Amber Bain aka The Japanese House has addressed recent controversy around Matty Healy, revealing that she wrote The 1975 singer a “really long message”.
The singer-songwriter was speaking to The Independent when she discussed recent backlash towards Healy, who is one of her longtime friends, labelmates, and a frequent producer of her work.
The comments related to a podcast that The 1975 singer participated in earlier this year called The Adam Friedland Show, which heard him joke about “queerbaiting”, laugh at offensive jokes by the hosts, and join in when they began mocking various accents.
When asked about her thoughts on the situation, Bain said that it was “hard to know what to say publicly”, given that he feels like “a family member” to her.
She did, however, confirm that she sent Healy “a really long” message after she heard his remarks, expressing her “issues” with what he said.
“I wrote [Healy] a really long thing about how I felt about [the podcast], and it’s really difficult – I don’t think it’s black and white,” she added. “Clearly, I have issues with things that have been said – he knows everyone does, that’s the whole point, isn’t it?
“It’s hard to hold a family member accountable for everything – pretty much everyone I know has a family member that will say something fucking batshit crazy at a family get-together, you know? And you’ll be like, ‘Why are they saying that?’”
She also made reference to how the comments may be reflected onto her and how it impacted her as a member of the LGBTQ+ community.
“I guess it’s interesting, isn’t it? Because I’m a gay person, and then in a lot of ways I’m associated with someone who says offensive things. And he’s on my song [‘Sunshine Baby‘] – does that mean that I think the things he says? Absolutely not,” she explained.
“But I feel confident that I’ve made my views about it very clear. And ultimately, here’s someone that on a personal level has been so supportive of me and inspirational – there is no denying that he is an incredible musician and incredible songwriter.”
Bain added: “I don’t align with a lot of things that he said. I make my views to him very clear. And I think that’s all I want to do. I know I’m not a bad person, he’s not a bad person, I can say that with ease. I think he’d be pretty upset that it even becomes a part of the conversation about my music. Because that’s not his intention.”
Following the podcast gaining momentum online and backlash rising against Healy, the episode was taken down and Healy issued an apology to Ice Spice, who had been referenced in the interview.
In the episode Friedland and co-host Nick Mullen discussed the New York rapper’s heritage, debating whether she has Hawaiian, Inuit or Chinese, before impersonating the accents of those countries and regions.
“I just feel a bit bad, and I’m kind of a bit sorry if I’ve offended you. Ice Spice, I’m sorry,” Healy said during a 1975 show in Auckland. “It’s not because I’m annoyed that me joking got misconstrued. It’s because I don’t want Ice Spice to think I’m a dick. I love you, Ice Spice. I’m so sorry.
“I just want to say, ‘Hello. This is a bit embarrassing. I’m sorry if I get it wrong. We all get it wrong’,” he added. “I just have to do it in public and then apologise to Ice Spice. My life’s just a bit weird. I am genuinely sorry if I’ve upset her because I fucking love her.”
Rina Sawayama also used her slot at this year’s Glastonbury to supposedly call out Healy following the podcast.
omfg i love her pic.twitter.com/DxR1O8rAle
— hev ✮ (@HURRICANESRINA) June 24, 2023
Sawayama said: “Tonight this goes out to a white man that watches ‘Ghetto Gaggers’ [porn] and mocks Asian people on a podcast. He also owns my masters. I’ve had enough.”
The latter part of the comment seems to make reference to her being signed to Dirty Hit, which is owned by Jamie Oborne of The 1975. Healy was a director at the company but stepped down from that role in April.
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