- I feel like my main source of inspiration tends to be
love and the way I think about love.
I've really grown to realize I come to the room
for that feeling of extreme vulnerability.
There could be five different songs
that I could potentially write in a day.
But there's that certain feeling I'm looking for,
where it's like, what is the thing
that's the deepest in my heart that I need to get out?
A lot of times I write songs in the middle
of something that is maybe unresolved,
and it kind of moves me through it.
I feel like literally every song that I write
is usually how I confirm how I'm feeling.
Hey, this is LAUV,
and these are my Top 5 favorite songs I've written.
My first favorite song that I've written is
"I'm So Tired..."
I did that with Troye Sivan.
That song was really special.
Me and Troye had written a different song that same day
that was really not good,
but I had written the chorus with one of my friends,
Micheal Pollack, who's an amazing songwriter.
And I remember just the whole process
of that whole day with me and Pollack,
we had been trying all day to get a song,
and we just weren't getting anything.
And then all of a sudden, the whole chorus of
"I'm So Tired..."
just instantly fell out of thin air.
And I was like, "This is super dope."
And I held onto it.
And then when the session with Troye, I was like,
oh, we're not really getting anything that great.
I was like, OK, it's time to pull out this chorus.
I was really nervous when I first was gonna play it for him,
'cause I feel like, especially at that time,
I was super insecure about everything I was doing,
but I played it for him and just instantly,
he was just walking around the room being like,
like he was so,
he was vibing so hard on it.
And then I feel like that made it really easy
to write the rest of the song.
'Cause once we were both like, saw eye to eye,
we could just feel what the song was gonna be.
I feel like it just made the rest of the process
a super fun exploration.
Another favorite song that I've written is
a song called "Billy,"
which is named after my dog.
It makes no sense.
Like, you listen to the triplet trap drums,
and the heavy 808,
but with like the sort of sailor chant chorus vibe,
and auto tune.
It was a very wacky song.
I had just gotten Billy,
and I feel like the song was this subconscious,
partially, Billy was this character also representing me,
but it had a bit of fantasy in it.
So it was just such a different kind of song
for me to write, and it was just really fun.
There was a video of me playing piano,
and he's there, actually like,
'cause he's a little teacup Pomeranian,
he was up there on the keys with me,
and I feel like maybe that's where the idea started.
I don't know, but I was just in the studio,
and I was just really hyped on having Billy,
and finally having my own dog and the whole thing.
That was one of those songs that just
literally flew out of me so fast.
I just had to not be in the way of it.
Another song that I've written that's my favorite
is a song called "Modern Loneliness."
I got a tattoo of it right here before it came out.
'Cause that song was just something
that was really different for me.
It's not a love song.
It's, you know, more of an existential,
and love for your friends and family,
and stuff like that kind of song.
And it's really nice when you're writing
and something surprises you a lot.
And this was something where I just wasn't expecting
to write that song that day.
It felt like a big step for me,
just lyrically, and sound wise.
And then even making the music video,
just shooting it on my iPhone, you know,
the beginning of the pandemic.
I was really thankful that it was
the perfect song to make a video like that for.
And that, you know, that's kind of the circumstances.
Another favorite song that I've written
is a song called "Changes."
This one means a lot to me.
So proud of that music video too.
And this song was something
that I was kind of chipping away at for a long time.
I was kind of going through
just mentally a really tough time.
And I don't know, I still don't know to this day
if I was being over dramatic,
I think I was talking about wanting to not drink.
And I was just about to start taking medication
for my obsessive anxiety and depression.
And I think I was just kinda freaked out
at that point in my life,
and really resistant to all of it.
And that song was just something that I felt
gave me a lot of solace, and just expressing that,
I feel like in some way helped me move forward,
and embrace those changes that needed to happen for me.
I was really proud of the music video,
'cause I feel like I really wanted to put myself
into that energy of getting myself exhausted,
and working myself really hard,
'cause I felt like that really represented
how I was feeling at that time emotionally.
So I felt kinda like a method video,
where I was just capturing a cathartic moment for me,
because there wasn't really a plan for like,
OK, when am I gonna increase the tension.
I love in a music video when it feels
like it's for something too, other than just the video.
But with that one in particular,
I remember it's like I wrote probably the first third of it
at one period, and then couldn't finish it
for probably, I don't know,
six months or a year,
and then finished the rest of it
after I was starting to feel better.
So I feel like that was a really monumental thing for me.
My last favorite song that I've written,
and it's off my new album that's coming super soon,
is a song called "All 4 Nothing (I'm So In Love)."
The reason this is a favorite for me,
I think above all is just that
I finally got to write a happy love song,
with a tinge of fear in it too,
'cause there's always gonna be a tinge of fear,
with a partner, like with my girlfriend.
And I feel like that,
I don't know, was a dream of mine.
Cause I wrote, "I Like Me Better"
after the relationship that inspired it,
and this is the first time I've felt that feeling,
and been able to turn it into the song,
and to be able to do that with the person that I love
is also a really special experience.
'Cause I feel like I needed a lot of healing
in a different way at that time.
And especially making this whole album,
getting back to just enjoying the process of it
for myself and for my personal life.
So yeah, 'All 4 Nothing."
I went through probably three or four different album titles
over, you know, being home and lockdown.
I thought I was making an album straight up
just about confidence, and then just about childhood,
and I sort of feel
like the album is kind of about all of that.
It's about putting your faith in things
and finding your center again in life,
and falling in love, but dealing with the fear of all of it.
Yeah. There's a lot of topics on the album,
but 'All 4 Nothing,' you know,
feels like the best way to just kind of summarize it.
I would say this is probably my most vulnerable album.
I mean, there's definitely other songs in the past
that I think rival some of the vulnerability as well.
But I guess I would just say
it's the most immediate and raw.
Like, there's just certain lyrics that are just
I would've never put in songs in the past,
and I was just like, this is the story.
So I'm just gonna literally leave it and that's it.
I've definitely historically been an oversharer
just in my life.
And I feel like it was this means
for me to feel like I'm connecting with people.
But I think as I get a little bit older and wiser
if that exists, I hate that word kind of,
but I've learned that I need to respect myself too,
in terms of finding the right moments to be vulnerable,
and the right things that I'm ready to be vulnerable about,
as opposed to just being like, I'm gonna share everything,
'cause if I share everything, people will listen, you know?
Balance is hard, but I'm learning.
So, "Kids Are Born Stars,"
you know, I spent a lot of time reminiscing on childhood,
and you know, where I lost touch with what I felt like
was my inner light.
And what made me do all this in the first place.
That led to this song where
I'm just kinda reminiscing on being a little kid.
Like, particularly eighth grade,
kind of around the time I'm having my first big crush,
and I'm trying to do the music thing,
but it's not working.
And it's sort of this,
I don't know, I feel silly even saying it,
but it's like, kid with a crush and a dream,
and not really sure what to do with it yet,
and feeling kind of awkward.
And it was sort of just looking back at that,
and kind of full circle being like,
and here we are, and yeah.
I didn't even actually have that confidence at all
when I was in eighth grade.
So maybe this was me standing up for myself
in the past, but now.
I don't know.
I can't even fully explain that song.
It's just that all, that's an interesting thing too.
Just some of the songs in this album,
they're just like, they happened and,
especially 'cause I freestyled them,
it's like, some of them,
I'm like I don't even really know,
it just happened.