Lauv says he threw out his entire creative process when making his new albumLauv says he threw out his entire creative process when making his new album

Courtesy of Vince Aung

Lauv gave fans their first taste of his upcoming new album on Friday, when he released his vulnerable new single “26,” which finds the hitmaker realizing he chased after the wrong things in life.

Speaking to Billboard, Lauv says he completely overhauled his creative process when making his new album because he didn’t like the pace at which he was working.  “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 admitted. 

That’s what inspired the depressive track “26,” where he acknowledges money and fame doesn’t equal happiness.  He compared that realization to climbing a mountain and finding the journey to the top was not worth the effort. “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,” Lauv described. 

He says that life lesson is what inspired him to toss out everything he knew about songwriting and give freestyling a try. Lauv said the music began to flow because he stopped obsessing over the lyrics.

“Let the moments that are hooky be hooky, let the moments that are wordy be wordy,” said Lauv. “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.”

Teased Lauv, “What I think is going to make this album really special is that it’s really raw.”  A release date is forthcoming.

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