Lauv’s new single — the first preview of his eagerly anticipated second album, and debut on his new distribution home — is about struggling to find a next step.
Beginning with a powering-down sound effect that quickly picks up into a racing finger-picked guitar riff, “26” finds Lauv lamenting the story of a boy who “made a couple songs, and they got big/ And he thought that he could do whatever he wanted/ But it all left him with a hole in his heart.” Once the chorus arrives, Lauv shifts to first-person, blends his syllables together, then concludes in a warble, “26 and rich / How the hell did it come to this?”
Ari Leff, the 27-year-old who records as Lauv, is one of the more successful songwriters in modern pop, a hook maestro with billions of streams and collaborations with everyone from BTS to Ellie Goulding to Blackbear. Yet when asked on a recent Zoom call whether the chorus of “26,” which was released on Friday (Jan. 28), indicates that he scaled the mountain as a pop artist and didn’t like what he saw, Lauv nods vigorously.
“It was more like… I scaled the mountain, but I feel like I don’t even know if I was ready for that view,” he explains. “I was so detached from my center — so it’s not so much the view as it was just looking out and feeling so empty and groundless on the inside.”
A former NYU student who fashioned himself into a singer, songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist, Lauv kicked off his career in 2015 with the single “The Other,” moved to L.A. and scored a breakthrough in 2017 with “I Like Me Better,” which reached No. 27 on the Billboard Hot 100 and earned 879.9 million on-demand streams to date, according to MRC Data.
Since then, he’s turned tender, confessional pop tunes with uncluttered production — and often another top 40-friendly artist by his side — into a durable brand, particularly on streaming services. Lauv’s 2020 debut album How I’m Feeling has earned 692,000 equivalent album units to date, while songs like “I’m So Tired” with Troye Sivan, “There’s No Way” with Julia Michaels and “F–k, I’m Lonely” with Anne-Marie all scoring over 100 million streams each.
Yet after How I’m Feeling was released in early March 2020 — days before the pandemic forced major U.S. shutdowns — Lauv found himself spending so much time making music while quarantining in his Los Angeles home that he started to feel like he was losing touch with the outside world. Looking back now, he says that his painstaking creative process almost functioned like an addiction.
“I didn’t even realize how much of a workaholic I was — because it’s like, obviously making music is so fun, but I had no balance in my life,” he says. “I went from being a college kid to moving out to L.A., having some stuff work out musically, and then immediately I felt like it just dragged me. And I’m just f–king, by a thread, being dragged, and doing my best to keep up with everything that was happening. I was stuck in one place, but still flying the whole time.”
Ironically enough, Lauv regained his footing by upending his entire songwriting process for his sophomore album. In 2020, Lauv decided that he wanted to learn how to freestyle — “just kind of jokingly,” he says, “so I [could] drive around and play YouTube beats, because I was like, yearning for this sense of not thinking at all.” When he started to avoid overthinking his lyrics and melodies, Lauv realized that he liked how natural the product felt; soon, he was translating that process to his home studio, putting on a backing track and seeing what came out of his mouth.
“What I think is going to make this album really special is that it’s really raw,” Lauv explains. “Let the moments that are hooky be hooky, let the moments that are wordy be wordy… I was going there myself as a person, spiritually, in terms of just being at home and needing to learn how to just sit with myself. I needed to learn how to allow myself to just be, without freaking out, getting anxious, wanting to change something, wanting to chase something, wanting to get on social media.
“I was just experiencing so much anxiety around stillness,” he continues. “And I feel like writing this album was kind of an exercise of pushing out of that, [and] being like, ‘What happens if I don’t think at all what I’m going to say? I don’t plan on what I’m going to say, no one ever even needs to hear it, who cares!’ I really wrote every song from that place.”
Eventually, more writers and producers came over to Lauv’s house and into the fold for the album — “26” was created with John Cunningham, Digi, Simon Says and Ryan OG. Meanwhile, Lauv finalized a deal with Virgin Music Label and Artist Services, which will handle label services and distribution for Lauv without signing him to a deal outright (How I’m Feeling was released through AWAL).
“We have been listening to Lauv for five years, and marveling at his ability to transcend any musical boundaries and emerge as one of the most important and creative figures in independent music,” Virgin Music Label and Artist Services president Jacqueline Saturn says in a statement. “His new single, ’26,’ is another amazing step in his artistic journey, and all of us at Virgin are thrilled to be a part of this next chapter in his career while providing the support and resources necessary to achieve new heights together.”
Before the follow-up to How I’m Feeling arrives later this year, Lauv hopes that listeners connect with the vulnerability of “26,” and understand the more free-spirited process that led to the single. “It’s the first song on the album, and to me, it sets up in the most perfect way what the album is going to be about and where I’m at — but also in a way that leaves a lot to the imagination,” he explains. “This is the first time I’ve had an album that’s been totally done before I put the first song out. So it’s really cool to have that autonomy and space and time to be like, ‘Okay, how is this story best told? How can I take these things that came from inside of me, and best service them to be put out into the world?’”
Most importantly, Lauv says that a few years after reaching the heights of the pop world, he’s in a much better place now, creatively and personally, with his second full-length in the can. ”Which is really, really nice,” he says. “I feel like I’m finally grounded.”
