Lauv Reveals He Had An 'Existential Breakdown' While Working On New Album

Lauv is opening up about the internal struggles he encountered while starting to write his second album All 4 Nothing. In a recent interview with NME, the hitmaker revealed, “I had such an existential breakdown. At one point, I was like, ‘I want to step away from music’. And then, I came back around and realised [sic], I don’t feel an innate sense of deserving to be happy.”

His 2018 single "I Like me Better" earned him over two billion streams, launching his successful career. His "existential breakdown" in relation to how his life has changed comes up during the album's opener and one of his newest singles "26." On the track he sings, “Can I tell you a story / ‘Bout a boy who broke his own heart? / And he always blamed everybody else / But the truth is that he did it to himself." He continues, "26 and I’m rich / How the hell did it come to this?”

Lauv continued discussing his recent epiphany in the interview, “For so much of my life I was just like, ‘All I want to do is make music that connects with a lot of people,” he says. “And then that happens – and I still feel the same. I don’t feel any better. And [I was] feeling like, ‘What the fuck do I do to feel OK?’” He went on to say, "I spent a lot of time chasing goals and achievements as opposed to growing relationships with people in my life,” he says. “I let music take up so much space in my life to the point where everything else was kind of just stagnant.”

The singer recently sang some new tracks off his upcoming album, including the BTS feature "Who," during his performance at iHeartRadio Wango Tango earlier this month. Lauv's All 4 Nothing is set to drop on August 5 and will embark on a tour in support of the album.