Last night, The 1975 performed “I Like America & America Likes Me,” a standout from their wonderful 2018 record A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships, on The Late Late Show with James Corden. Corden is a pleasant enough fellow but somewhat of a celebrity kiss-ass, whose talk show has funny bits without typically being very scintillating—so The 1975’s primal performance came as a welcome relief.
Lead vocalist Matty Healy, clad in a Cookie Monster–blue jumpsuit and red Converse, released more than his fair share of barbaric yawps through the track. He hammed it up for the cameras, reclining impudently at Corden’s desk with his feet up and then leaping on top of it (rivaling Tom Cruise’s Oprah couch jump); he went on to give both a cheery thumbs up and eye rolls of exhaustion, before hopping atop the band’s drum set to shake his booty at the audience.
“I’m scared of dying / it’s fiiine!” Healy yowled in agonized Auto-Tune, his mop of curls bouncing in sympathetic motion. It did not seem fine. Watch the whole glorious thing below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=33&v=gjhUv2qzoTE
