Do you have a release date for your next single after the EP?
Well, we have the EP May 16, and the next single I plan on playing in Australia, so it won’t
come until after. There’s a lot of unreleased stuff I played for Mike and Noah that I didn’t realize
I had never played for them. They were both like, “We need to play these. Why are we not
playing these?” So we’re going to a rotating setlist in Europe and Australia. Every night will be
a little different. We have two new covers on top of Hot n’ Cold, and then we have five or six
unreleased ones that will be worked in.
How do you prepare for a rotating setlist? Do you have to make sure that all the songs are ready to go?
We have rehearsal on Sunday, and we’re just going to run the songs as many times as we can. Then on the day of, we can soundcheck whatever new ones we want. You just have to have a good
knowledge of everyone.
That sounds very stressful.
It’s definitely going to be something we need to get used to, but it’s something I’ve wanted to do
for so long, you know. I grew up seeing John Mayer and the 1975, who all switch around their
setlists because their catalogs are so big.
How did you come up with the concept for a melancholic romcom?
Honestly, the aesthetic and overall concept kind of came during and after the writing process.
When we started the writing cycle last spring, I had randomly gotten a free Paramount+
subscription. I just randomly started binging all the romcoms I’d never seen, like How to Lose a
Guy in 10 Days, She’s All That, and a couple others. As we picked the ones to record, I
started seeing the parallels to the movies. When we went to record, I had this thing that I had
told my producer, “I want it to sound like if Stranger Things were a romcom.”
It all happened at once. I didn’t have the concept of like, I’m gonna make a romcom EP. As we
were developing the mood board with my photographer and my best friend, it just started to feel
like me. The more we recorded it, the more we were making a move for it, the more it felt like
me. It wound up kind of working out and melancholic because it’s not the happiest of EPs. It’s
the heartbreak plot points, the problems, and the climaxes of them.
Do you have any music influences when it comes to your EP?
Funny story, Daniel Seavey was actually on that inspiration playlist. “I Tried” was on there, and
maybe “The Older You Get”. Musically, though, I think I have the same top five artists every
year, and they’re just so very obviously my influences. The 1975, 5 Seconds of Summer, The
Driver Era, Role Model, Dominic Fike, and sometimes Inhaler.
My manager had a cool moment while we were recording where he was like, “I can hear all of
your influences without it feeling like you’re imitating.” There were a couple of times where we
were like, “Are we too close right now?”, but I think we nailed a balance of trying to feed that. I
don’t like it when things are on the nose.
Since your EP is themed around romcoms, do you believe in any of the clichés?
I think the right person at the wrong time exists, but not in the way that people conceive it. Like, I
think there’s such a thing as the right person, but not being in the right space. I don’t think the
opposite is necessarily fair. A lot of people who don’t believe in it will be like, “Right person
wrong time doesn’t exist because if it were the right person, it would never be the wrong time.”
I don’t think that’s fair. There’s a difference between phase of life and compatibility. I also think
the sentiment of “if they wanted to, they would” is dumb. It doesn’t account for several things
that aren’t within people’s control.
There’s this thing that my friends and I talk about all the time, we call it the “it”. My best friend and I had an hour-long conversation because he doesn’t get it at all.
What is the “it”?
It’s this thing where the moment you meet someone, even if it’s not romantic,there is something
between you two where it’s like you feel like you’ve known each other forever.
What is your favorite rom-com?
10 Things I Hate About You, but I also love That Awkward Moment.
How would you define success?
I would define success by selling out my dream venue, Pier 17, in New York. I want to play it so
bad.
What’s next for you?
Well, what’s next is Europe. I want to start writing the next evolution, and I think just getting
back into it. It’s been a while since I’ve written something and I think I’ve lived a lot since I’ve
written something.
kylekelly
Instagram | Listen to a melancholic romcom
