Throughout his nearly four-decade career, Lenny Kravitz has kept with the theme of positivity in his music. Six years after releasing 2018\'s *Raise Vibration*, which saw him advocating for peace and unity with more political bite, the multiple-award-winning rock icon shows his more lighthearted side on *Blue Electric Light*. The conditions had to be perfect, and with a clearer mind, Kravitz returned to his home on the island of Eleuthera in the Bahamas to record the album (reportedly one of four albums\' worth of material) with his longtime songwriting partner, guitarist Craig Ross. That feeling of escapism also flows through the album\'s genre-hopping style, which switches from swaggering P-funk (“It\'s Just Another Fine Day \[In This Universe of Love\]”) and robotic synth-pop (“Let It Ride”) to anthemic gospel (“Love Is My Religion”). Elsewhere, he continues to take influence from Prince on “TK421,” leaning hard into an upbeat funk jam featuring an extended outro begging for a party remix. But when the mood is more subdued, Kravitz adds plenty of sultry touches to soulful ballads (“Honey”) and slinky slow jams (“Stuck in the Middle”), another similarity he shares with the Purple One. He may encourage you to bob and dance throughout *Blue Electric Light* with wild abandon, but Kravitz can still crank out groovy hard rock. In fact, he can still flex his virtuoso guitar chops with gusto. Take the stomping, hypnotic “Paralyzed,” where Kravitz revisits the ’70s classic-rock sound of 1993\'s commercial breakthrough *Are You Gonna Go My Way*. Taken together, all of these playful experiments add up to a remarkably consistent statement of purpose tied together to one unifying message: Love conquers all. But when he\'s not spreading positivity to others, Kravitz does some thoughtful self-reflection, like on “Human,” feeling grateful to be alive and live his truth: “My heart is yearning for transformation/What is this life for? I\'m gonna win.”
Benson Boone hails from tiny Monroe, Washington, but his songs tackle big dreams that showcase his global ambition. After a number of singles and his debut EP, *Walk Me Home…*, the small-town kid made good on his potential and ramped up anticipation for his debut album with “Beautiful Things,” a pensive, guitar-driven slow-burner that takes cues from alt-country thrillers before evolving into an emo-pop anthem. The track was a bold introduction to *Fireworks & Rollerblades*, which builds on the cathartic ecstasy of *Walk Me Home…* and finds Boone expanding his scope into unexpected territory. Boone is an enthusiastic lover on *Fireworks*, like on “Be Someone,” where he puts his cards on the table: “Wanna be that guy that’s making it hard for you to sleep at night/I want you to call me when it’s getting late/You can tell me anything.” The synths are bouncy and the drums pull rhythm from disco influences, giving the song an undeniable pep. In contrast, piano ballad “In the Stars” finds Boone paying tribute to a departed friend, reckoning with religion and the afterlife, the pure pain of losing someone he loved very much. It’s in this track that he showcases his power, pouring his entire being into these devotions of love, heartbreak, tragedy, and the little moments in between.
NCT DREAM has always been the most whimsical of NCT’s many subunits. Originally conceived around a “graduation” concept that would see the group’s teen members leaving upon maturation, the K-pop group has been singing about the wonders of youth since their fresh-faced debut in 2016. By 2024, the vocal stylings and thematic explorations of the now fixed-member group have matured along with its seven members. MARK, RENJUN, JENO, HAECHAN, JAEMIN, CHENLE, and JISUNG are no longer singing about “Chewing Gum,” but rather the complexities of searching for something better. NCT DREAM’s fourth album, *DREAMSCAPE*, is an ’80s-inspired, fairy-tale-like follow-up to *DREAM( )SCAPE*. If *DREAM( )SCAPE* explored the pains and anxieties of contemporary early adulthood, then *DREAMSCAPE* wonders what possibilities await those who are able to escape those burdens. Like with so many pop music discographies, that escape often comes in love. Tracks like “When I’m with You” and “Flying Kiss” have members singing about the temporary relief a connection can bring. While the album may end with the previously released English-language single “Rains in Heaven,” the penultimate pop track “Off the Wall” gives a more disco-driven celebratory end. In *DREAMSCAPE*, utopia remains aspirational, but NCT DREAM’s boundless energy makes searching for it seem oh so fun.
ENHYPEN’s second full-length album release since the K-pop septet’s debut as a group in 2020, *ROMANCE : UNTOLD* is a further exploration of epic attraction across dance pop, R&B, and ballad genres. The concept-driven boy group known for their romantic vampire lore tends to go all in on their depictions of love, and this nine-track album is no different. “Moonstruck” “really sets the tone for *ROMANCE : UNTOLD* as a whole,” ENHYPEN *maknae* Ni-ki tells Apple Music. B-sides “Hundred Broken Hearts” and “Highway 1009” have the members—Heeseung, Jay, Jake, Sunghoon, Sunoo, Jungwon, and Ni-ki—contributing to songwriting, signaling a behind-the-scenes shift for the Korean pop juggernauts. Find out more about the themes and sonic influences of the album directly from ENHYPEN below. **“Moonstruck”** Ni-ki: “The title expresses a state of being deeply in love, where there’s a sense of ‘the two of us, spellbound by the moon’s allure—we’re perfect under the moonlight.’ It really sets the tone for *ROMANCE : UNTOLD* as a whole, with the theme of an enchanting moonlight date for just the two of us, as we stand ready to overcome any obstacles. The chorus brings together flowing melodies, a dreamy vibe, and our stronger-than-ever vocals.” **“XO (Only If You Say Yes)”** Jungwon: “This is a romantic take on what being in love feels like: You would do anything for someone, as long as they say yes. It’s got catchy vocal melodies and an infectious synth riff. Hope you all enjoy it!” **“Your Eyes Only”** Sunghoon: “This is a soft synth-pop track about a love that’s kept secret between just the two of us. It has a smooth, mellow, medium tempo and a rhythmical melody that’s sure to lift your mood.” **“Hundred Broken Hearts”** Jungwon: “This is a track in the alternative R&B genre. It’s where you’re telling someone you’ll never let things end on a tragic note, and that you’ll never let their heart be broken into hundreds of pieces. It has a unique feel to it—I’m sure you’ll notice that on the first listen.” **“Brought the Heat Back”** Jay: “This is a funk/dance-pop tune, sung in the voice of a boy who’s trying to play it cool in front of someone he loves, even as he’s wracked by jealousy for the first time. Cirkut, who did ‘Bite Me’ with us, returns here as producer. This is an exciting track that combines flashy melodies with a bold progression.” **“Paranormal”** Jake: “This is a rock/drum ’n’ bass track that tells of how lovers feel like their relationship is extraordinary—and how it makes them feel like they could do anything. The song is filled with a youthful energy, and it’s got a catchy melody that’s easy to sing along to. We’re looking forward to singing this one live.” **“Royalty”** Sunoo: “This track is a modern pop song, sung in the voice of a youth, about how he’s ready to worship, even pledge loyalty to, someone as if she were a queen. On top of the dynamic, hook-laden melodies that build up as the song progresses, the track also showcases our sleek and sexy feel. I’m recommending this track to everyone at ENGENE.” **“Highway 1009”** Heeseung: “In this medium pop track, we sing about how the path ahead will be like a highway that stretches out straight ahead of us—as long as we stick together no matter what. Since this is our first fan song, every member in the group contributed lyrics with heartfelt thanks to ENGENE. I also participated in the track’s production.” **“XO (Only If You Say Yes) (English Ver.)” (feat. JVKE)** Heeseung: “This is the English-language version of ‘XO (Only If You Say Yes).’ It’s a pop song that follows a relatable love story. JVKE, who produced the original track, contributes vocals on this version—I think that really adds to the track’s sound.”
As a group formed out of a K-pop competition show, ZEROBASEONE signed an initial contract that is much shorter than the standard term. The nine young members were contracted for a two-and-a-half-year run, which means there’s little time to waste. With their third mini album *You had me at HELLO*, ZEROBASEONE wraps up their youth trilogy within only 10 months of their July 2023 debut. “Feel the POP” (released in both standard and sped-up versions) is an upbeat UK-garage bop that encourages listeners to let go of their worries and live in the moment, while pre-release single “SWEAT” pairs a “Brr-rup, ba, ba, ba-dum” hook with an upbeat descending-chord chorus to get people on the dance floor. DAY6’s Young K wrote the lyrics for the sweet ballad “HELLO” (the group’s first official fan song: “It\'s so special between you and me/I wish only for happiness”), while Big Hit producer EL CAPITXN has credits on both high-energy opener “Solar POWER” and feel-good pop track “Sunday RIDE.” The seven-track EP is roughly 20 minutes, and ZEROBASEONE makes use of every minute on the eclectic addition to their young discography. Hypnotic, R&B-infused B-side “Dear ECLIPSE” allows ZB1 a chance to showcase their vocals, using the imagery of an eclipse to sing about a sudden, all-consuming attraction. But, for a dynamic group whose members’ lives changed dramatically with the winning of *Boys Planet*, the metaphor echoes across their EP and young careers.
FLETCHER’s second full-length album *In Search of the Antidote* is unfiltered and raw, a desperate and thrilling attempt to find joy, even during life’s lowest moments. “I\'ve been able to figure out who I am through music over the years,” the New Jersey-born pop singer tells Apple Music. “It\'s been the vessel for me exploring myself. Even now, looking back even at what all my projects have been called—*Finding Fletcher*, *THE S(EX) TAPES \[Shot By My Ex\]*, *Girl of My Dreams*—here\'s been these through lines of me just deeply searching.” That is evident even in the album title: FLETCHER asks what it means to find a cure if you don’t know what exactly is wrong in the first place. Just because you feel a poison, there may not be a cure. FLETCHER experienced this conundrum firsthand in 2023 when she was diagnosed with Lyme disease. The puzzling nature of the illness caused her to question the things she felt, and this journey from self-doubt to working through the struggles in song form makes up the emotional arc of *In Search of the Antidote*. “I went on a search to go find the antidote to what was happening in my body, and the antidote has been many things for me over the course of my life,” she says. “It\'s been the women, it\'s been fans, it\'s been stages, it\'s been bottles of tequila, it\'s been writing petty-ass music. This last year, it was healing. The antidote was healing and finding answers.” Despite the lows of illness, false hope, half-cures, and relapses, *In Search of the Antidote* is ultimately an album of optimism and triumph. The penultimate track, “Joyride,” captures the feeling of falling in love, of that moment when it might turn into more than a fling. She sings, “You were in my dreams/Now I’m in your bed.” “I think, for me, this album is about love in all of its infinite manifestations,” FLETCHER says. “For me, love is like giving voice to all of the parts, all of the feelings—the full journey, the rage, the joy, the lust, the being horny, your ego.”
Jelly Roll’s quick rise from obscure Nashville hip-hop artist to beloved country singer-songwriter is one of the genre’s more exciting success stories in recent memory. In just a couple years’ time, the Antioch, Tennessee-born and -raised artist, whose offstage name is Jason DeFord, has won major awards, including New Artist of the Year at the 2023 CMAs, a category that often serves as an industry coronation. During that period, he collaborated with a laundry list of stars from country music and beyond, including Lainey Wilson, Eminem, Post Malone, and Cody Johnson. It’s appropriate, then, that this follow-up to DeFord’s first proper country album, 2023’s wildly successful *Whitsitt Chapel*, would take an inspirational tone: A man with a checkered past that includes time in prison, Jelly Roll has never shied away from using his own story to motivate others. *Beautifully Broken* opens with “Winning Streak,” a deeply vulnerable song about substance abuse and recovery, with gospel choir vocals backing up DeFord’s hopeful imperatives to “hold on.” He is similarly encouraging on “Everyone Bleeds,” a hip-hop-tinged reminder that money can’t buy immortality, and “Born Again,” a bluesy invocation of resilience that makes great use of his soulful side. Other highlights include single “I Am Not Okay,” a brooding plea for compassion in tough times, and closing track “What’s Wrong with Me,” a comparably bright and buoyant celebration of accepting one’s imperfections.
“I’ve always been slightly obsessive with songwriting,” Tom Odell tells Apple Music. “I hate the phrase, but I’ve always been a perfectionist. I will just keep working on it until I think it’s the best possible thing. But I think it can destroy work—it can suffocate it.” So for his sixth album, *Black Friday*, the British singer-songwriter went the opposite way, writing and recording raw, unvarnished tracks that often feel more like demos (there’s even one unfinished song here, “Getaway (voice note),” which cuts off abruptly after just 45 seconds). “The whole record was made with that kind of trust in the initial expression—just letting the album be a stroke of expression in this period of time,” says Odell. “Then, afterwards, not questioning or doubting what was said in that moment.” These songs—mostly written and recorded in Odell’s “primitive” studio in East London between January and May 2023—are strikingly intimate and immediate, built with acoustic guitars, roomy pianos, haunting strings, and soft, delicate vocals. Listening to *Black Friday* feels almost like sitting next to Odell as he made it: You’ll catch, for example, him cracking up at the end of a song, listening in as his orchestra tunes up, or letting in the sound of birdsong. It takes confidence to create something so undone, but for Odell it’s about more than that. “There’s more truth sometimes in leaving things unfinished and imperfect, because it’s more of a reflection of what real life is,” he says. “I think the best art is that which reveals the tension in our lives between what’s right and wrong and what did happen and what should have happened. As artists, we just try as much as possible to reflect what is real. That’s the pursuit.” Read on as Odell takes us through his sixth album, track by track. **“Answer Phone”** “This was a song I started writing when I was 27 or 28. More and more, I find my ideas and the seeds of songs transcend time—quite often, I’ll draw upon an idea which wasn’t right for that time, but might feel right for this time, and then feels brand new. This is sort of a similar lyric to Arctic Monkeys’ ‘Why’d You Only Call Me When You’re High?’—calling the person you shouldn’t at 3am. I had a lot of fun writing the words. They’re quite humorous, quite tongue-in-cheek, and kind of tragic as well. It was one take, sat on the guitar, and then we built the track up around it very quickly.” **“Black Friday”** “I wrote this on my birthday in 2022, November 24, which is Black Friday most years, or sometime around that date. I chipped away at the words for a long time—it was a real labor of love and it was clear to me that the song was important. It felt like more than a song—occasionally you get \[one of\] those songs that comes along and there’s a richness to it, which inspires you to get it right. I think it’s more exposed, in a way, than the others. That note \[at the end of track\] is the top note I can sing—it takes a lot. It’s a morning note. You can’t do it in the afternoon, your voice has done too much by then.” **“Loving You Will Be the Death of Me”** “Again, the lyrics took a very long time. I wanted to be careful with them and say what I wanted to say. ‘Loving you will be the death of me’ is a phrase that had been in my notebook for a while. I found it quite compelling. I’d been reading this strange book, a Jungian take on William Blake’s *Illustrations of the Book of Job*. A lot of it was about the death of the ego and I think that’s where the lyrics stem from. When you really love someone, you have this desire to destroy your ego. I liked the duality of that: It’s beautiful, but it’s also the toxicity of really loving someone. I was also thinking of Joy Division’s ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart.’ I’ve always been fascinated by the concept of love being tyrannical. I’m really, really proud of this song.” **“The Orchestra Tunes Up”** “Something that you always get when you record or work with an orchestra is them tuning up. It’s kind of amazingly tense and it’s an amazing sound. The orchestra take quite a lead role in the next song, ‘Spinning,’ so this intuitively felt right.” **“Spinning”** “It’s kind of a waltz. The lyric for me that stands out the most is, ‘You love me at my worst.’ That was very inspiring quite early on—it set a tone. So much of the album is about relationships, and relationships with one another, not necessarily romantic. I’m interested in the nuance of relationships and trying to explore that. At the time, I was very interested in how it can actually be the brokenness in one another that is what you are attracted to and what binds you together. I’m always searching for those lines that make me feel a slight sense of danger with them. That one gave me that.” **“The End of the Summer”** “I was inspired by the film *Call Me by Your Name*. I watched it over and over again and was just so struck by how nostalgic I found it and how it tapped into something so many of us have felt—when that first love cuts you so much and breaks you in a way that you think you are never going to recover from. And maybe you never do. This song has that beautiful orchestra—it was lovely to hear and record that.” **“The Orchestra Takes Flight”** “I liked the idea of the orchestra being this living, breathing entity. It feels to me that, in a way, it’s the devil on your shoulder and I really enjoyed using the orchestra in that way. We were trying to prep people’s ears for a melody they will hear later. It’s also the idea of this character sort of freeing themselves—or maybe trying to entice.” **“Somebody Else”** “The last song written for the album. We tried to do it once with the band and then it ended up me doing it just with the guitar and with the band coming in later. It’s quite a simple song, but it has a lot of tension in it. I really like it. I’ve been playing it over the summer \[of 2023\] and it felt so good to play—it feels a bit like a hymn or something.” **“Parties”** “This is strangely quite a trivial song, but also quite dark. The inspiration lyrically was ‘Sitting by the pool/With tears in our eyes/I don’t know why/I come to these parties anyway.’ The chorus is one that’d been knocking around for quite a long time—I think I even used to try it out at the occasional gig. The song became interesting to me when there was a sense of there being things not being said. There’s this immense amount of tension in the air of it. The lines, ‘Jump in the swimming pool/With all my clothes on/You ask me what is wrong/And I ignore you’—it’s kind of a weirdly anecdotal experience, but I spent quite a long time writing versions of that, which felt the most real to me. You jump in the swimming pool with your clothes on—and then there’s a sort of strange muted reaction both from someone else and then you. You don’t really acknowledge it and then it just sort of carries on. Again, there’s a slightly comical element to the song, but I was also attracted to the darkness of it.” **“The Orchestra is Feeling Tense”** “It feels like making the record to me. We live recorded the album and Laurie \[Blundell, Odell’s producer\] and I went through and collated all of the times we’d been rude to each other. It starts out quite polite and then there’s that, ‘Your phone’s on.’ It’s full of anguish, kind of like a hangover after a party with anxiety and regret and a sense of dread.” **“Nothing Hurts Like Love”** “This kind of song is a bit of catnip for me: I love a slightly overly dramatic love story. It’s also inspired by my love of ’70s films—it feels like a sort of Hal Ashby film or something, where two lovers meet up at a café somewhere outdoors. Again, there’s so much unsaid, there’s this feeling of a lump-in-your-throat kind of pain. This one broke my heart slightly—I just felt very close to it.” **“Getaway (voice note)”** “We enjoy being playful and it’s fun cutting tracks off because it catches your attention—maybe you listen to it again and you wonder why. This is just one of those songs that we did try to finish and couldn’t—we could never quite work it out. In a way, it was inspired by *The Godfather*. There was something kind of fun about it and I liked the tension it created. It’s funny, whenever I sent the album to anyone \[before it was released\], they always brought up this one and said the song was corrupted or something. It really fucks with people’s heads!” **“The End”** “It was interesting that this song isn’t trying to tie up loose ends—even though it’s called ‘The End.’ I guess it asked the question: What does the end even mean? As one gets older, you have so many relationships and friendships with friends and family and lovers and colleagues, and as times passes by, there are more and more people that will naturally get left behind in your wake. They go one way, you go the other. But I’m fascinated by that in the sense that it doesn’t necessarily mean your feelings change. Life, I increasingly find, is full of fragments of impressions you’ve made on people that then come back to you—and you get this amazing time capsule back to another time or another version of yourself. It’s a very sentimental song.”
“*Gothic Summer* is about the highs and lows of life,” The Veronicas’ Lisa Origliasso tells Apple Music. “Finding beauty, empowerment, and self-love in the shadows and darker parts of life’s experiences.” Such stark emotional contrasts are mirrored by the musical diversity of the duo’s sixth studio album: from their trademark power-pop punk (“Perfect,” “Invisible”) and sleek disco funk of “Here to Dance” to the surf guitars that propel “Jungle” and, most surprising of all, their collaboration with Australian rapper Kerser on the emotionally charged “Savage.” Such stylistic range is, perhaps, a reflection of the fact that when Lisa and sister Jess began working with producer John Feldmann (The Used, All Time Low, 5SOS), there was no thought of even making an album. “*Gothic Summer* wasn’t planned,” says Jess. “We were just having fun creating songs in the studio with some friends, and at the end of it, we had an album.” Feldmann’s relationship with The Veronicas goes all the way back to 2007’s *Hook Me Up*. “He is the ultimate hype man and has a beautiful, positive energy in everything he creates,” says Jess. “He’s always down for anything different, which was amazing, because Lis and I get bored quickly, and we wanted to write songs with more ’60s and ’70s influence, which was a departure from the pop-punk style people know him for.” Now, pack your sunscreen as Jess and Lisa talk through the highs and lows of *Gothic Summer*. **“Perfect”** Lisa: “‘Perfect’ is about society’s compulsion with comparison and perception; urging greater self-love; and mastery of your own design. It’s a love letter to our younger and current selves. Perfection has a different meaning for everyone. Social media has changed how we interact with the world. Perception versus reality is rewarded and condemned. From what people wear, to who they date, it’s like a magnifying glass. We just want to remind everyone to empower themselves, and free their minds. We all die in the end; we have to live with and love ourselves fiercely, first and foremost. On our deathbeds the only opinion that will matter on how you’ve lived will be your own.” **“Detox”** Lisa: “‘Detox’ is a fusion of pop rock, ska, poetry, and skate punk. It’s an exploration of the chaos and hypnosis of toxic relationships with others, and with yourself. Fighting emotional volatility and sinking euphoria with inspiration.” **“Here to Dance”** Jess: “\[This\] is based off the quote ‘dance like nobody’s watching.’ Attention is currency—gossip and headlines used for clickbait means we’re normalizing a toxic culture where gossip becomes the vehicle to line pockets. And that fuels a more rampant gossip culture than ever. So we wanted to remind ourselves not to let others define who you are, or your right to freedom and self-expression.” **“Savage (feat. Kerser)”** Jess: “‘Savage’ was inspired by an old relationship. The hurt and confusion with what happens when you wake up and realize too much has happened to get back to that place of respect and love. We’ve been huge fans of Kerser since his early records. He’s represented an aspect of Australian culture that’s different from what we have. We all have a shared passion for music, telling our stories, and how important our fans are in our careers.” **“Invisible”** Lisa: “‘Invisible’ paints a picture of different situations people find themselves in. It’s a basic human need to feel heard and understood. You expect truth to prevail always, and when it doesn’t, it can be really crushing.” **“Ribcage”** Lisa: “\[This\] is a love song about someone who has been hurt in the past, finding a safe space and true love for the first time in their life. We used more morbid references to describe falling in love.” **“Jungle”** Jess: “‘Jungle’ is our favorite song that embodies *Gothic Summer*. This song embodies stories that make you laugh so we don’t cry. Because that’s how life feels. Like a gothic comedy.”
“I knew I wanted to be vulnerable in this album,” Toni Watson—aka Australian singer-songwriter Tones And I—tells Apple Music. That much becomes clear a few seconds into the devastatingly raw opener “To Be Loved.” With piano and strings swelling around her, Watson offers a heartfelt apology to her sister and brother, before one of an altogether more confronting nature: “And to the guy that hit me, I’m so sorry that I stayed/But I wanted to be loved, but to me that love was pain/I let you break me down so I could build me up again.” Such honesty is indicative of a record on which Watson was committed to digging deeper emotionally and musically than ever before. “The last album \[2021’s *Welcome to the Madhouse*\] I’m not really happy with at all, I wanted to change so much,” she says. “I don’t want to regret this one like I regret the last one. The production was lazy. It was just lazy work. I wasn’t honest and vulnerable about myself, I \[just\] wrote poppy melodies. As a composer I really wanted to create an album that had more depth to it.” While *Welcome to the Madhouse* came together in a matter of months, *Beautifully Ordinary* was written in and around touring cycles over a period of a year and a half. Determined to display her versatility, Watson sings in a lower register on the soulful, rootsy “Raise Me Up” and fragile “Lose Someone Like Me,” while musically she oscillates between emotive ballads, attitude-laden indie (“You Don’t Know Me Like That”), and all-out pop (“Call My Name,” co-written with Drake and BTS collaborator Jenna Andrews). The intensely personal family tale “Sorrento,” meanwhile, marks her as a formidable storyteller with a keen eye for detail. The album takes its name from a song Watson deemed unsuitable for the record, though its title resonated with her goals around being vulnerable and open. “I think you can see the beautiful in the ordinary, and I think all of us feel ordinary,” she explains. Here, Watson walks us through *Beautifully Ordinary*, track by track. **“To Be Loved”** “I brought things up that I’ve never brought up before. I think that’s me opening myself up to keep growing. But genuinely, I gave in that song as much as I could; I probably couldn’t go into much more detail comfortably. I think I need to slowly start edging towards opening up more, and this is kind of my first step into that ocean.” **“Lose Someone Like Me”** “It’s the biggest heartbreak that a young girl could have, which is with my best friend. It’s still raw. Even though it’s been a few years, I haven’t been able to write about it. And that’s why I almost didn’t release this song. And I know this person will know who it’s about. And this will be my version of reaching out. It’s important that I put it out there so I can move on.” **“I Get High”** “‘I Get High’ is about those best friends that you have, and you’re not old enough to go to clubs yet, but you get in cars with older boys at night, you sneak out, or you drink in the park, and you get up to mischief. Our feelings are so heightened at that age. As we get older, we have to subdue our emotions a lot more. There are great friendships when you’re that young and you share so much and go through so much together. I really wanted to touch on that.” **“We’ll See Stars”** “I wanted it to be about giving my sister one night of no worries. I just want her to be happy, and that flows into ‘Wonderful’ as well. This one’s about ‘let’s go out for the night, put all your worries aside, let’s have a sister night. I want you to experience life to its fullest and I want you to let go and have a good time.’ I picture my sister running around the city at night just having a good time.” **“Dance With Me”** “I wanted this song to feel bassy and ’80s, kind of giving a vibe of Robyn’s ‘Call Your Girlfriend’ or ‘Dancing on My Own.’ But even though sonically you’re moving to it, you’re dancing to it, the lyrics are sad. And I love that. The song doesn’t mean you’re physically dancing. Whatever the thing that you and your partner used to do when you were at your happiest moment, I’m sitting here in that spot waiting for you to come back to me, but you’re nowhere to be seen. So I’m just here on my own.” **“Figure It Out”** “This is the first track I wrote for the album. I wanted time to grow. I think everyone needs time to grow. People think that your first or biggest thing is just who you are now, and that’s such a defining factor of everything. But I think it’s important that everyone gets that opportunity to grow, and I think I’m asking for it in that chorus.” **“Wonderful”** “It’s about my sister, or it could be my best friend. There’s times where they’re at their lowest, and you just want to give them your perspective so that they could see how much potential they have, even though their brain isn’t letting them see that. It’s just about trying to help them at their worst.” **“Raise Me Up”** “Another song about desperation in a relationship, just wanting to be seen and heard. The song is about needing help and asking for it.” **“Dreaming”** “‘Dreaming’ could be about a friendship or love. For me it’s both. \[It’s saying\] I don’t know if it’s all in my head, but I think we’re growing apart. It goes into detail in the verses, but then it goes back to ‘but is it all in my head?’ So not really knowing.” **“You Don’t Know Me Like That”** “This is about a stalker. I have this stalker that comes to my house, leaves random stuff. I’ve got this massive thing they wrote me. I didn’t ever mean to talk about this. But my friend that I wrote it with, we just loved it so much. It’s got a nice vibe to it. But ultimately, it’s about trying to get rid of a stalker.” **“John Doe”** “‘John Doe’ is about someone that you meet and you have that instant connection, but you don’t want to say anything or do anything. It’s about wanting to go to that person and know more about them and see if there’s something there but \[you’re\] a bit hesitant.” **“Sorrento”** “David is my papa. A year before he passed I said, ‘For my wedding present I would love for you to write me your life story.’ And he wrote that for me. I just thought I’d share a little memory of him, and now it will be there forever.” **“Need You to Love Me”** “It starts a bit more vulnerable. It starts like you’re right there, I’m right there in front of you, singing about a relationship and the struggles of that. And then it turns into a little bit more of an upbeat kind of \[song\]. This album is the only time I’ve ever written about love. It’s really also about the struggles in relationships. It’s almost like I’m trying to convince myself, ‘Do I deserve better?’ Which is so vulnerable to say.” **“Only One”** “I was going through such a hard time when I wrote this song—serious heartbreak. And I couldn’t write anything. I was just so sad. I wanted to be so angry, but the chorus is \[saying\], ‘I still think that you’re the one for me.’ Which is the head fuck about it. ‘I have so much love for you, this is so hard.’” **“Live Without Your Love”** “This one was written a long time ago. This is about my friend; she is so happy. I realized the friendship that she gives me is so important. It helps me become a better person; it helps me see the brighter sides. If I was running around with another pessimist, then I would be doubling down on myself. And so it ended up being ‘we’re never going to be the same person, but I love you for that. And I can’t live without your love.’” **“Call My Name”** “I realized I had a lot of vulnerability in the album. So I wanted to have that more four-to-the-floor moment, just to showcase that a little bit more. I haven’t got a big, long story about the lyrics; it’s two professional songwriters \[Watson and Jenna Andrews\] in a room writing a pop song. And that is what that is.”
“\[There’s an\] eerily similar melancholy,” Luke Hemmings tells Apple Music, comparing his sophomore album, *boy*, to his 2021 debut, *When Facing the Things We Turn Away From*. “And that really propelled the emotion of *boy* and these seven songs. A lot of the stuff I write is very existential and trying to understand who I am and why I am. At this time, I was very disorientated and maybe a bit emotionally lost, even though life was moving forward in a really great way.” The two albums were conceived and recorded in vastly different circumstances. His debut came together in isolation under the cloak of COVID lockdowns, while *boy* was written as he toured the world with 5 Seconds of Summer, the Sydney band the singer/guitarist co-founded as a 15-year-old in 2011. Still, the pair have much in common: turns out you can feel just as alone spending months traversing the globe as you can sitting in your house waiting for the world to open up. Part of the reason for that disorientation was the dawning realization that he was entering his late twenties, leading Hemmings to reflect deeply on his youth while considering a potential future as a father. “You want to be the most fully realized version of yourself before stepping into that sort of role, which is a work in progress,” he explains. Taking inspiration from artists such as Damon Albarn, Beach House, LCD Soundsystem, and Richard Ashcroft, *boy* exhibits a dreamlike quality, one that bathes in melancholy without ever sinking into depression—witness the way in which opener “I’m Still Your Boy” builds from a whispered acoustic beginning into a grandiose and uplifting climax; or the sad-happy mélange of synths and dance beats that propel “Close My Eyes.” Here, Hemmings takes Apple Music through *boy*, track by track. **“I’m Still Your Boy”** “This song really encompasses the ache I wanted to get across and the growing pains it took to become a fully realized adult version of myself. It’s only until I started thinking of having children of my own that I began reflecting on the struggles I had myself as a teenager who grew up in the public eye. This song is about understanding my youth that was marred with trauma amidst beauty, whilst trying to become a good man. ‘I’m Still Your Boy’ walks on the high wire between boyhood and adulthood, looking both ways.” **“Shakes”** “‘Shakes’ was written on a dreary evening in between long periods of travel and touring, so it easily came from an incredibly melancholy place. A feeling of yearning to be back home, of feeling lonely and emotionally desperate and depleted. There is a longing for love and self-acceptance in the lyrics, and I hope it to be a song that anyone listening \[to\] can find themselves in and attach their own story.” **“Benny”** “This song is named after my brother, Ben, but in its entirety, it represents all of my loved ones and the guilt I feel being away from my family and living on the periphery of their world. It represents the mornings I wake up in a panic, anxious and worried that today will be the day I get bad news. News that would make my dreams of making music seem infantile and pointless. I’d do anything for the people I love.” **“Close My Eyes”** “I wrote ‘Close My Eyes’ as I headed into my late twenties and felt an unavoidable wave of fear and anxiety towards the inevitable death of my youth. I found myself unable to sleep because every time I tried, it was as if a film of my life was projected onto the back of my eyelids—the mistakes, successes, everything that could have been, and everything that was. I was sonically trying to tap into 2000s indie rock bands like LCD Soundsystem and The Rapture.” **“Garden Life”** “I had the idea for ‘Garden Life’ when I couldn’t sleep in a hotel room somewhere in the world, sometime around 3am. The next morning, I went for a walk and wrote the lyrics on a park bench, watching life pass me by. It’s really just an existential love song to my happiest and safest place. The older I’ve gotten, the more I’ve realized that sometimes the most beautiful and visceral memories in life are not the most grand and obvious ones, they can be simple and powerful. It’s not always the fireworks on New Year’s Eve. Sometimes it’s a Friday night sitting on the couch listening to your favorite person laugh.” **“Close Enough to Feel You”** “This song was inspired by sounds from Cocteau Twins and my bloody valentine, who I listened to heavily during the making of *boy*. The beauty in ‘Close Enough to Feel You’ is all in the details, both sonically and lyrically. Sometimes when you suffer a big emotional loss, something so mundane and otherwise unnoticed can become earth-shattering. A glimpse of a photo out of the corner of your eye, a stain on the carpet, an old sweater, sends you into the fetal position. This song is about the willingness and desire to live in that pain in order to feel close to who or what you lost, rather than moving on.” **“Promises”** “‘Promises’ was the song written for the EP that finally made me feel like I was really onto something. It started with merely a drum beat, which I find ironic as I’m not a drummer. But I think maybe it’s that naïveté that led to this song being created. It’s about a time in my life when I saw the world through gray-colored glasses. I was a pessimist, struggling with depression and my mental health, who fell in love and started to see color for the first time.”
