Luke Hemmings is introducing his new album era with the introspective “Shakes,” and to celebrate, the 5 Seconds of Summer vocalist sat down with Billboard‘s Rania Aniftos to discuss the writing process.
“I already had a lot of ideas for the album from being on the road, a lot of it was written in hotels and planes and all the sad boy places,” he recalled with a laugh. “That’s where a lot of it came from. The chorus was written in New York, and I was experimenting with pitching my voice, which is why the chorus kind of sounds like me but has other layers of pitched vocals.”
He continued, “I listened to a lot of The Verve, Blur, M83 and Beach House, which is where a lot of the inspiration came from. A lot of how I write for this project is pretty chaotic, so I’ll write a piece here and then won’t write anything for the rest of it for nine months. It turned into a mish mash of a story but it still has that emotion and feeling.”
And no, the other three 5SOS members — Ashton Irwin, Calum Hood and Michael Clifford — have not heard the new music yet. “I try not to play it for too many people. The whole point is to try and stand on my own two feet, but I will play it for them, for sure,” Hemmings explained.
As for what he wants fans to learn from his upcoming music, the 27-year-old star revealed, “I’m a very private person online and socially, so I think these songs are very much a window into how I see things and how I see the world. It’s stepping into how I see things and I hope they resonate with it on a personal level.”
Watch Billboard‘s full interview with Luke Hemmings above.