some fans have also speculated that But Daddy I Love Him – a song about the disapproval expressed for a new romantic partner – is also about Matty, and those who disapproved of the relationship ultimately leading to its implosion.
Matty finally broke his silence about the album last month, when a reporter from Entertainment Tonight asked what he thought of the ‘diss track’.
Matty finally broke his silence about the album last month, when asked what he thought of the ‘diss track’, politely replying: ‘I haven’t really listened to that much of it but I’m sure it’s good’ (pictured in 2022)
Matt Healy dodges relationship comments as he performs at Big Weekend
The singer politely replied: ‘I haven’t really listened to that much of it but I’m sure it’s good.’
According to Us Weekly, Matty’s reaction has been positive, and the people close to him ‘couldn’t be happier’ with how the record turned out.
A source said: ‘Matty still thinks very highly of Taylor but we were all nervous about what she might have said on the album.
‘Matty’s family were worried that Taylor was going to rip him apart. Matty has struggled with life in the public eye, and he’s been doing really well, but the last thing that he needs is for every Swiftie in the world to think he’s a villain.’
Another insider told the publication: ‘He was worried that their story would be shed in a negative light’ but was ‘really appreciative of the heads up’ he got from Taylor.
However, his family has given a withering assessment of Taylor savaging him on her album.
His mother, Denise Welch, threw shade at the Bad Blood hitmaker on her show Loose Women.
When the topic of Taylor’s new LP was brought up by her co-stars, Denise replied: ‘I wasn’t aware she had an album out at all… Anyway I wish her all the best.’
However, his family has given a withering assessment of Taylor savaging him on her album, with his mother, Denise Welch, throwing shade at the Bad Blood hitmaker on her show Loose Women (pictured)
Denise Welch reacts to Taylor Swift’s album: I wish her all the best
While Matty’s aunt, Debbie Dedes, appeared scornful of Taylor’s signature candour about her exes in her music when she spoke to MailOnline.
Denise’s sister added that Matty was ‘very happy’ with his new partner, who is thought to be model Gabbriette Bechtel.
Speaking about how Matty would react, Debbie said: ‘Nothing surprises him any more. He will not be surprised by the song. Him and her know what went on.’
She went on: ‘She writes about all her relationships, doesn’t she?I don’t think it will come as a shock to him at all.
‘He’s very happy in his new relationship so I’m sure he will be focusing on that.’
And hinting that Matty has his own version of the relationship that he has been too respectful to share publicly, Debbie added: ‘As my nephew, we know a bit more about what went on than has been in the press.’
Taylor found herself in a whirlwind romance with Matty — though neither ever directly confirmed — that started in April 2023 after they were seen kissing in NYC, and he became a regular sight backstage on her Eras tour.
But the fling ended as fast as it began after Matty’s ‘bad boy’ image and ‘racist’ remarks caused squeaky clean Taylor to face backlash from Swifties, who called for the singer to dump him.
While Matty’s aunt, Debbie Dedes (pictured left with Denise), appeared scornful of Taylor’s signature candour about her exes in her music when she spoke to MailOnline
Matt Healy is singing Shake it Off at Taylor Swift’s concert
Taylor reportedly broke up with Matty days after he kissed a male security guard during a gig in Denmark.
She is now happily in love with Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce — but it’s clear she still has a few bones to pick with the ‘worst men’ in her life .
Swifties have been furiously speculating about the potential targets of the singer’s songs on the new album – which was initially launched as a 16-song volume before a surprise additional release of 15 songs came two hours later.
The singer, who has reinvented herself over the years as a pop icon and more recently as a folksy indie voice of introspection, describes the album as capturing a ‘fleeting and fatalistic moment in time – one that was both sensational and sorrowful in equal measure.’
She added in a post on Instagram: ‘This period of the author’s life is now over, the chapter closed and boarded up.
‘There is nothing to avenge, no scores to settle once wounds have healed. And upon further reflection, a good number of them turned out to be self-inflicted.
‘This writer is of the firm belief that our tears become holy in the form of ink on a page. Once we have spoken our saddest story, we can be free of it. And then all that’s left behind is the tortured poetry.’
Many of the songs – and the title of the album itself – are thought to refer to actor Joe, who dated Taylor for six years.
Joe disclosed in an interview with Variety that he and fellow actors Paul Mescal and Andrew Scott have a WhatsApp group called ‘The Tortured Man Club’, which resurfaced after the title of the album was announced in February.
Swifties have been furiously speculating about the potential targets of the singer’s songs on the new album – which was initially launched as a 16-song volume before a surprise additional release of 15 songs came two hours later
Taylor Swift releases The Tortured Poets Department timetable
