At 18, it may seem like Tate McRae is just getting started. But a career in music is something she's been working toward practically her whole life, posting her first original song on her YouTube page at just 7 years old. So how did she feel upon releasing her debut album, i used to think i could fly?

"The fact that it's actually here," she said on the eve of its May 27 release, "makes me want to, honestly, puke a little bit."

McRae has never shied away from being brutally honest in her music, which likely contributes to her nerves — but also, her appeal. The Canadian singer/songwriter's breakout single, 2020's "you broke me first," proved that her unabashed vulnerability is connecting. Peaking at No. 1 on Mediabase's Pop Radio chart in 2021, the song now has 1.4 billion combined streams worldwide.

i used to think i could fly continues McRae's candid lyricism while taking her sound from lo-fi to arena-ready, exemplified by tracks like the anthemic "she's all i wanna be" and the punk-leaning "what would you do?" Whether it's a hard-hitting ballad such as "chaotic" or an uptempo jam like the Nelly-sampling "don't come back," each track shows that McRae is ready to be one of her generation's most raw-and-real superstars.

GRAMMY.com chatted with McRae about why it's important for her to be so open, the "identity crisis" that influenced her album, and which lyrics hit her just as hard as they hit fans.

You've said that you treat your song like your diary entries. Do you ever have moments when you realize that this stuff that's really private and personal to you is about to be in the hands of everyone?

I'm a pretty private person otherwise — you know, aside from literally writing my feelings and putting them on the internet. But it is really scary when you think about real people listening to it, [especially] people that I know. It's terrifying because no one wants to ever look that sensitive or vulnerable. But I genuinely think that my true fans are gonna really appreciate the lyrics, and the honesty and rawness of the record.

Did any of the reactions to any of the songs that you've released — especially "you broke me first," since it became so big — inspire the way that you approached this album? 

Actually getting to perform my songs for the first time influenced my writing a lot. Getting to see actual fans sing back my lyrics felt like I can't stand up on stage and preach something that I don't believe. I definitely need to be talking about real shit and real stuff that I really believe in, and I want others to hear too.

Are there any songs on this album that are so personal that you've thought, "Oh s***, is this really being released?"

There's this one song called "hate myself." This song definitely put me through a wringer as I was recording and writing it. I feel like a lot of people write from the perspective of blaming the other person because it's the easiest thing to do. But in this song, I point out all of my biggest flop flaws as a person, which is so scary. I mean, I'm just full-on exposing myself to the whole world. 

It talks about how when you care about people, and sometimes when you love people so much, you push them away. And I think that's just a coping mechanism that I do. So that whole song is basically admitting that I push people away that I truly care about, and care about it — and that's really scary that I'm releasing it.

There are several lyrics that cut like a knife on this album. Obviously you've felt all of these lyrics at one point, but are there any that still kind of sting because of how raw and real you were? 

The one lyric that really hurts in "i still say goodnight" is "I couldn't say much/ I was distracted/ You seem so anxious/ Like you had something to hide/ Tell me it's nothing/ I don't believe you/ I know that look you get when you're about to lie." That feeling of staring at someone dead in the eye and knowing that they're blatantly lying to you is so crazy because you can never know if someone's telling you the truth or not. It's all based on your intuition and if you trust them. It's terrifying!

Then there's also this lyric in "boy x" at the end of the chorus, "And when you get bored like you always do/ Tell me that you'll let her go before you look for someone new." It's [about] a wandering eye, when someone's in a relationship and they start looking for other people while they're still seeing someone. I think that's one of the grossest things ever. It perfectly targeted exactly how I felt about the situation.

On the opposite end, is there a lyric that you hear back and you're like, "Damn, I wrote that?"

My favorite bridge on the album is in "hate myself." "So off I go to hurt you again/ I'll shut you out to try and forget/ That I'm the one who's f***ed in the end/ 'Cause, baby, you'll be happier with someone else/ So if I go to hurt you again/ I'll shut you out to try and forget/ That I'm the one who's f***ed in the end/ 'Cause you couldn't hate me more than I hate myself."

I remember writing this with this producer named Blake Slatkin. It was just me and him in the room, and I had just finished writing all the lyrics, and we were like, "Okay, we need a big bridge." We were standing on opposite sides of the room like screaming this bridge. We were like, "F*** yeah! This is perfect!" 

It perfectly summarizes the feeling of blaming yourself for everything, but at the end of the day, the reason why this is all so painful is because I pushed you away, and now I'm the one who's getting hurt because you're going to be much happier with someone else and I'm going to watch you live your life and be incredibly happy. And that's going to be the hardest part.

I have to say, for being 18, you're incredibly intuitive about this kind of stuff. I'm impressed. I also feel like that's kind of the nature of teenagers these days. They are really in their feels, and the music that's popular today — yours included — is really vulnerable. Does it feel like that way on the artist's side, that the most vulnerable music is the most popular?

There's generic lyrics and, like, party songs, and everyone can listen to that. But at the end of the day, what people are going to end up going back to is the stuff that they feel in their gut. 

Especially my generation, with social media, and the pandemic happening, and everything that's going on, I feel like a lot of people are bad at talking about their emotions. So a lot of people my age go to music in order to get that outlet — they're like feeding for something that's gonna feel really honest to them. So as an artist, I'm like, "This is the kind of music that I want to listen to, so this is obviously what I want to write."

**You've explained that you had a "big identity crisis" in the middle of writing this album, which in part inspired the title i used to think i could fly. Can you elaborate on what you were going through, and how this album helped you through it?**

When I first moved to LA, I got put into a bunch of writing sessions with a lot of different people. And I was so confused because I was being fed so many different opinions on who I should be, how I should talk, what I should say and what kind of music I should put out. And I've never been one to listen to people — I mean, that sounds horrible. [Laughs.]

I've just always gone with my own gut, and I've always been like, "No, I'm gonna do it my way." And it was really confusing for a while, because I was like, "Who the hell am I?" And I'm not at home anymore. I'm by myself. I'm meeting a whole bunch of friends who I don't even know if they're my friends. I was going through my first heartbreak. There were so many factors that I was so confused, and I was having a full identity crisis. And then when I started writing music that was like, "Oh, this is how I'm feeling," that's when it started to settle down a bit.

This album takes your sound to another level, with fuller production and more fast-paced, anthemic songs. What were the main catalysts for that?

The aspect of live shows, doing that for the first time, I was like, I want to not have a boring show. I want to put on a show where people are able to scream at me.

It wasn't sprouted from, like, "I want to sound rock-y" or "I want to have this musical instrument in my music." It was very much like, if I was so pissed off one day, I ended up writing a really pissed off song that ended up turning into some sort of punky song. Then I was at Finneas' house and I was so sensitive that day, so we started writing this like really classic piano. The difference in all of my songs is so wide, but I feel like that's what perfectly captures an identity crisis — in a beautiful way.

**I feel like there are so many options for what this album could have been called, like Identity Crisis or even just Mood. But I love the sentiment of i used to think i could fly, like the fact that when you're young and naive, you think anything is possible. But there is a point in time, and maybe it's when you're 18, that the reality hits and you're like, you can't fly.**

Right. I didn't want this album to have a nothing title. I really do want there to be some depth and darkness in the title because I want people to take me seriously. I want people to know that I am analyzing all of everything over and over again in my head, and I'm not just picking a random title that came out of nowhere.

"Tate McRae Is Deep" is the headline here.

[Laughs] Tate McRae is actually super deep and super intellectual.

As far as getting your sound to this next level on this album, you worked with a lot of major pop players like Greg Kurstin, Finneas, Louis Bell and Charlie Puth. Did any of them in particular feel like they were crucial in getting you to this next sound level?

Yeah, Greg Kurstin. I had been doing a lot of writing sessions where I felt like I was being pushed in a lot of different directions, and he was one of the only guys that I was able to sit in a room and finally talk about — I remember, I wrote "chaotic," and that was one of the first songs that like was a switch in my album. That was one of the first songs that I was like, "Oh yes, this needs to be on my album."

His energy, and obviously, he's so insanely talented. and everything he was producing was so inspiring to me. I just feel like we gelled really well as writers and I love working with him. He's so incredible.

I've heard that for being such a prolific, superstar kind of producer, he's like the most low-key guy.

It's so funny, because everyone always asks me, "Oh, what was the process like working with him? How was the energy in the room? It must have been electric!" And I'm like, "Well…" [Laughs.]

Like, "she's all i wanna be" started as a ballad with piano chords. And I was like, quietly in the corner typing on my computer and wrote this song. I went into the studio and recorded it in full takes, and then I gave him a high five, he said "Good job," and I left. And that was the writing session. There was no discussion of the song, no nothing. The energy in the song was so personal that we were like, "Okay, good job. See you next time."

That's so funny, because that's the song that goes the most hard at your show.

I know, and I was like, whispering it in the corner of the [writing] room.

Did you have any particular moments during the tour where it really hit you that this is your job?

Well, I have really bad impostor syndrome. I have this vision that I'm not supposed to be there. So I'll show up to a venue or something, and I'm like, "No one will show up." It's very hard for me to grasp. 

I went to Detroit and it was my biggest show that I played, and I just remember I released a song the night before or that night, and I was like, "Should I sing this song? It hasn't even been out for a few hours." I started singing it, and the entire place was singing the song. It was like thousands of kids, like a full choir screaming it. I remember getting full body chills and just crying. I was like, "This is wild. How is music doing this?" 

And then also, at Lollapalooza [last year], it was my first big show. I did like maybe three shows that had like 100 people, but that was the extent of my singing performances.

They were really throwing you to the wolves on that one.

I was like, "What is Lollapalooza?" I had no idea. And I walked out on stage, it was like, 20,000 people, I'm like mind-blown. And I didn't realize what had happened with "you broke me first" at the time, because I [had been] like, in my basement at home in Canada. I just remember hearing people scream that song and I was like, "How do people know this? How is that like, random 42-year-old man in the back singing it?"

Your talent as a dancer got you noticed by Justin Bieber and your talent as a singer got you noticed by Shawn Mendes. Who are you hoping will notice you next?

I mean, okay, Justin Bieber, I didn't really do anything with him. It was like a one-time performance that a whole bunch of kids did. 

I mean, you still made it onstage with Justin. Even if he didn't notice you, you still made it there.

If Justin Bieber knew who I was, I would freak out. That would be literally crazy. 

Just tell yourself that he knows who you are.

Yeah, he definitely knows who I am, obviously.

Run The World: Inside Olivia Rodrigo's Stratospheric, Record-Setting Journey To Superstardom

When Tate McRae launched her THINK LATER era in September 2023, she was already a bona fide pop superstar in the making. She scored a multi-platinum viral hit in 2020 with her breakthrough single, "you broke me first," and further proved her pop prowess in 2022 with her debut album, I Used To Think I Could Fly. But as soon as she released "greedy," the lead single for THINK LATER, it was clear McRae was on a different trajectory.

Within a matter of months, "greedy" climbed to No. 1 on Top 40 radio and reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100, her biggest chart hit to date as of press time. And in the year since "greedy"'s release — which McRae commemorated on its Sept. 15 anniversary — the Canadian singer/songwriter has made her "Saturday Night Live" debut, won Artist and Single Of The Year at the 2024 JUNO Awards, and racked up more than 3 billion streams worldwide on THINK LATER alone. Safe to say, she's now one of pop's young queens.

Among her latest achievements is headlining New York City's famed Madison Square Garden, where she wrapped the North American leg of her THINK LATER TOUR on Aug. 22. And though she still has tour stretches in Asia, Australia, New Zealand, and South America through next March, McRae has already kicked off her next chapter. 

On Sept. 12, the singer released "It's ok I'm ok," an empowering, punchy pop and R&B-infused track where McRae finds freedom after leaving her ex. Like the visual for "greedy," the song's accompanying music video sees McRae show off her years as a professional dancer — and pay homage to her idols Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera — as she confidently struts around the streets of New York City.

"I look back at THINK LATER and compare it to the album I'm currently working on, and it feels like that was so 20-year-old me," McRae, who turned 21 on July 1, tells GRAMMY.com. "It's exactly how I felt at that time... [but] all the music I'm creating right now definitely feels like a fierce era for me." 

In the midst of touring and working on her next project, McRae sat down with GRAMMY.com to reflect on how the past year changed her life. In her own words, the pop star details some of the biggest moments, from performing on SNL to headlining MSG.

Launching To Superstardom With "greedy"

Last year, my creative director and I began doing a lot of soul searching to figure out who I wanted to be as an artist, what the next era would look like, and the kind of imprint I wanted to make. I felt really lost as a 20-year-old and, at the time, I knew I wanted to do pop music and dance, and to try to bring back the kind of music videos I fell in love with when I was younger.

I was ready for a new era and time of music. I wanted something a little more lighthearted and taking myself a little less seriously.

"greedy" was one of the songs on THINK LATER that made me reach out of my comfort zone. I was writing a lot of songs in the midtempo pop range, which is very much my comfort zone, and my producer Ryan [Tedder] told me I need to write an upbeat song. I said my inspirations are Nelly Furtado's "Promiscuous Girl" and Britney Spears, and then we wrote "greedy." 

I thought it was the worst song I've ever heard in my life because my mind was so closed off in that session that I couldn't see the beauty of it. That happened a lot of times [with THINK LATER]. "Hurt My Feelings," which is now one of my favorite songs to perform, was so pop when we wrote it. I thought it was way too pop for me, but I just had to step outside of my body and my stubborn artist thinking and put myself in other people's perspectives. 

I don't think you ever know why songs do what they do or what fans grab onto. It's always interesting, because you're like, How is this happening? Like, a lot of the numbers, when you're going through it, don't usually feel real. I think it's hard for the human brain to process numbers that big.

Performing on "Saturday Night Live" was a goal of mine, I just didn't think it was going to happen that soon. I remember my manager called me and I just started bawling, because that's one of those moments you dream about since you're a little kid. You never think it's going to happen, and then it does, and you're crying because you're so happy.

I've also never been that nervous in my entire life! Walking into that building, being on that stage, and being in an area with so much history… All of it felt very surreal. I remember when I got there I thought, I have to take in every single inch of every single wall and make sure I remember every detail of this place. These are moments in my life that I'm going to cherish forever and remember. 

I had a really fun cast; they are so nice and accepting. Jason Momoa was the one hosting my episode, and he was so sweet to me. I was nervous doing the liners and he was talking to me to make sure I was okay. 

When I performed "greedy," a huge chunk of the cast and Jason came from backstage and their makeup chairs to stand at the back of the room to watch me. I thought about how cool it was to be surrounded by such supportive people who I admire so much. They were all dancing in the back [to "greedy"] and filming themselves, and they sent me a video of it.

Songwriting is such an interesting thing because it's like watching yourself growing up through words. You're watching yourself figure out relationships and how you deal with your emotions as a 17, 18, 19, 20, and now 21-year-old girl. It feels like a capsule.

Humans are never perfect and their ways of thinking are all over the place. Some years, you're going to react to things better. Other years, you're going to react to things worse. My job is just to tell the story as truthfully as possible and tell the thing that I first felt. 

Sometimes I'll look back at songs and I can't believe that was my way of thinking, or I can't believe I was so emotional back then. I think it's such a beautiful thing that I'm going to look back on in 30 years and see how much I evolved as a person. This outlet for me is so brutally honest and people are actually, in real time, watching me figure out my life.

Writing THINK LATER, I learned so much from Ryan Tedder and Amy Allen every single day. I feel like they both have perfected how to write a pop song. We work really well together. I have a very different perspective than they do on my life and things that I want to talk about, but it's a really collaborative effort and we push each other in different ways. I want to be as honest as possible with my fans and tell stories through my music. That's the whole point, and it's therapeutic for me. 

It's been such a blessing to work with such incredible songwriters over the past two years. Writing my next album has been so fun to just try and explore different worlds and step into things that would usually make me feel out of my comfort zone.

Headlining A Sold-Out Global Tour

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I can't even watch my performances from two years ago. It's astonishing just how much my show has changed. It's cool to watch me slowly incorporate my years and years of dancing and actually bring my vision into something on stage.

The evolution from two years ago is not even the same person. Even doing festival shows, like performing at Lollapalooza, is always pretty shocking when I see [how] the crowd has grown. 

This tour in particular has been the most life-changing. At the end of this leg, I wasn't even sick of playing shows — which is crazy because we played over 50! 

Getting to do what I love is such a dream of mine that it doesn't even feel real. Moments on this tour, like playing Toronto, which is 17,000 people, or Madison Square Garden, which is 19,500, those are the times when I think, This is what I do it all for. I've performed in those 500 capacity rooms and now, getting to this point, I'm so much more grateful because I can't believe people are actually there for me. It's a shocking thing that your body can't even process. 

At Madison Square Garden, we had so many surprises planned and I'm pretty sure I just blacked out for most of it. I performed a new song, I brought out a special guest [The Kid LAROI], and my friend Jake Shane did a little bit with me while I was on stage. 

There were so many parts of that show that we planned, all I could think was, Don't mess it up! Just get through this show! Once it was over and we got to the last song, I just remember thinking how many people were there — and they were all there for me.

It means the world to me to be called a rising star. There are so many incredible women in the industry that I look up to, and so many of them are, luckily, my peers and friends that I'm able to talk to and vent to about very similar experiences.

I remember watching all of the pop girls when I was younger and thinking, That's what a pop star is. It felt so unattainable and far away. Then you meet and talk to all these girls who are in the scene right now, like Chappell Roan, Olivia Rodrigo, Sabrina Carpenter, and Gracie Abrams, and they are absolutely dominating. 

Most of the girls I talk to who are artists and my peers are some of the coolest girls I've ever met, and I feel like we all have our own different lanes in this industry. It doesn't feel as competitive as it might've used to be. It feels super supportive and exciting, and it's really cool to watch other girls dominate. I feel like we're in a time right now where women are ruling the world, so it's cool to be a part of that process and see people actually appreciate us and realize how special women in music really are.

Once you finish an album, you're so proud of it. But then the number one thing I do is take apart everything I've done and the things that I can improve on next time. I think that's just me wanting to beat myself at the last song or performance.

The next album is coming along, which is a crazy thing to say. All the music I'm creating right now definitely feels like a fierce era for me; a lot of it is inspired by performing. Since touring, it feels like I've completely found another identity that was somewhere inside of me. I always say that there is Tate, and my alter ego, Tatiana, takes over when I'm performing. As soon as I get on stage, I feel like I fully become that person. A lot of these new songs are not how I would talk in real life, but I wanted to extend this fierce, confident girl power identity of Tatiana and have that be the starter of this cycle.

Visually, it's so important for me to create a world and have all the pieces connect together to the album. Whenever I have an album, I need to have some sort of life epiphany. I hope that all of that comes together and the pieces really feel satisfying when they fit together. 

I'm excited to translate that feeling to touring and performing because that's when I really feel the album for the first time. I don't know what color this era will be. THINK LATER was definitely blues, blacks, whites and greys. We'll have to see what this new era unfolds into.

As summer slips away into September, the soundtrack to the fall is beginning to emerge with major releases from A-list stars across genres, along with promising rising talents from the worlds of pop, pop-punk, R&B, and international music scenes.

This week's new full-lengths include Miranda Lambert’s Postcards from Texas, The Wild Things’ concept album Afterglow (produced by Pete Townshend of The Who), COIN’s I’m Not Afraid of Music Anymore and Babyface Ray’s The Kid That Did.

Also out this week, Maddie & Tae drop their new EP What A Woman Can Do, BOYNEXTDOOR share the 7-track mini-album 19.99 and The All-American Rejects deliver a cover of Harvey Danger’s classic 1998 debut single “Flagpole Sitta.” Kendrick Lamar surprised fans with an exclusive release on Instagram following last weekend's announcement that he will headline the 2025 Super Bowl halftime show. Eminem and 2Chainz pay tribute to Kyrie Irving and Luka Dančić of the Dallas Mavericks with the single "Kyrie & Luka," while FKA Twigs dropped the single "Eusexua" alongside the announcement of her new album of the same name arriving January 2025. FINNEAS also released his second single, "Cleats" from his upcoming album, For Cryin' Out Loud. 

Below, dive into 10 more releases worth checking out for New Music Friday, including new singles by Charli XCX and Troye Sivan, The Weeknd, Tate McRae, as1one and more.

Read more:15 Must-Hear Albums In September: Paris Hilton, Katy Perry, Luke Bryan & More

“Talk talk” and it’s completely different but also still “Talk talk.” Charli XCX puts an earworm of a period on "Brat summer" by tapping bestie Troye Sivan to help totally reinvent the Brat fan favorite.

The new version is a tale of two flirtations, with Charli teasing a new fling to “talk to me in French/ Talk to me in Spanish/ Talk to me in your own made-up language” while Troye offers up an extravagant — and rather explicit — invitation to someone who’s about to have quite a good time with him in an Amsterdam hotel room.

Following Charli’s recent buzzy collabs with Lorde (“The girl, so confusing version with lorde”) and Billie Eilish (“Guess”), the latest remix off the pop star’s smash, zeitgeist-defining LP is a pitch-perfect amuse-bouche to her and Troye’s upcoming Sweat Tour, which kicks off Sept. 14 in Detroit. 

GRAMMY U Members will have an exclusive opportunity to catch Charli XCX and Troye Sivan together at the 2024 GRAMMY U Fall Summit on Sept. 30 and Oct. 1 in Nashville, sponsored by Mastercard and Amazon Music. 

Read More: Charli XCX's Road To Brat: How Her New Album Celebrates Unabashed Confidence & Eccentricity

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Just days after revealing the title of his highly anticipated sixth studio album, Hurry Up Tomorrow, The Weeknd offers the first taste of it with the lead single, “Dancing In The Flames.”

The pulsating track lands right in the 4-time GRAMMY winner’s sweet spot of synth-drenched, blissed out R&B while revving up the tempo as he catapults toward loves destruction, singing, “I can’t wait to see your face / Crash when we’re switching lanes / My love’s beyond the pain/ But if I miss the brake / We’re dancing in the flames / It’s indescribable.”

The cinematic music video sends the singer into a kinetic, head-on collision, and the entire rain-soaked, colorful saga was shot on the new iPhone 16 Pro.

Still riding high off the success of her 2023 sophomore album Think Later, Tate McRae enters a new era with her latest single, “it’s ok i’m ok.” Building on the momentum of hits like “Greedy” and “Exes,” the song (released on Sept. 12) finds the Canadian pop star's ability to balance an unbothered attitude in the spoken word chorus with floaty, sensual falsetto verses.

The music video is a risqué romp through the chaos of New York City, complete with showstopping choreography from the 21-year-old Calgary native. The visuals pay homage to Britney Spears — a style McRae also referenced at Wednesday night’s MTV Video Music Awards, where she wore a sheer lace dress reminiscent of Spears’ iconic look from the 2001 VMAs. 

Read More: How Tate McRae Turned A "Full Identity Crisis" Into Her Debut Album, I Used To Think I Could Fly

Brantley Gilbert inks another portrait of small-town country life on his seventh album, Tattoos. Lead single “Over When We’re Sober,” featuring Ashley Cooke, is among several collaborations on the LP. Other stand out duets include the whistling opener “Dirty Money” with Justin Moore; the patriotic country-rap hybrid  “Me and My House” featuring Struggle Jennings and Demun Jones; and the soaring “God Isn’t Country” with Rascal Flatts' Gary LeVox. 

Taylor Acorn gets bright and brash on her debut album Survival In Motion. The rising pop-punk singer confronts a range of personal struggles, from battling mental illness and imposter syndrome on the energetic title track to brushing off the haters in “High Horse” and escaping a controlling relationship in “Greener.” All of this unfolds against a backdrop of hard-charging guitars, crashing drums and refreshingly candid songwriting. 

Read more: ​​11 Pop-Punk Artists To Watch: Taylor Acorn, American Teeth & More

Nearly four years after her last full-length, 2020’s holiday-themed Cider & Hennessy, Jordin Sparks returns with her new album, No Restrictions. 

The "American Idol" champ remains true to her R&B roots on her fifth studio album. Tracks like the surprise pre-release single “Remember,” along with standouts like “Forever” featuring T-Pain, “Where There’s Smoke…,” the Stonebwoy-assisted “No Cry” and the bumping “YCFWM,” show off her luminous voice with a surprising amount of swagger.

Related: How Many "American Idol" Winners Have Won GRAMMYs? A Rundown Of Wins And Nominations For Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood & More

JVKE and Nick Jonas have been teasing their new collaboration to eager fans for what feels like forever, but the wait was well worth it for the swooningly romantic track. Each singer takes a turn daydreaming about a love that will stand the test of time, lasting “until [they’re] 70.”

After JVKE, the “golden hour” crooner, recounts his first heartbreak at 17, Jonas steps in with a sweet and sultry verse that’s clearly dedicated to his wife of nearly six years, Priyanka Chopra, singing, “Baby, I’m so into you / I’ve lived a thousand lives/ can’t go a single night / Without you.”

Related: Inside Jonas Brothers' The Album: How Leaning Into Joy, Fatherhood & Dad Rock Spawned Their Most Definitive Music Yet

Fresh off walking the red carpet at the MTV VMAs, multicultural boy band as1one launch their bid for pop stardom with debut single, “All Eyes On Us.” The Israeli-Jewish and Palestinian-Arab sextet get an assist from Nile Rodgers on the funky dance floor anthem, which finds the group soaking up the spotlight as they sing, “It’s like the whole world’s watching / We gonna dance like we’re all on an mission / All eyes on us!”

Later this year, prospective fans will get a deeper look into as1one's formation, artistry, and message of unity through a four-episode docuseries on Paramount+. 

“This isn’t Fashion Week!” an enraged director screams early in the music video for Suki Waterhouse’s latest single, “Model, Actress, Whatever.” From that moment on, the English It Girl and indie pop darling proves yet again that walking the runway is just one of her many talents as she sings, “All of my dreams came true / The bigger the ocean, the deeper the blue / Call me a model, an actress, whatever / Other half of my baby, we stay together.”

The deeply personal track arrived just days before Waterhouse unveiled her sophomore studio album, Memoir of a Sparklemuffin, which also includes previously released singles “To Love,” “OMG,” “My Fun,” “Faded,” “Supersad,” and “Blackout Drunk.”

Ronnie Dunn and Ira Dean assemble an all-star cast of collaborators for their new single “Tele-Man” featuring Vince Gill, John Osborne and Brent Mason. Together, the five musicians create a modern-day homage to The Traveling Wilburys as they unravel an ode to one of country music’s most iconic instruments: the Telecaster guitar. 

With Mason playing the titular role of “Tele-Man” on the instrument, his collaborators string out an energetic, deliriously tongue-twisting yarn that name drops everyone from Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings to Johnny Cash, Jerry Reed and Patsy Cline before giving illustrious credit to the “finger-lickin’, chicken pickin’ Tele-Man” behind all the greats.

Some artists are lucky enough to have a moment: a song of the summer, a radio hit, or a point at which their song dominates the pop conversation. Before even launching her own singing career, Amy Allen has done just that — multiple times.

In 2022, the Maine native contributed to hit songs from Harry Styles, Lizzo, Charli XCX, and King Princess; at the 2023 GRAMMYs, she was one of the inaugural nominees for Songwriter Of The Year, Non-Classical, and celebrated an Album Of The Year win alongside Styles thanks to her work on Harry's House. And as of press time, two songs she co-wrote with Sabrina Carpenter are in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 chart: "Espresso" and "Please Please Please," the latter of which hit No. 1.

When you have a resume and catalog as impressive as Allen's, it's hard not to get stuck in a run of highlights — but Allen's writing style is so full of remarkable emotional depth and inevitable hooks that her life and career deserves further exploration. After binging on classic rock and performing in rock and bluegrass bands in her youth, Allen began writing songs for others in the mid 2010s and has only continued to expand her impact on audiences and collaborators alike.

"Amy is a once-in-a-lifetime writer and friend — it all comes to her very naturally and effortlessly," Carpenter recently told Variety. "She's super versatile: She can wear any hat and yet it still feels authentic. I've learned a lot from her and admire what an incredible collaborator she is."

Along the way, Allen has continued honing her skills as an artist in her own right, releasing a handful of EPs and singles since 2015, initially under the name Amy and the Engine. But on Sept. 6, she's ready to fully introduce herself with her debut album — fittingly titled Amy Allen.

Just after Allen celebrated her latest No. 1 and released her newest single, "even forever," GRAMMY.com rounded up the key details you need to know about the singer/songwriter's diverse musical background, from her advocacy for female creators to seeing Harry Styles sing a song she co-wrote to a massive audience.

Her Origin Story Features A Lot Of Car Talk

Allen's early musical growth relied on four-wheeled vehicles to drive the plot forward — in many different forms. Growing up in rural Maine meant long car rides to for school and family outings, which in turn meant a lot of time with the radio.

"My dad is the biggest classic rock fan, so since I was little, I spent hours every day listening to music in the car with him and my sisters," she told Variety earlier this year.

When it came time for one of her sisters to start a band, the elder Allen named it No U-Turn, setting the theme. When the band needed a new bassist, Amy took up the low end at just 8 years old, learning classic songs from the likes of Tom Petty and Rolling Stones. The band started collecting opening spots at a bar in Portland, Maine, and lasted until Allen was in high school and her sisters had left for college. In addition, she started playing in a bluegrass band called Jerks of Grass alongside her high school guitar teacher.

Eventually, Allen thought about moving on and changing course. "I went to nursing school at Boston College for two years, and within a month of getting there I was like, 'I made a big mistake,'" she continued. After moving over to the prestigious Berklee School of Music, Allen started a new project, yet again turning to vehicular terminology: Amy and the Engine, who would go on to open for the likes of Vance Joy and Kacey Musgraves. The project's timeless indie pop charm shone brightly on singles like "Last Forever" and the 2017 EP Get Me Outta Here!, fusing references ranging from the Cranberries to the Cure.

She's A Major Champion For Women In Music

Back in 2021, Allen pondered whether it was time to carve up one of America's most prominent monuments. "Can you imagine tits on Mount Rushmore/ And Ruth Bader Ginsburg from dynamite sticks?" she sang on "A Woman's World," a highlight from her 2021 solo EP AWW!. The song backs off from that explicit ask, but the low-slung waltz of ghostly piano and gentle acoustic guitar still subversively slices at traditional gender roles and power dynamics. 

And while the track may focus its first verse on the Notorious RBG, Allen designed it as a more approachable anthem. "I felt very proud of that song. And it's something that I love to play live, because I think that it's nice as a woman to give that moment to other women in the audience where I see them," she told The Line of Best Fit upon the EP's release.

Her solo work sits in a long line of female pop and rock stars looking to lift others up — with Allen's list of influences including everyone from the Carpenters and Pat Benatar to No Doubt, Hole, and Siouxsie and the Banshees. But she's also aware of the shortcomings in the industry when it comes to behind-the-scenes matters, with female songwriters representing a disproportionately small percentage of the industry and often at lower revenue than their male counterparts. 

"It's important to have more women writing and performing so that younger girls can be hearing that and really connecting with that and resonating with that, and then being inspired to do that themselves," she continued. "I'm really excited to hear what the next generation of singer songwriters creates, and I want to do my part in making sure that they're able to."

She Went Full Circle With Selena Gomez

Allen's emotionally salient and indelibly quirky songwriting with the Engine caught the attention of more than just adoring fans. While on a tour stop in New York, she connected with Scott Harris, a songwriter who has worked with the likes of Shawn Mendes, Camila Cabello, Niall Horan, and Meghan Trainor; when Allen eventually moved to New York, she would take on some of Harris' writing sessions when he was in Los Angeles. One of those sessions spawned the first song she'd place with another artist: Selena Gomez's "Back To You," which ended up on the soundtrack for the second season of Netflix's teen drama "13 Reasons Why" in 2018. 

"I grew up listening to Selena Gomez, and I know that she's going to be a pop icon forever," Allen told People in 2020. "She's awesome. I was so psyched…It definitely propelled my career in the pop writing field further."

Two years later, she would re-team with Gomez for "My Mind & Me," a single released alongside a documentary film of the same title following the impact of the star's diagnoses with lupus and bipolar disorder on her career. The single similarly offers an openhearted, empathetic look at big mental health struggles, this time in the form of a sweeping, cathartic power ballad driven by stumbling syllables and stair-step piano. 

The track was shortlisted for Best Original Song at the 2023 Academy Awards, charted in more than a dozen countries, and, perhaps most importantly, seemed to have made quite the connection with Gomez. "Honestly, it was therapeutic for me," the pop star and actress told Variety in 2022. "I felt super connected to what I was singing and what I was saying."

She Loves Seeing Her Collaborators Live

Songwriters often wind up hidden behind the scenes, unable to really gather the impact that their artistic expression is making on others. But thankfully, Allen has been able to catch a peek in on the arena-sized reactions for some of her biggest collaborators. 

One of Allen's most-played co-writes is "Adore You," a highlight from Harry Styles' 2019 album, Fine Line, which has nearly 1.7 billion streams on Spotify alone as of press time. The buoyant, slippery burst of Fleetwood Mac-indebted funk pop embodies the start of an infatuation, and fans similarly felt under the song's spell. And Allen finally got to see that feeling come to life at Styles' album release show at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles in 2019. 

"Watching Harry, I was really nervous because the album had only been out for a couple days and I wasn't sure if anybody would know that song," Allen told Variety in 2020. She also noted that the song was a hard turn from more heartbroken tracks she'd written for the likes of Halsey. "'Adore You' was my first feel-good song, so I'm psyched about that," she added.

Though not in person, Allen got a similar bolt of joy when she was able to watch Lizzo perform Styles' track for BBC Radio 1 in 2020. "I idolize Lizzo," Allen continued. "It really just goes to show that the right song can be performed by many different people." 

Little did Allen know that she'd get to celebrate a GRAMMY nomination and win alongside Lizzo and Styles, respectively, just three years later. She co-wrote "If You Love Me" from the flute-jamming pop star's 2022 record Special, which was nominated for Album Of The Year at the 2023 GRAMMYs, where Styles' Harry's House (which featured Allen's co-write "Matilda") won the coveted honor.

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She Shapeshifts Her Songwriting For Each Artist

When a songwriter has to split their tracks up between multiple different artists, it might be difficult to ensure that each track sounds appropriately fitted to each performer. For Allen, it all comes down to knowing when to follow the rules and when to break them. 

"Sometimes we'll be writing and someone will say, 'It should go straight to the chorus here,' and in my brain I'm like, 'But we need a pre-chorus!' — you know, following the ABCs of songwriting," she told Variety. "But I've really been trying over the last couple of years to deconstruct some of those — that you don't need to pull out all the tricks all the time. It can actually make the song more interesting."

In fact, it might come down to what she prioritizes when sitting down to write, rather than which rules to follow. While walking the red carpet for the 2021 Ivor Novello Awards for songwriting and composition, Allen explained her perspective on songwriting formulas to PRS For Music: "When I'm writing for myself, I usually start with the verse and move my way through, and lots of other times when I'm writing with another artist I make sure the chorus is bulletproof."

The GRAMMYs Are Helping Change Her Family's Perspective On Her Career

Allen earned her first GRAMMY nomination in 2022 for her work on Justin Bieber's Justice, but her most meaningful nomination came a year later for Songwriter Of The Year, Non-Classical at the 65th Annual Awards ceremony (alongside Nija Charles, The-Dream, Laura Veltz, and Tobias Jesso, Jr.). While Allen had a hard time contextualizing the recognition, it helped her loved ones better understand the impact of her career.

"I'm just so grateful…Even my closest family and friends, they're like, 'I've listened to this artist for so long, or I listened to this song on the radio, and I had no idea there was a team that helped make this happen,'" she told VERSED: The ASCAP Podcast in 2022. "People like me growing up in small towns, we don't know that being a songwriter for a career is an option… I watched the GRAMMYs when I was growing up, and if I had known that people were making great careers, I would've gotten on the track a lot earlier."

Though the inaugural award ultimately went to Jesso, Jr., Allen seems to agree that he's deserving of the honor — he's one of her collaborators on her upcoming album.

Maine Will Always Be Home — and An Inspiration

For those who haven't been to Maine, a quick look at Allen's social media will reveal just how stunning the American Northeast can be. Among TikToks promoting her music, Allen almost inevitably drops in a clip displaying the expansive natural beauty of her home state — whether she's on a rope swing over a dazzlingly blue pool of water, or dropping a front spin while skating on the ice, or watching the massive waves from her family home.

"POV: ur back home in maine and wondering why u ever left," she plastered over one particularly stunning TikTok montage of a dazzling day swimming amongst waterfalls. The only thing as beautiful as the scenery is the music behind it is an unreleased track about missing home — proof that Maine will always be part of her, and that she clearly made the correct choice in following her songwriting dreams.

Three months after OneRepublic began promoting their sixth album, Artificial Paradise, in February 2022, the band unexpectedly had their biggest release in nearly a decade. The pop-rock band's carefree jam, "I Ain't Worried," soundtracked Top Gun: Maverick's most memeable scene and quickly became a global smash — ultimately delaying album plans in favor of promoting their latest hit.

Two years later, "I Ain't Worried" is one of 16 tracks on Artificial Paradise, which arrived July 12. It's a seamless blend of songs that will resonate with longtime and newer fans alike. From the layered production of "Hurt," to the feel-good vibes of "Serotonin," to the evocative lyrics of "Last Holiday," Artificial Paradise shows that OneRepublic's sound is as dialed-in as it is ever-evolving.

The album also marks the end of an era for OneRepublic, as it's the last in their contract with Interscope Records. But for the group's singer, Ryan Tedder, that means the future is even more exciting than it's been in their entire 15-year career.

"I've never been more motivated to write the best material of my life than this very moment," he asserts. "I'm taking it as a challenge. We've had a lot of fun, and a lot of uplifting records for the last seven or eight years, but I also want to tap back into some deeper material with the band."

As he's been prepping Artificial Paradise with his OneRepublic cohorts, Tedder has also been as busy as he's ever been working with other artists. His career as a songwriter/producer took off almost simultaneously with OneRepublic's 2007 breakthrough, "Apologize" (his first major behind-the-board hit was Leona Lewis' "Bleeding Love"); to this day he's one of the go-to guys for pop's biggest names, from BLACKPINK to Tate McRae.

Tedder sat down with GRAMMY.com to share some of his most prominent memories of OneRepublic's biggest songs, as well as some of the hits he's written with Beyoncé, Adele, Taylor Swift and more.

I was producing and writing other songs for different artists on Epic and Atlantic — I was just cutting my teeth as a songwriter in L.A. This is like 2004. I was at my lowest mentally and financially. I was completely broke. Creditors chasing me, literally dodging the taxman and getting my car repoed, everything.

I had that song in my back pocket for four years. A buddy of mine just reminded me last month, a songwriter from Nashville — Ashley Gorley, actually. We had a session last month, me, him and Amy Allen, and he brought it up. He was like, "Is it true, the story about 'Apologize'? You were completely broke living in L.A. and Epic Records offered you like 100 grand or something just for the right to record the song on one of their artists?"

And that is true. It was, like, 20 [grand], then 50, then 100. And I was salivating. I was, like, I need this money so bad. And I give so many songs to other people, but with that song, I drew a line in the sand and said, "No one will sing this song but me. I will die with this song." 

It was my story, and I just didn't want anyone else to sing it. It was really that simple. It was a song about my past relationships, it was deeply personal. And it was also the song that — I spent two years trying to figure out what my sound was gonna be. I was a solo artist… and I wasn't landing on anything compelling. Then I landed on "Apologize" and a couple of other songs, and I was like, These songs make me think of a band, not solo artist material. So it was the song that led me to the sound of OneRepublic, and it also led me to the idea that I should start a band and not be a solo artist.

We do it every night. I'll never not do it. I've never gotten sick of it once. Every night that we do it, whether I'm in Houston or Hong Kong, I look out at the crowd and look at the band, and I'm like, Wow. This is the song that got us here.

We were halfway through promoting Dreaming Out Loud, our first album. I played basketball every day on tour, and I snapped my Achilles. The tour got canceled. The doctor told me not to even write. And I had this one sliver of an afternoon where my wife had to run an errand. And because I'm sadistic and crazy, I texted [songwriter] Evan Bogart, "I got a three-hour window, race over here. Beyoncé called me and asked me to write her a song. I want to do it with you." He had just come off his huge Rihanna No. 1, and we had an Ashley Tisdale single together.

When you write enough songs, not every day do the clouds part and God looks down on you and goes, "Here." But that's what happened on that day. I turn on the keyboard, the first sound that I play is the opening sound of the song. Sounds like angels singing. And we wrote the song pretty quick, as I recall. 

I didn't get a response [from Beyoncé after sending "Halo" over], which I've now learned is very, very typical of her. I did Miley Cyrus and Beyoncé "II MOST WANTED" [from COWBOY CARTER] — I didn't know that was coming out 'til five days before it came out. And when I did "XO" [from 2013's Beyoncé], I found out that "XO" was coming out 12 hours before it came out. That's how she operates.

["Good Life"] was kind of a Hail Mary. We already knew that "All the Right Moves" would be the first single [from Waking Up]. We knew that "Secrets" was the second single. And in the 11th hour, our engineer at the time — who I ended up signing as a songwriter, Noel Zancanella — had this drum loop that he had made, and he played it for Brent [Kutzle] in our band. Brent said, "You gotta hear this drum loop that Noel made. It's incredible."

He played it for me the next morning, and I was like, "Yo throw some chords to this. I'm writing to this today." They threw some chords down, and the first thing out of my mouth was, [sings] "Oh, this has gotta be the good life." 

It's the perfect example of, oftentimes, the chord I've tried to strike with this band with some of our bigger records, [which] is happy sad. Where you feel nostalgic and kind of melancholic, but at the same time, euphoric. That's what those chords and that melody did for me.

I was like, "Hey guys, would it be weird if I made the hook a whistle?" And everyone was like, "No! Do not whistle!" They're like, "Name the last hit song that had a whistle." And the only one I could think of was, like, Scorpion from like, 1988. [Laughs.] So I thought, To hell with it, man, it's been long enough, who cares? Let's try it. And the whistle kind of made the record. It became such a signature thing.

Adele — "Rumour Has It," '21' (2011)

"Rumour Has It" was the first song I did in probably a four year period, with any artist, that wasn't a ballad. All any artist ever wanted me to write with them or for them, was ballads, because of "Halo," and "Apologize" and "Bleeding Love."

I begged [Adele] to do a [song with] tempo, because we did "Turning Tables," another ballad. She was in a feisty mood [that day], so I was like, "Okay, we're doing a tempo today!"

Rick Rubin was originally producing the whole album. I was determined to produce Adele, not just write — because I wanted a shot to show her that I could, and to show myself. I stayed later after she left, and I remember thinking, What can I do in this record in this song that could be so difficult to reproduce that it might land me the gig?

So I intentionally muted the click track, changed the tempo, and [created that] whole piano bridge. I was making it up as I went. When she got in that morning. I said, "I have a crazy idea for a bridge. It's a movie." She listens and she says, "This is really different, I like this! How do we write to this?" 

I mean, it was very difficult. [But] we finished the song. She recorded the entire song that day. She recorded the whole song in one take. I've never seen anyone do that in my life — before or since.

Then I didn't hear from her for six months. Because I handed over the files, and Rick Rubin's doing it, so I don't need to check on it. I randomly check on the status of the song — and at this point, if you're a songwriter or producer, you're assuming that they're not keeping the songs. Her manager emails my manager, "Hey, good news — she's keeping both songs they did, and she wants Ryan to finish 'Rumour Has It' production and mix it." 

When I finally asked her, months later — probably at the GRAMMYs — I said, "Why didn't [Rick] do it?" She said, "Oh he did. It's that damn bridge! Nobody could figure out what the hell you were doing…It was so problematic that we just gave up on it."

I was in a Beyoncé camp in the Hamptons writing for the self-titled album. [There were] a bunch of people in the house — me, Greg Kurstin, Sia — it was a fun group of people. I had four days there, and every morning I'd get up an hour and a half before I had to leave, make a coffee, and start prepping for the day. On the third day, I got up, I'm in the basement of this house at like 7 in the morning, and I'm coming up with ideas. I stumble across that chord progression, the guitar and the melody. It was instant shivers up my spine. 

"Lately I've been losing sleep, dreaming about the things that we could be" is the only line that I had. [My] first thought was, I should play this for Beyoncé, and then I'm listening to it and going, This is not Beyoncé, not even remotely. It'd be a waste. So I tabled it, and I texted the guys in my band, "Hey, I think I have a potentially really big record. I'm going to finish it when I get back to Denver."

I got back the next week, started recording it, did four or five versions of the chorus, bouncing all the versions off my wife, and then eventually landed it. And when I played it for the band, they were like, "This is our favorite song."

It was my second session with Taylor. The first one was [1989's] "I Know Places," and she sent me a voice memo. I was looking for a house in Venice [California], because we were spending so much time in L.A. So that whole memory is attached to me migrating back to Los Angeles. 

But I knew what she was talking about, because I lived in New York, and I remember the feeling — endless possibilities, all the different people and races and sexes and loves. That was her New York chapter. She was so excited to be there. If you never lived there, and especially if you get there and you've got a little money in the pocket, it is so exhilarating.

It was me just kind of witnessing her brilliant, fast-paced, lyrical wizardry. [Co-producer] Max [Martin] and I had a conversation nine months later at the GRAMMYs, when we had literally just won for 1989. He kind of laughed, he pointed to all the other producers on the album, and he's like, "If she had, like, three more hours in the day, she would just figure out what we do and she would do it. And she wouldn't need any of us." 

And I still think that's true. Some people are just forces of nature in and among themselves, and she's one of them. She just blew me away. She's the most talented top liner I've ever been in a room with, bar none. If you're talking lyric and melody, I've never been in a room with anyone faster, more adept, knows more what they want to say, focused, efficient, and just talented.

I had gone through a pretty dry spell mentally, emotionally. I had just burned it at both ends and tapped out, call it end of 2016. So, really, all of 2017 for me was a blur and a wash. I did a bunch of sessions in the first three months of the year, and then I just couldn't get a song out. I kept having, song after song, artists telling me it's the first single, [then] the song was not even on the album. I had never experienced that in my career.

I went six to nine months without finishing a song, which for me is unheard of. Andrew Watt kind of roped me back into working with him. We did "Easier" for 5 Seconds of Summer, and we did some Sam Smith and some Miley Cyrus, and right in that same window, I did this song "Sucker." Two [or] three months later, Wendy Goldstein from Republic [Records] heard the record, I had sent it to her. She'd said, very quietly, "We're relaunching the Jonas Brothers. They want you to be involved in a major way. Do you have anything?" 

She calls me, she goes, "Ryan, do not play this for anybody else. This is their comeback single. It's a No. 1 record. Watch what we're gonna do." And she delivered.

My memory is, being in lockdown in COVID, and just being like, Who knows when this is going to end, working out of my Airstream at my house. I had done a lot of songs for movies over the years, and [for] that particular [song] Randy Spendlove, who runs [music at] Paramount, called me.

I end up Zooming with Tom Cruise [and Top Gun: Maverick director] Jerry Bruckheimer — everybody's in lockdown during post-production. The overarching memory was, Holy cow, I'm doing the scene, I'm doing the song for Top Gun. I can't believe this is happening. But the only way I knew how to approach it, rather than to, like, overreact and s— the bed, was, It's just another day.

I do prescription songs for movies, TV, film all the time. I love a brief. It's so antithetical to most writers. I'm either uncontrollably lazy or the most productive person you've ever met. And the dividing line between the two is, if I'm chasing some directive, some motivation, some endpoint, then I can be wildly productive.

I just thought, I'm going to do the absolute best thing I can do for this scene and serve the film. OneRepublic being the performing artist was not on the menu in my mind. I just told them, "I think you need a cool indie band sounding, like, breakbeat." I used adjectives to describe what I heard when I saw the scene, and Tom got really ramped and excited. 

You could argue [it's the biggest song] since the band started. The thing about it is, it's kind of become one of those every summer [hits]. And when it blew up, that's what Tom said. He said, "Mark my words, dude. You're gonna have a hit with this every summer for, like, the next 20 years or more." 

And that's what happened. The moment Memorial Day happened, "I Ain't Worried" got defrosted and marched itself back into the top 100.

Tate McRae — "Greedy," 'THINK LATER' (2023)

We had "10:35" [with Tiësto] the previous year that had been, like, a No. 1 in the UK and across Europe and Australia. So we were coming off the back of that, and the one thing she was clear about was, "That is not the direction of what I want to do."

If my memory serves me correct, "greedy" was the next to last session we had. Everything we had done up to that point was kind of dark, midtempo, emotional. So "greedy" was the weirdo outlier. I kept pushing her to do a dance record. I was like, "Tate, there's a lot of people that have great voices, and there's a lot of people who can write, but none of those people are professional dancers like you are. Your secret weapon is the thing you're not using. In this game and this career, you've got to use every asset that you have and exploit it."

There was a lot of cajoling. On that day, we did it, and I thought it was badass, and loved it. And she was like, "Ugh, what do we just do? What is this?"

So then it was just, like, months, months and months of me constantly bringing that song back up, and playing it for her, and annoying the s— out of her. And she came around on it. 

She has very specific taste. So much of the music with Tate, it really is her steering. I'll do what I think is like a finished version of a song, and then she will push everyone for weeks, if not months, to extract every ounce of everything out of them, to push the song harder, further, edgier — 19 versions of a song, until finally she goes, "Okay, this is the one." She's a perfectionist.

I love [our latest single] "Hurt," but my favorite song on the album is called "Last Holiday." I probably started the beginning of that lyric, I'm not joking, seven, eight years ago. But I didn't finish it 'til this past year.

The verses are little maxims and words of advice that I've been given throughout the years. It's almost cynical in a way, the song. When I wrote the chorus, I was definitely in kind of a down place. So the opening line is, "So I don't believe in the stars anymore/ They never gave me what I wished for." And it's, obviously, a very not-so-slight reference to "Counting Stars." But it's also hopeful — "We've got some problems, okay, but this isn't our last holiday." 

It's very simple sentiments. Press pause. Take some moments. Find God before it all ends. All these things with this big, soaring chorus. Musically and emotionally and sonically, that song — and "Hurt," for sure — but "Last Holiday" is extremely us-sounding. 

The biggest enemy that we've had over the course of 18 years, I'll be the first to volunteer, is, this ever-evolving, undulating sound. No one's gonna accuse me of making these super complex concept albums, because that's just not how my brain's wired. I grew up listening to the radio. I didn't grow up hanging out in the Bowery in CBGBs listening to Nick Cave. So for us, the downside to that, and for me doing all these songs for all these other people, is the constant push and pull of "What is their sound? What genre is it?" 

I couldn't put a pin in exactly what the sound is, but what I would say is, if you look at the last 18 years, a song like "Last Holiday" really encompasses, sonically, what this band is about. It's very moving, and emotional, and dynamic. It takes me to a place — that's the best way for me to put it. And hopefully the listener finds the same.