Tiny Habits And Matty Healy Join Forces For ‘Anything He Was’ Ahead Of New Album ‘Keepers’

Tiny Habits have announced their upcoming album ‘Keepers’ and shared a heartfelt new single, ‘Anything He Was’, featuring The 1975 frontman Matty Healy.

The forthcoming release will mark the second album from the former NME Cover stars, arriving after their acclaimed 2024 debut, ‘All For Something’. The record is scheduled to be released on August 28 through Mom+Pop Music and is available to pre-order now.

Created between Los Angeles and New York, including recording sessions at The Outlier Inn in New York’s Hudson Valley, the album follows what the Boston folk trio describe as two years of significant growth and change. Since releasing their debut, the group have shared stages with artists including James Taylor, Gracie Abrams, Vance Joy and Noah Kahan.

The album was first introduced through the empowering lead single ‘Right In Front Of Me’, and now Tiny Habits have unveiled a second preview in the form of the emotionally charged track ‘Anything He Was’.

The song delves into feelings of isolation, lingering heartbreak and uncertainty, with Matty Healy contributing guest vocals throughout the track.

“‘Anything He Was’ speaks to a specific loneliness brought on by someone else’s discontent,” the band explained. “They’re constantly using you to fill a space that can only be filled by someone else who is no longer there for them. Knowing this deep down, you still try; you show up. You make them laugh. You’re intimate with them.”

“You perform gestures of kindness and grandeur in hopes that someday it’ll be enough, that your hard work will blossom into something more than just a bittersweet delusion,” they added. “But it won’t (womp womp). You’ll never amount to them or the cherished moments they shared together. To those who share this experience (current or past), may this song soothe that loneliness and be a little gift on your path to find the love that you deserve.”

The subject matter explored in the single reflects the wider themes of ‘Keepers’, which examines the people, memories and relationships that shape us, along with the parts of ourselves we choose to hold onto and those we decide to leave behind.

Tiny Habits ‘Keepers’ album cover. CREDIT: Danica Robinson

Their collaboration with Healy follows a previous creative partnership in November, when they released an online cover of James Taylor’s 1968 classic ‘Carolina In My Mind’.

Speaking with NME during their Cover feature in May 2024, the trio reflected on how rewarding it has been to watch both their music and community of fans grow together.

“It’s just such a blessing to be able to sing with each other,” Cinya Khan said. “It feels like we’re just chatting with each other, and to sing a harmony on somebody’s story – with your best friends – is just the sweetest thing ever.”