American singer, songwriter and record producer — popularly known as Lauv — was recently in the city on his own Asia tour.

Born as Ari Staprans Leff,  American singer, songwriter and record producer — popularly known as Lauv — was recently in the city on his own Asia tour. The Los Angeles-based singer, who shot to fame with his 2015 EP Lost In the Eye, was on his second visit to India after 2017 when he opened the concert for Ed Sheeran’s Asia tour.

While he captivated the audience with his performance at the Famous Studios, with people grooving to his hit number I Like Me Better, the singer is excited about his new song Drugs and The Internet which, according to the singer, is an interpretation of a phase in his life. “To be honest, that song literally flew out of my noggin. It is the time of my life when I felt that the relationship I share with my friends is not strong and felt very lonely. And at the same time, I was getting obsessed with the Internet. And social media was the only thing that was giving me validation. It was more like trading real love for empty bullshit, to get high,” he says.

Another high point in the 24-year-old singer’s musical journey was his song In a Different Way with DJ Snake, that garnered commercial as well as critical acclaim. However, their collaboration started over the Internet with Lauv sending him vocals. “I, Ed Sheeran and a few others wrote the song together and didn’t even meet him until we got to the music video set. When I actually met Snake, I saw how real he is as a producer and how he cares about advancing the electronic music scene. He is always doing something different. I think that is the coolest passion I have ever come across,” he recalls.

Talking about I’m So Tired, a collaborative venture with LGBTQ pop sensation Troye Sivan that became a hit globally, Lauv recollects how it all started with them playing at a show together. “After our performance, we got together to write. Initially, we made a different song which was a disaster. But I already had the course of I’m So Tired done a couple of days earlier. So I decided to play it for him, unsure whether he would like it or not. But he liked it and we ended up writing the whole song there and then. It was just magic, I'm super proud of that song,” he smiles.

Someone who has written songs for artists, including the singles Boys by Charli XCX and No Promises by Cheat Codes and Demi Lovato, Lauv once had a close brush with anxiety and depression. While he believes it is important to talk about it, at the same time, attributes it to misinformation bombarded to the human brains on the Internet.     

“Mental health issues are more prevalent than ever. We are always on our phones and there is just stuff all of the time that’s unnecessary to which the human brain is yet to evolve. The amount of comparison is there on the Internet, just makes things worse,” he says.

On his trip to India, Lauv feels like a superstar to have come back and performed for the second time. “I loved it when I was here with Ed Sheeran, it was an amazing time. And I think Prateek Kuhad would be cool to work with,” he concludes.