- Yeah, I actually went right in the studio
the day after I went through something that made me upset.
I went in with Kid Harpoon, and he was like,
Tom is his name, he was like, what are you feeling?
And I was like, I'm feeling like this.
And so I wrote it.
I wrote it really quick, too, it was like 30 minutes.
♪ Wish I had no expectations ♪
♪ I really wish that I could get it through your head ♪
♪ With no confrontation ♪
♪ I really wish we could talk about it instead ♪
It was one of the songs that I wrote
before I went on tour with Halsey around South America.
So it was one of the three songs
that I chose to premiere to the fans,
and out of the three, got the best reaction,
in terms of performance and reception.
So that was already, to me, a first testament to it.
And then also, just the context of it and the mood of it,
I feel like is a really, really great introduction
to the world that I'm about to give people.
Our first show was in Sao Paulo, I believe,
and it's obviously, Brazil, they speak Portuguese,
so it was just so incredible that again,
by the end of the song, they knew every lyric to the chorus,
and they were singing it right back to me.
And these were lyrics I actually wrote,
so it was so emotional for me to kind of be in a room
and receive that kind of love with such a fervor,
and to feel that for a song I wrote was just magic.
Like, I just need people around me,
especially producers who are trying
to kind of nurture my craft,
instead of try to inflict their own personal view
into what I'm making.
That's super important to me, and any co-writer that I have,
that I've put in a room with me
has to have that same energy in order
for that song to mean what it does to me.
Because I very much am just curating what I'm going through,
and while I respect every single songwriter and producer
that comes into the room 100% when I'm working with them,
I tend to gravitate more closely and make better songs
with the ones who really are just trying
to bring me out of me.
And that's kind of the string
between everything on the album.
Some sessions, we'll start with a really
in-depth life conversation.
Some sessions, we'll start with me
playing them some of my other music,
to kinda get a vibe of where I'm going,
so that they can tune into my frequency
and kind of do their thing on whatever it is that I,
like, their thing to fit into the world.
You know what I'm saying?
Other sessions will be, we start off ordering food,
because we're all hungry, you know what I mean?
It just depends on the vibe, and what needs to be set.
But it's always, again, just from an organic place,
a very conversational place.
I don't like to feel rushed, or kind of that pretense
of going in and like, oh, we have to write a hit.
Like, I hate that.
I don't (bleeped) with that energy at all.
When it's just like a home vibe,
and you feel really at ease with everyone,
that's, I mean, making art is a very vulnerable process.
When you're diving into your heart to say something,
or just the intricacies of making something
that's your sound, or your ear, and what it represents,
it's intimate, you know what I mean?
Everyone's gotta feel comfortable with each other
to get the best out of the situation.
I didn't wanna get to a place where it felt preachy,
because I feel like that kinda turns everybody off,
when you're trying to tell them what to think and feel.
So I really, again, in all of the songs that I've made,
there's sort of a political note to it essentially,
because politics aren't just politics.
Politics are our values becoming to life,
and becoming policy.
So for me, expressing and writing from my soul is that,
is political, because expressing yourself is political,
and speaking about your existence is.
Because essentially, me doing that,
and being connected with myself authentically,
the people who listen to that music,
hopefully, well my hope for it,
is that they get to connect authentically
with themselves through that, as well.
And that, to me, is more of a political move
than telling them what to believe, you know what I mean?
Just getting them to love themselves
and believe in themselves and believe in their journeys.
'Cause I've had my own journey
and I've gone through ups and downs.
I'm not always perfect, and I'm not always happy,
and I'm not always at peace with what's going on, you know?
But I work through it, and I write through it,
and I just kind of figure out my way to deal with it,
and I hope to inspire other people to do that, too.
(digital buzzing)
(laid back electronica music)