Lauv discusses sophomore album “All 4 Nothing”
Photo by Sam Fisher/Universal Music Group
On Friday, August 5, Lauv’s (also known as Ari Leff) highly anticipated sophomore album “All 4 Nothing” came out, after singles "26," "All 4 Nothing (I'm So In Love)," and "Kids Are Born Stars" were sporadically released this past year.
“All 4 Nothing” reached 82nd place on Scottish Albums this year and comes almost two and a half years after his “How I'm Feeling” debuted at number 16 on the US Billboard 200. However, fans may be surprised by the content in the album that differs from “How I’m Feeling,” as well as his EP “Without You,” also released in 2020.
“Not that I was filtering myself before, but some of the songs [in this album touch upon] some of the stuff that I was going through,” Lauv said. “It's all there for people to see and in a way that's not trying to be polished for a pop record.”
That’s not the only way this album is different. “I used to be very much a control freak, producing everything for the most part as I'm working on a song,” Lauv admits. “I actually kind of took a little bit more of a zoomed-out approach [for this album] where I was just focused mostly on the songwriting and the singing.” The diversity in collaborators shines through new sounds and vibes that are apparent in the album.
A fan favorite is “Kids are Born Stars.” When asked who Joshua, a child featured in the song, is, Lauv joked it was his son to a stunned press conference, before admitting it was actually his manager’s son. The group wasn’t the only one fooled, he made the same joke on TikTok.
During lockdown, Joshua would often crash FaceTime calls Lauv had with his manager.
“Joshua would come in and say it's all gonna work out and they were just sweet and encouraging, which was so thematic for me because part of what I was searching for in making this album was getting in touch with my inner child and just feeling stress-free.”
Healing his inner child has been a focus point for Lauv. Memories of a makeshift skate ramp and a trampoline in a friend’s backyard bring him closer to his inner child. He speaks fondly of “summer days just skating all day eating popsicles, jumping on the trampoline, hanging with their dogs, and playing video games.”
This theme, along with finding your true self, is prevalent in his other songs as well. [“All 4 Nothing”] is “pretty much me being in my mid to late 20s realizing that I had this big dream of my life that I chased and I reached a certain level but I felt really empty on the inside,” Lauv said. “It's basically me on a journey of trying to find my own inner light again after feeling really out of touch with my true self.”
That journey hasn’t been easy for him and mental health is a common theme in his music. However, Lauv’s dedication to mental health awareness extends beyond that. In 2019, he established the Blue Boy Foundation, a “non-profit foundation devoted to raising funds and awareness around mental health and the stigma of asking for help.”
Blue Boy raised $150,000 in its first year and developed My Blue Thoughts, a platform for anonymous expression, in partnership with Microsoft. Every concert ticket comes with a $1 donation to the foundation, as well as a penny per stream of his song “Sad Forever.”
On Friday, August 12, Lauv also announced LAUV’S MEDITATION CLUB, a daily guided meditation hotline you can call at 762-CLB-LAUV.
You can stream “All 4 Nothing” on all platforms or see Lauv live on his North American tour with dates spanning until late September.