oh this record is absolutely a concept
album "Hopeless Fountain Kingdom" is probably
even more complex than badlands I
learned a lot about what it means to
make a concept album my first time
around because I was 19 and I didn't
even how to make a regular album let
alone a concept album so for this one we
kind of put a lot of work into you know
setting up the experience so you know
mailing kids stuff in them in the mail
secret messages to their house doing
scavenger hunts we have character
profiles for all the characters in the
story line you can wash them in interact and
wash them in gages if you're watching
the two protagonists actually you know
participate in the story that's
unraveling "Badlands" was about this girl
living in this post-apocalyptic society
and not wanting to escape but knowing
she should which is kind of a metaphor
for a mental space as you know some
people find themselves myself included
comfortable in their depression you know
what it means to get better and what you
have to do was to have this easier to
just kind of like wallow in your misery
and for me "Hopeless Fountain Kingdom" is a story
of two people who want to be in love so
badly they're willing to change
themselves for their love and in doing
so they let the real versions of
themselves die it's a romeo and juliet story
and we have a lot of really incredible
videos coming it's going to be awesome
I've definitely lived a lot of life
since my first record it will beat the
different being a teenager and now being
an adult and I have a home and I've
traveled the world and I've had
experiences have given me I think a
fresh perspective in making this record
but the big thing I think that led me to
making what turned out to be a Romeo and
Juliet story which I was in a
relationship with someone for a really
long time and I broke up with them and
then I sat down to write this album and
realized i just know anything about
myself and that's hard when you want to
write music that's authentic and honest
and organic and I realized that I didn't
know how to write about me I only knew
how to write about him it was bad so it
was almost like that girl that strong
girl you know who fought her way out of the
Badlands she was gone and she I had to
go back and save her and I'm lucky that
I did I did I found her and they brought
her back and I sat down and the record
just kind of started spilling out of me
like it was nothing like it was easy but
I had to add to go find her first and
think to myself you know when I'm alone
and I'm not in a relationship Who am I
Who am I without the gaze of another
person when I'm getting dressed in the
morning and they're not sitting at the
foot of my bed what clothes do I pick
out when I'm laying on my couch I want
to order in some food what restaurant do
I choose what playlist to I put on in the car
Who am I when they're not watching
me when they're not judging me and
that's that's a lot of what this record
is about
So "Now Or Never" is a more optimistic
part of the album it's about two people
who are in a relationship and one of
them is making the other person "okay you
need to love me now or never I'm tired
of waiting I'm tired of waiting for you to
figure it out and waiting for you to you
know get it together I just want you
know I want this now I want this to work
out and I need to know if it's not going
to because I need to go look into my
other options" and it's kind of it's a
pleading song but it's kind of
careless in the same time it's saying
you know I want you and I want this to
work but it won't be the end of the world if it
doesn't kind of thing so it's a fun song.
so Benny Blanco and I did "Now or Never"
together and he is one of my favorite
people in the whole world he's incredible he's
a genius and he's responsible for a lot
of everyone's favorite pop songs whether
they know it or not the cool thing that
being a producer is like you kind of get
to you get to be on the front lines but
then you kind of get your privacy at the
same time which is kind of nice you know
when he and I were working together he
had a lot of faith in me and he knew
that he could pull a really really
incredible song out of me and he was so
respectful of me he knows what I'm kind
of a control freak he let me do a lot
of it myself and you know write the
words and find out what the message was
what the sentiment was and make it
authentic you make it real and we became
really really good friends in the
process of working on some songs for
this album and he started becoming kind
of like my therapist in a weird way
where I come in and I was singing a song
and you know we finished the track and
then be ready to go and he's like hey I
heard that thing you say are you okay it
was kind of like he was hearing like a
cry for help like in what I was singing
she's really cool because it made us
bond really really quickly and form
a really strong bond I worked with a couple
other producers on this album I work
with Greg Kurstin who has worked with
Adele and SIA and Rihanna and incredible
incredible musician he's more than just
a producer he's a musician we played the
piano guitar so many instruments and
those songs on the record are really
musical you'll really hear a lot of a
lot of emotion in those records because
it was just me and a guy sitting down no
computer just a voice and an instrument
writing songs the old-fashioned way
which is really cool I worked with Ricky
Reed wallpaper he is responsible for like twenty one
pilots and
it was cool because he's got a really he
got a finger on the pulse right now so
but he used to be an alternative guy so I
kind of went in and kind of dragged that
alternative mentality out of him a
little bit again yeah it was a
lot and it was a couple different people
and they all bring their own unique
personality to the record to make the
story complete.
"Hopeless Fountain Kingdom" is a different album
it's definitely a different album but
I'm still proud of it and I think that
one song on Hopeless Fountain Kingdom is
better than the entirety of Badlands I
love every single song the same I'm so
proud of them they show a tremendous
amount of growth for me. I think they are very
mature they kind of have the same
self-awareness that some of my songs of
badlands did where I'm not afraid to say
like hey I'm the shady one here, not
you and there's a lot of
different influences on this record then
there were on Badlands like more urban
elements more R&B elements and some of them are
kind of stripped down and some that are
a little more vulnerable but all in all
I said really it's a really complex
record and it tells a really great story
and on their own you'll love one of the
songs if you hear it but when you hear it all as
the body of work it they play off of
each other so well I'm really my proud of
it. One of the things I think I'm really
excited for my fans to know about this
album is how like outrageously much of a
control freak I really am because I
wrote every single song on this album
myself and I executive produced the album
myself and I'm co-directing all the
videos and you know writing all those
treatments and stories and developing
all these fun interactive experiences
that they get to be a part of I'm doing
it all myself I haven't slept in 6
months but it's totally worth it because
everything is going to be is going to
hopefully make them so happy so you know
I hope that they're proud of you and
they hear and they know that it came
from my heart and then it was all real
and me.