Lauv opens up about living with OCD. Image Source: Evening Standard
Lauv opens up about living with OCD and his second studio album.
Singer Lauv recently spoke to People magazine and shared about his upcoming album titled, "All 4 Nothing" and how it has been for him living with OCD.
The inspiration for ‘All 4 Nothing’ was a concept that had evolved before he realized that he should write about everything he was going through and get back in touch with his childhood self. The singer mentioned that the second studio album is about a boy or a person who has felt very out of touch with himself and felt disconnected and anxious just trying to find that sense of self-love and confidence and childhood life again.
He shares that writing ‘All 4 Nothing’ helped him push forward to get back in touch with a part of himself because he had felt like he had lost touch with it. Throughout his early 20s, Lauv explained that life pulled him in so many directions that he felt like he had left his center and ‘All 4 Nothing’ was reconnecting with that center.
According to the 27-year-old singer, "All 4 Nothing" is very personal to him and his experiences, but he hopes that the audience who would listen to it would be able to connect with the songs and music in their ways and maybe find touch with their center at some point which either they have forgotten or lost touch with. Lauv revealed that his favorite song from the 13-track album is "Bad Trip" because it’s just so different for him, and in regards to his emotional level, "Hey Ari" is his favorite since it’s a sobering moment for the singer to check up on himself (Lauv’s real name is Ari Staprans Leff).
Lauv further discussed that he started working on ‘All 4 Nothing’ in 2021 and had spent long hours in the studio nailing a perfect record for his second studio album, admitting that he gets very obsessive during the album-making process because he loves the idea that anything is possible and ‘All 4 Nothing’ could be anything. Lauv also talked about living with OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder) and said that while he appreciates that it makes him a hard worker, he added that it’s a slippery slope to overdoing it.
The singer explained that because of OCD, he stays long hours in the studio trying to perfect the album, and he knows that somewhere deep down it is not right for hours and hours and hours. He is just losing touch with everything else and it gets so easy to get obsessed and added that he has been doing something for a long time that has helped him to battle OCD, which is meditation, and he has been able to connect with the spiritual side of things, as opposed to just thinking before that it was like he was learning how to go deeper in therapy and learning about medication.
Lauv joked that he does not know if part of that comes with living in LA and there is so much going on, but he is more open to some more spiritual stuff like reiki, spirit guides, and tarot reading. The singer said that jokes aside, he just feels like daily life is fighting to be the person he wants to be and that he knows he is but also with all of his patterns that come in the way.
Lauv has shared a sequence of social media posts that detail the meaning of each song with a short description, which is a way to connect with his fans. The singer is ready to kick start his ‘All 4 Nothing’ tour with Hayley Kiyoko on August 11 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and concluded that he cannot wait to be on stage and fall in love with the songs in a different way.
‘All 4 Nothing’ is out now.
