- A lot of times they're coming
from my personal experiences,
but sometimes these songs are coming
from one of my best friends' experiences.
So when I wrote "Like I Want You"
from a friend's experience,
ex's thought that I was writing songs
about me missing them
and I had to tell 'em, like, "Yo, you got the wrong idea."
Maybe I should put it in a description,
"Not about me,"
and that's probably what's gonna have to happen.
I'm a big fan of music, just in general,
and these producers, so I was just in there like,
"Yo, this is crazy."
So, Jahaan was in there.
He started the vibe.
And River and Sevn was there, too,
so it was just, it was a vibe the whole way through.
I was lucky enough to have all those producers,
in the first place, to be able to keep it simple.
We talked first, 'cause a lot of our sessions,
it comes with conversations first,
before we even think lyrics,
because we want the songs to sound like dialogue,
and like a real conversation.
I draw a lot of inspiration from Frank Gorshin.
The way he approaches his worlds is,
I think he draws a lot of film inspiration.
So I wanted to treat just the whole project,
and every song, like it was just a soundtrack
to whatever was happening at that time.
Trying your hardest to be over it,
but in reality, you're still reminiscing on it all.
Like, I'm pretty sure anyone who miss someone wish
they could just turn that shit off,
that's where stuck comes from.
Stuck being like, even if I wanted to stop, I couldn't.
I have this feeling that I miss you,
and I'm reminiscing about you.
Do you also feel that way?
Are you lying like I'm lying?
That's the perfect way to conclude the verse,
'cause it's like, "All right, I'm just gonna go back
"to what this song is about in the first place,
"just me pretending."
And that's the way I like to structure songs in general.
It's kinda academic.
In college, when you working on a paper,
it kinda has to all connect.
Like the first line has to be like the intro,
like the thesis, and the last sentence has to sum it all up.
So that's the way I approach writing too.
This song isn't even about bad blood.
There's no bad blood between the two.
It's just like someone's lying
and pretending that they're good.
So when you see that person,
you re-go through those emotions,
but you don't really like,
you don't let it be known.
As soon as we cut, I was like,
"Yeah, that's gonna be the one,"
because the whole, initially,
it's like the verse is you calm,
you pretending, you chillin',
and then when you get to the hook
it's supposed to be like,
"Yo, I can't hold that in no more."
That's why it's very,
it's supposed to feel big, like a moment,
like a cry out, like a big sigh.
I said what I had to say,
now be honest with me and tell me
how exactly are you feeling about it.
Trying to get the confirmation
that it's over with.
It's like that closure that you're seeking.
That's what the second verse is, I think.
It's the closure.
You're handling this really well.
You know what I mean?
And that can make someone feel even worse,
let alone the breakup,
but if we breakup and you're not affected by it at all,
that's almost worse than the breakup itself.
It's another one of those conclusion statements,
just like ending the verse out with just like,
"You know what?
"It is what it is."
It's kinda manipulative, in a way,
but that's how people do guilt trip a lot.