Dua Lipa | Radical Optimism, Illusion, Manifestation

what's the dumbest thing you've done for love what is it you know I don't know if it's oh you know hi beautiful human I'm Zach and I'm really excited to be here with du alipa hey there's a whole room of people and they just decided and decided not to clap yeah thank you thanks guys thanks guys it was also after we had just told them to turn their off I'm really thank you for doing this yeah thank you for having me yeah you I got to like I don't even know where to begin because we

have a whole album to go through yes but also like you're very seasoned and really smart and you've also lived a crazy [ __ ] life can you describe what it feels like to be releasing your third album uh god it feels it feels like a relief it feels really exciting um I've just been working on it for so long and it took me a while to get to this place and now for it to finally be like a couple months away feels really feels really exciting did it really begin with a journal from CVS

it really did begin with a journal from CVS but like what pushes you to even buy that journal or show up to CVS I just needed a notebook to be honest I needed a note to write my lyrics I was in the studio is that you doent always I just no I hadn't done it for my previous records but I just I felt like I wanted to start journaling and I felt like I wanted to start writing on paper cuz I wanted to get off my screen I always have this thing where where um especially

when I first started touring I was like okay I want to spend less time on my phone because my whole life revolves around being on social media and like posting and telling people what I'm up to that I like when I'm on a plane I don't connect to the Wi-Fi I turn my phone off I read a book I don't even watch a movie because I'm trying to like stay off screens I respect that so I love to read and then I was like okay I want a journal and then that's what I decided I

also loved the idea of just I don't know felt good to to write things down I didn't know how important that CVS notebook would become in the end um but it is it's like it's really one of my prized possessions do you remember your first entury yeah I actually wrote radical optimism on the very first page really yeah weird is weird is that idea or Spirit or how would you describe it what is radical optimism um so radical optimism was a term that was actually introduced to me um through a friend of mine uh in

a conversation similar like this and I just felt so connected to it it was also during the time when I was um about to go on my future Nostalgia tour and you know I just made this whole record that I'd envisioned was going to be played out you know in clubs and people were going to go out and dance and then obviously we all went through collectively a pandemic and the way that I had initially envisioned people to experience that record went out the window and I think that kind of um showed me so much

radical optimism just in the fact of letting go is so important and that some things you just can't control and what's meant to be will be and I've just I'm a firm believer that every single thing takes its own course everything has its own life and it comes out the way it's supposed to the way people react to it is the way they're supposed to I can't there are some things that are just completely out of my control and I think because I'm such a planner because I'm someone who loves to like make sure that

everything's down to the you know to the minute because that's how I feel like I'm in control of my life especially when I'm so busy that it's shown me the importance of spontaneity and just rolling with um the unexpected and radical optimism followed me through these past few years where things might not go the way that I Envision them to things might not work out the way that I want them to things might you know whatever that may be but it doesn't mean that it's the be all and end all or it's the end of

something or it quite the contrary it's actually the beginning or it pushes you and propels you to grow and to change and to see things from a different different perspective and so radical optimism just became more and more prevalent and so everything that I was writing had an optimistic flare um and I I have this belief that what I write and what I sing almost becomes a manifestation because I say it all the time so it's like a mantra and it becomes true it's like a repetitive thing and so as long as I'm putting in

something positive and for everyone who's listening to it and everyone who's singing it if I can inject some optimism and some positivity and some fun and light to whatever we're feeling then I'm being of service in some way and however that's received is how it's supposed to and that's that's out of my control so I'm just I'm trying to be a radical Optimist how do you balance that with okay people people who work with you will describe you as somebody who will work to a lyric is perfectly perfect you've been described as a perfectionist like

you ad midly of a type A personality so how do you balance that with being able to flow and to look at any situation and find the good in it um I think well even the idea of going back in and like changing every lyric came with confidence and came with time like I didn't have that before in my albums whatever I wrote on that first day in the studio was pretty much what ended up in the in the album like maybe some minor tweaks or some changes of a word or maybe a minor melody

change or something you know but the way that it was made there and then in the studio was probably how How It Was Heard was that because of fear of speaking up for change or no it it was more just the fact that I was like that's as good as I'm going to get it and that is my best whereas now I'm at a point where I'm like confident enough to to dig a little deeper and feel like I can get better out of myself I get it and I can conduct myself in a room

especially when I was first starting I was going in with songwriters and producers who'd been doing this for way longer than I had you know for me I was going in like a kid with a dream that just wanted to sing and perform and write songs but hadn't really known the process of going in with an idea creating a song and then having to perform it and tour it around the world now I know what is needed of me now I know you know what it's like to perform these songs in front of a crowd

and now I know what it is to to rehearse and prepare for a performance and a show and so that kind of changed my perspective and like I need every little thing to be perfect to Aid me in the in the rest of the steps you know it's interesting like because you realize all of the pieces that are at play all the time and how big the ecosystem really is and how everything does work together for each other and I'm assuming that you take things yes from your early sessions but also from your live shows

that makes its way to the studio when you're crafting a record yeah totally I mean things that I write about are from personal experience totally um and I think it's for me some of my favorite things is how do I craft a story Into The Melody that is the most catchy and fun but I'm also telling something that's personal um while at the same time with an optimistic FL you know whatever it is it's just like it's crafting it's the jigsaw it's that that's the thing that I I love the most is there something from

your first album that you something that you were doing back then that you carry with you still today I think I've changed honestly so much because I just I don't know I I've I've learned I've become more confident in my craft but I think there's always been a jux toos like I've always loved Duality I've always loved the happy and the sad I've always described my music as dance crying it's I I feel like that's something that really resonates with me um but I feel like I've I've grown and matured and my taste is more

refined and I know what I want from myself so but I think like the the dance crying element that will that will forever be my genre so what type of life does one need to live in order to get art that fits the dance crying genre that's an interesting question I don't know I think you know before I I used to think um that I had to be in like uh I had to be going through some kind of like toxic relationship to be able to write a song Because sad feelings were the easiest to

connect to and with future Nostalgia I realize that that's not the case at all and that I can make songs that feel really good and are really fun um and I can and I can dance to without you know they're they're pop songs but without being cheesy it's like oh you know happy or uh optimistic songs would immediately get put in the bracket of like bubble gum pop in some way and I think that record kind of cracked that for me that I was like oh I can make music that also feels good um and

has depth as well and do you approach it from and really like when you set out to make an album do you set creative expectations for yourself or goals that you want to reach um um I think for me it's just being able to grow and change and allow myself to create something different every time like I don't really want to get stuck in the cycle of trying to repeat the success of something that's already happened because it's happened and it's easy to get stuck in that if something's been successful because then your mind's like

okay I have to replicate that thing and that was you know maybe with my first album I had you know new rules and one kiss and electricity and it was like okay now I have to go into the second record and it's very easy to get into the cycle of how do I replicate that but I had to separate myself from that to create something new and I had to do it again to create something new again and I think each of those have their own world and I think that's beautiful and I think if

I if you just do it for the for the art and for the love of it then you won't carry this like deep pressured expectation because for me as as long as I'm really proud of it of what I've been able to like put out and I feel like I've grown as an artist and as a songwriter then I'm hopeful that that will translate also to everybody listening and it does like one of the first things about this album was there's a cohesion no songs sound alike the Evolution's there the range is crazy and I

feel like I'm not I don't lie like I have this like problem where I just like vomit honesty it's [ __ ] up I like was fighting with my boyfriend on my way here and we're listening to the album oh dude what the [ __ ] are you doing to me it's really but then also like it starts rough but then it gets beautiful at the end I mean like uh let me look at my notes because anything for love brought us so much closer I don't want to talk like I don't even know how

yeah it's in it's so beautiful like it sounds like you did that song in one take by the way yeah it's it's like a glimpse into our studio session oh so we basically we we we made this whole record in a room in London in a studio in kenel rise and that became my home for a year and a half and I have this uh big thing about Studios because I love a place that has Windows and light and a lot of Studios don't have that I know it sound it's like funny but like most

studios are really dark and dungeon and dungeon Dungey and for me that room has seen me through every season has seen me through every emotion has I and I and I start I go into the studio studio early and I know like early for some people it's like I don't know 9 or whatever but for me I I start at 11:00 and I'm there until 9:00 p.m. and I love seeing it go from day to night and um I don't know I I feel like my ideas can breathe in a room like that and uh

we were all together in the room and uh engineer Yan who'd been there for the whole year and a half with us helping us like set the mics up and do everything he's a super Talent piano player and uh I asked him to play for us in that moment I was like Yan I think you should be a part of this um track as well and he came and played and it it was just beautiful to have the energy of all the people who have played a little uh role in making this record with me

um to to have that moment and so yeah it was really just me on an sm7 kind of like this mic um in the room making yeah anything for love it's stunning it's the build and the way it like kind of drops and like it's really amazing thank you so much no like it gives me Smash energy and like maybe there's push like maybe they go oh it's mid Tempo you're idiots it picks up it's so it's Flawless thank you where are you at though in life when you need to write that song and does

that make its way into the journal first uh yeah I mean everything was kind of written like diary form like every day when I went into the studio it was just kind of this is how I'm feeling this is what I want to write about and and anything for love um I guess it's just one of those every every studio session starts at the conversation and so we're just kind of bouncing off you know ideas and perspectives and it's kind of this idea that we live in such a fast world where it feels like things

are easy to um dispose of so people don't really fight for things that they really care about or they're very quick to let go of things that are meaningful because I don't know it just it feels like and in in that sense that's where I went in for anything for love it's like remember the time when when people really fought for something or love really meant something and it wasn't just this throwaway thing um and so that's really where that song stemmed from Hello beautiful human every year millions of Gamers experience igss inadequate gaming setup

syndrome luckily a cure has been found you have to go beyond with the vibronic mattress by Beyond sleep this thing has six built-in subwoofers USB ports for charging LED lights so you never St your toe it gives you an acoustic massage when you want it plus adjustable degrees of comfort this right here is the best way to game ever here your igss today at beyon tech.com and does every song kind of start the same right like where it's you in the studio writing do you go into a session do you experience life and then like

kind of spill into the journal yeah pretty much it always always starts with like a cup of tea we sit we chat for like an hour an hour and a half however it really depends on the day like how we're feeling um and and then it's like you know when I'm in the studio I was working with Kevin Parker Danny Hall Tobias Jesso J in Carolina aen and you guys like did eight out of the 11 songs together yeah we did eight out of the 11 songs together um and you know it starts with the

conversation and then either Danny or Kevin would start you know either on the synth or drums or they would start making a track and me Caroline and Tobias we would start fleshing out the idea and we would write down words and we would mood boor and it would just go into like Melody into words into writing and then we'd be like all right we're starting to get a story and we just go from there does the story need to be ripped from reality or do you have the ability to write from imagination I think um

I think the stories can get embellished in terms of like um some you know descriptive elements that either Rhyme or work in the in the in the melody but overall they're all from uh personal experiences is there a song that you made on this album that when you made it meant one thing but today before you release it may mean another um I think they all kind of shape shift like I said like when I write things and when I'm in the studio I'm like I should be careful what I say because I do manifest

stuff into my life it's powerful um and so by the end of the the record I always go back and I'm like oh it's almost like I preempted this thing or oh I really like I really brought this person into my life or this is what I thought you know what I mean yeah totally like it's it's a real manifestation so for sure they take on take they take on a new life so what you manifest here what did I what what you manifest uh with this one um all good things yeah yeah some more

radical optimism some more radical optimism so does that genuinely mean looking at any situation and seeing it as a glass half full not half empty yeah half full always and do you believe that is fueled by confidence um I think it's just perspective over time I think um I I don't think it's even I think it's experience maybe it's like you go through the hardships you come out of them stronger and smarter and or you'd hope and and you kind of either don't repeat the same mistake again and you kind of look at it especially

in hindsight where you go everything that I went through even if it was tumultuous or painful or sad or whatever it's like it brought me to where I am am now and so no experience isn't worth going through or feeling or um reminding yourself of in some way do you believe manifestation has played a part in your success um I think yes I want to say yes because I think you know people can maybe think of manifestation of this idea that you're doing witchcraft or something it's not but it's really if you set an intention

and you think about it every single day of your life and for me like glastenbury for example when I first started making music I dreamt about the day that I would get asked to headline Glen B at the at the pyramid stage and I've probably thought about it every single session that I'm in the studio because when I write a song I think I go oh what's this going to s like at glenbury that's that's the first thought and that in a way is setting that idea that intention in the back of my mind whether

I say it out loud I know it and that just lives there and it's just brewing and it's just holding on it's it's something that I'm actively working towards without you know without even thinking about it you are thinking about it exactly so I think it's I think it's powerful cuz it's your own personal goals that you set for yourself that then you have something to to look look towards it's really powerful yeah for sure I believe in it I I've done it yeah no shit's real for sure it is incredibly real yeah I believe

it I believe it but there is a lot that comes down to hard work and consistency and this act of not like manifestation is a part of the whole thing but like there's this consistency thing like you didn't stop like I had no idea you were a bouncer not a bouncer I I was like doo okay so you're checking on I was like No I not checking IDs that's what a bouncer does okay so what were you doing I was like I was the one with the guest list I was going to say like you

don't give bouncer really thing no I I don't think I've got like the the muscle power for that but I did that when I was like 17 years old you lived in London on your own right I lived in London on my own from when I was 15 so I was born and raised in London lived there until I was 11 moved back to Kosovo cuz that's where my parents uh are from I'm originally from Kosovo lived there until I was 15 and at 15 I decided I wanted to come back to London and be

in a place where everything was happening and um go to school and put covers up online and get a job and do all these you know all kinds of things but what was your pitch to your parents well I it was just like um I have to I have to get so there are these exams in the UK called UCSC and you have to get those to be able to go to university in London and I I wanted to live in London and so I was like okay I need to go back and get these

exams if I want to go to UNI there and so that was kind of the original pitch and I was also like I want to try music and see how it goes um and that was that was the pitch and now when I asked my parents which was just Madness they're just like you're just you were just a hard kid to say no to like I was very determined I felt like I knew what I wanted from a young age and they were really supportive of my dreams and they trusted me and you know my

my parents had me really young my mom was 23 my dad was 26 they left Kosovo because of the war in Yugoslavia and so they like really adapted to so many different situations in their own life they were separated from their family they had to like grow up and figure their own way and they were working in bars and restaurants and at the same time you know when I was born then like making sure that I wasn't missing out on anything it was just um they kind of instilled this heavy ethic in me so I

think they kind of either maybe saw a part of me in them or some kind of determination or something there that they were like okay like go do it try and see what happens and they pushed you yeah but they were there they were really there really special yeah what does it feel like to make them proud I it's amazing because I get to share it with them you know that it's it's uh I'm so close with my family and my siblings and um just like we're such a unit which is which is really fun

and to get to experience all these things it it means a lot because they keep me the most grounded like it's Madness this world and they give me normaly and they I don't know they instilled this like the the fact that I can live almost like two lives at the same time it's like I have music and my you know who I am on stage is in one place and then who I am at home and with my friends as a different person almost and I love being able to have those two I think that

yeah I can't I can't be one without the other that's so yeah I was just going to say like one incredibly healthy but two because of that your art will always be authentic but also be understood like I felt so understood by this album wow thank you and somebody who can get lost in the the or whatever the [ __ ] the atmosphere is of being one of the biggest most culturally significant pop stars maybe really one of all time dude you can get lost in that and then your art can like kind of deviate

too you get what I'm saying like yeah I guess that's like the scary thing you don't want to get lost in the I don't know and in of course like the excitement is one thing but I think losing yourself or totally different it's a completely different thing I think maybe like I always uh have this feeling that at any point like the rug could get pulled from under my feet so I love to like keep my head down work do my job do it well and get the [ __ ] out go and hang out

with my friends you know like that's really um that's really just the way I like to do it and I love that that that Duality that I get to have in in life like that that gives me so much peace balance how do you define success how do I define success um I think for me it's uh I've always defined it with my touring because I feel like so much of my career has been based on the amount of times that I've just gone and done shows around the world whether on my first album where

I just did you know three laps around the world into you know doing 9 to7 shows in a year for future Nostalgia that's crazy seeing the rooms grow and having something to bounce off of and being like okay next time I come back hopefully I can play a bigger room or see this grow or how how is the show going to change what can I bring to that crowd that for me shows me that things are changing or growing and and I'm seeing them in a yeah in a different in a different light is any

of that hard to wrap your mind around I mean every time I get out on stage I'm like whoa I can't believe this is my life um but it's it's a Dream It's a dream it's something that I've always dreamt of and before I knew like the ins and outs of what is needed of me in this as a as a career like when I was a kid when I thought about being a singer and being like oh this is what I want to do my mind directly went to me being on stage and Performing

and that is like the such a massive joy for me I feel so energized and yeah it can be like grueling and it's like you know it's a nonstop kind of traveling kind of uh I don't know way of life that you have to adapt to in in uh unconventional circumstances where you have to make a home in every single place but um I love touring because I just make the most of it I go and see the city I go to the restaurants I go and be a tourist I go and experience the culture

and then I get up on stage and I'm I don't know I I I feel like I don't want to let life pass me by because it just goes by so fast oh that's so special that's like the best way to look at it because people can look at it through the most negative light you know what I mean but to look at it through that light I don't know makes it a better experience for you and then the person who gets to experience that show you got to have fun with it [ __ ]

yeah you got to have fun with it you put the most into the live performances that you do you're Brit Award performance was [ __ ] crazy thank you how does one even physically train for that um well I guess because we done pretty much like a a month of rehearsals for the Grammys and that was kind of putting two performances together like you're like dangling took a long time and then going into the Brits um it was two weeks but it's just it's a lot of training it's with the dancers it's going in every

day and we have these like Collective warm-ups and then we go in bit by bit and we work on it and we just keep building and building and building until it feels like water but like what was going on on the Brit stage though were people floating people were floating we had like I at one moment I was holding on two like um aerialists who were holding my wrists crazy and they like lifted me up sick um for a moment but it it's just so much fun to bring a spectacle to people I love that

idea I love the element of surprise I love the the dance breaks and I love the you know the energy the energy is is special and I learned a lot of that uh from being on tour for a year is that really what fulfills you when it comes to live performances yeah yeah I get a massive adrenaline hit a real kick out of um performing and and um I don't know doing something that that is enjoyable for people to watch whether it's on TV TV or in the room you were uh answering question on Jeopardy

the other day I was yeah you didn't know no I didn't know you I have it hold on I'll read it to you what was it maybe you know the answer to it I don't know let me hold on let me uh I have it in my notes I want to read it exactly the way it's written because like I don't want to like ruin it um yeah but you it was good it was related to Barbie oh it was yeah I don't know where where it went but uh it was pretty cool it was

like um yeah it was like they brought up the fact that you're remember and yeah that's pretty sick it's culturally significant yeah culturally significant I love that a big deal yeah you know you made it when you have a [ __ ] Jeopardy question yeah yeah I think that were like in the New York Times cross word oh that's a big one too that one I get very excited about see like little like not little they're like little but big you know what I mean like they're like something like everybody does everybody will know it's

crazy yeah I love that one can we talk about this album like I have no idea when this is even being released but I would love to talk about it's fuing great like um how do you know it was finished let's start there uh good question I think uh I think it was really a collective decision we'd been writing so much and we wrote every day on the day like cuz I was writing a lot in between my T my tall legs and then there was one really solid couple months where we just worked every

single day and I think um sometimes it's easy to get jaded cuz you're right writing writing writing and then you're like is it good enough are we there yet you know where are we just we just sat and listened to every single song and we're like all right this is good this is good this is good start building where does this go how does this fit in um were you working on numerous songs at once or would you like finish one and then move on to another we would finish uh well actually sometimes like finish

start one and then maybe start another then go back to one um which is again unlike my process that I've done before but we really worked like a band you referred to this group I refer to this group as the band and it's something that I really um had envied like I I would listen and and hear other interviews of artists who are in a band and they would just sit and they would work together but it would be like they would start an idea then they would go on something else and come back to

it and the process was not as impulsive and not in such um like a short period of time so I Lov the idea of developing the songs as they went by so there were moments where we went back and like I said like I pretty much rewrote every single song couple times until it was right that that's is there a song that took the biggest shift from its original state to the state that we're going to get on this album um gosh I mean I think end of an era we went through quite a few

uh verses and we changed a bit of that also like when we started writing end of an era we started on the production and then we uh we started writing Melodies and I just I was like this isn't right this isn't right so I actually called off that session that day and I was like we're going to leave Kevin and Dany to just work on the track for the day and we're going to leave because I feel like we're getting right as block and we're hitting a wall and we're coming we're not getting like the

right Melodies it just didn't feel right so we left and we came back the next day and we heard the the track with fresh ears and then we were like ready it just gave us a whole new lease of energy I keep hearing that more and more like just through conversations listening to something a day later yeah is it changes your life changes everything because all you do is hear it hear it hear it and you don't know at a certain point like you it's like nose blindness for your ear you have to completely you

have to separate yourself from that and I think before I used to be so hard on myself and I think because again like the confidence thing and also going to a room with like experienced writers and feeling like I wasn't good enough I feel like it was I don't know I just kept um beating a dead horse basically like over and over and it just you nothing good comes of that so when you remove yourself and you give yourself that Grace to be like all right today is not working and it's okay and not to

I'm I'm going to go and have lunch I'm going to go out I'm going to do something I'm going to come back tomorrow and I'm going to have a fresh perspective and it helps God so healthy but it's hard like you I guess like a part of you wants to see something finished or like maybe that was trained in you yeah I think it's just that feeling of the the accomplishment the delivery just being like it's done you know whereas things don't have to be like that I think things can take time and you can

yeah just just allow yourself to have that time what was the first song you fully finished illusion illusion yeah illusion was the first song that was also kind of like uh it was the first session that we did all uh five of us as a band and it just clicked it was at that moment where we were like okay I think we're on to something now because right after that it was the day after that we wrote happy for you and the day after that we wrot what you're doing and it was in one week

we wrote three songs that ended up on the record and so we were just on this role we were just there was just an energy shift and we all felt like we were working towards something and we had a very clear idea of where we were going and that was um where were you going well into this like psychedelic world that was very vulnerable and honest at the same time but very like organic in terms of the musicality of it but at the same time Dancy and personal and I think experimental even with the samples

there's the tremolo of Kevin's voice in um happy for you uh which I just absolutely love and like the sound with the birds and it just transports you into a completely different place I really when we wrote that song I knew that was going to be my album closer what I mean was it the texture was it it was the texture of it it also felt like I just matured and seen myself grow as I was writing that song um dude it is about maturity and healing it is about maturity and healing uh I must

have loved you more than I ever knew I'm not mad I'm not hurt you got everything you deserve really some personal stuff but really accepting the reality yeah I think it's more of just being able to see something um for what it is with a very clear perspective and being like that was wasn't meant for me and I'm happy where you're at I'm happy where you're at cuz that allows me also to just like move on to whatever is meant for me which is the person that you were given Via Maria correct yes exactly and

Maria is another like what an interesting perspective um you know a full personal I don't know mature maturing moment because I I I would think this like when you go through a breakup you're like all right that person's going to go and be so much better for someone else now because I feel like whatever happened here they've learned and they're going to like put it into action in the next relationship and I think everyone has done that for someone or someone has done that for them like with every relationship you grow and you become hopefully

a better version of yourself from the experiences that you've had and so Maria is really about being grateful to the ex and being like thank you for doing that because we all we all grow we all learn and now I have this person who's just like meant for me in this way and and that is the larger story across the album right is losing one person but then finding the person who's right am I wrong in that no I think you're right I mean but also about like losing yourself and then finding yourself in the

midst like sometimes you just have to be like um I don't know you have to feel like you're underwater to you have to be out of your comfort zone to really find yourself I think it's always when your feet are dangling a little bit off the edge where you like do your most growing and and it's only in times um where things aren't going right where you see the way that you move um through the fire or through you know what ever is happening does the growing ever end the growing never ends no but I

think you just find new ways to to to go through it why like growing I think is so beautiful change is beautiful too um yeah eventually you find someone you want to ride to the change with though no exactly I think that's the that's the key yeah God [ __ ] pressure life it's crazy these walls is so good these walls yeah yeah really good very honest thank you very honest yeah listen to that with my boyfriend after we fought was really good it's really good well it's funny cuz you know when when it's just

two people and you know you're in a room or you know you're having an argument or you're going through a breakup or whatever the only witness you have is the wall and personifying them and giving them like a personality in itself is is uh is interesting because uh yeah it kind of that room knows you better than than anyone it knows you who you are in the silence and knows you're with the person that you're with and you know it's all those it's all those um things it's uh it's really powerful so these walls is

a special one I I really do sometimes wish the walls could talk yeah because they think they defend me but I don't know like I no [ __ ] like whose side are you on yeah be honest no don't [ __ ] with me man tell us right here right why am I on wall this is so sick oh man it's really good thank you it's really good thank you thank you what's so U um last song you made for it did I ask you that question last song I made for the album uh falling

forever it's great too falling forever was the last song on the album why did that why did it come last I don't know I don't know why it came last um I think I think uh I think it's like a like a manifestation song you know let's look at the lyrics hold on let me I don't believe that every flame has to get colder I hope that I hope the feelings that you give me carry over till tomorrow and Beyond yep how long how long can it just keep getting better can we keep falling forever

oh [ __ ] yeah and you got it right yeah did you manifest it like did you have what you wanted at the time of writing that no it came out after eh you came after yeah you got Energy power sis see I can feel it on you I'm telling you you're a Leo I'm a Leo interesting interesting what are you I'm a Taurus interesting my sister's a Taurus oh she's a good one a good one too my dad's a t Leo jeez yeah but you manifest yeah [ __ ] yeah I think putting things

into writing is powerful I agree you got you got ask for what you want so after you write radical opt optimism at as like the first thing in your journal what do you write after that uh then I kind of then I just started writing songs you you wrote like didn't you write over our like 90 songs for this one 97 to be precise okay holy [ __ ] which is actually funny because one of my um dancers Lamar we were doing rehearsals for the Brits and he's like it's crazy you wrote 97 songs because

we did 97 shows um when we were touring in 2022 and I didn't even realize and I was like what does that mean 97 something you're born in ' 95 right I was born in 95 yeah yeah you thr 95 and everything I like that yeah it's good it's good rain good number no it is great number wait what was I gonna I had a question um obviously that's what the [ __ ] I'm doing here uh thought just here because of my good luck [ __ ] because I could talk to a wall um

literally um wait what the [ __ ] was I asking oh that's such a sh oh Leo uh Leo you're manifesting manifesting um oh yeah I don't [ __ ] I forget now but anyway uh let me go back to you arrange let me go back to my notes oh what's the dumbest thing you've done for love what's the dumbest thing yeah you bring this up on the album a little bit this idea of doing something for love this idea of like I don't know like what is the dumbest thing I've done some I've never

done a dumb thing haven't been in love that many times no I think I don't know if it's like like uh I'm trying to think what's the dumbest thing dumbest thing um what is it you know I don't know if it's oh you know it's not even like dumb it's just very um forward I guess like you know when two people just feel like they're just so connected immediately so you're really openhearted and you just say everything that you feel it's not dumb it's just honest it's honest and scary when you're free falling and you're

like all right I'm going to take a leap and just say how I feel um without being afraid of it and if it doesn't work out it doesn't work out at least I'll be really honest and be like I don't know I have this really crazy overpowering feeling and yeah you know energy yeah I think yeah I I'm I'd like to think that I'm like an energy person yeah I can sense it so like in that situation right like are you doing that numerous times or is it only no yeah it's like to the person

the right person yeah it's like it's a feeling um and you just hope it's like reciprocated in that moment beautiful your hair the color what song is it connected to um did you mention that it was yeah it was it was really I think during the time when I was uh writing training season and Houdini that I felt like the color red was really coming through I mean there's so many different blue obviously um is a is a big part I feel like that's album cover I think that's these walls I think that's happy for

you I think blue is a very optimistic color I think maybe Red's the more radical side um duality again Duality again yeah interesting so blue to you when you look at that album cover it means well to me it that screams radical optimism honestly I feel like uh I'm very like calm and composed in deep Waters with a shark nearby which in any other circumstance is like a cry for help but it's kind of standing really strong in in you know in a in a moment of maybe fair you know do you end the album

in that place or do you start the album in that place um I think both the start and the end of the record they're equally radically optimistic the first one being the Free Falling the end of an era the idea of like whoa this could be it is this my happy ending like I don't want to come to my senses kind of thing and then the happy for you is again it's um being able to see yourself from a completely different perspective and see how much you've grown and uh be like oh I can move

on from a place of real love and respect because of my past or someone in my past you got to listen to radical optimism it's waiting for you on Amazon music there's going to be a code on the screen or a link below by the way you can also get it vinyl we're going to be doing a bunch of like exclusive cool colors so many like I've had so much fun um creating lots of exclusive vinyls for this record we've got so many different different additions can you explain to me like what merch and like

what that the the the visual side of this art means to you because it is like a physical even down to Fashion you know what I mean yeah it's it's really um fun and carefree and I just I want it just to feel easygoing something that everyone can throw on and and you feel good in it and um it's just it's kind of like No Frills you know I mean it is like it's interesting like when I look at even fashion right like it is your shoes red your hair right like it's all physical man

like tangible things that are connected to this new era yeah I've been wearing a lot of red I feel like I'm connecting [ __ ] yeah to it congratulations thank you congratulations on this new album It's thank you so much incredible please listen to it link below and I love your podcast oh thank you yeah we were talking before you're really good and you do it well you do a podcast show does this and thank you I try it's it's it's not easy it's not easy I mean you know you do it you do it

all the time it's it's for like for me I just I I have so much respect for you it takes me so long it's like I read so many other articles and watch the documentaries and the listen to other podcasts and do all the the prep which is why my my podcast has to come in phases because I I just can't manage everything at the same time cuz it takes up a lot of a lot of um space but I love it and I enjoy it and I learn so much from like the incredible guests

I get to have it's like the conversations are really special and I have the most respect for you because like what I told you before is like people can go and like just do do a podcast and make it like put no work into it and not care and then it's not good for anybody but the reality is like when you do when you do it do it you can actually grow as a human and totally yeah and some sometimes I mean like dude we probably like nine pages on you you know so sometimes like

it is a lot of prep but the truth is like you know I don't know it's I loved getting to understand who you are as a person and where you come from and it's you're [ __ ] awesome oh thank you so much you're awesome thank you so much for having me three albums in you should be incredibly proud and like God your dad also was a rock star I had no [ __ ] idea and now you guys run a business together yeah like you're it's really special stuff yeah thank you no it's it's

lovely I feel so lucky I feel so lucky to have that support and to get to do things like this with my dad and it's yeah it's been amazing it's really cool like it could be way [ __ ] worse yeah it good channel that good energy listen to radical optimism it's waiting for you below do Lea thank you so much Zach I appreciate you yeah likewise do leap everybody [Music]