2. “Human Being”

There’s a robotic sensibility to the lyrics on this song: “You know we’re the same kind/A dying race.”

I had just read the book Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari and I was inspired by the way that he described our relationship to animals. He wrote about what the future will be like, and how is AI going to treat us. The only other relationship we have with another form of life that would be similar to how AI would relate to us is how we treat to animals. So I wrote the song as if AI had taken over the world, and the human beings were the minority. AI will do everything better than us, maybe even have emotions. What is it that’s so special about us really? And if you take that away, is there any value still left in being human? I think the value is being connected to other people.

3. “Because It’s in the Music”

This track is really at the crossroads of sweetness and melancholy—it’s light as air, but then it’s got those low-end disco bass octaves to keep it grounded. What's it about?

I wrote it about a particular night, but also it came from just hearing Joseph’s track—it sounded very disco for me in this special way. It was interesting to write a song about disco music on a track that reminded me of disco. The lyric is about how there are songs that you connect to certain people. I wanted it to be like when you listen to a song that you know someone else had a relationship to, and maybe it’s over, and you don’t know if that person feels the same way and thinks about you. I wanted the bridge to just be bass and drums, but Klas and Joseph had these other ideas. Joseph basically wrote a new song—he said, “I’m going to write the song that this song is about”—and we put it in at the end. Also, Klas performed a flamenco solo for this song—but we all agreed to leave it off.

4. “Baby Forgive Me”

We’re knee deep into interpersonal relationship drama on this track.

It’s about power dynamics in a relationship. It’s about hurt. In a way, maybe it’s a submissive song. But it’s also quite an aggressive thing to demand someone to take you back. I don’t know if forgiveness is possible. Maybe it is. I’ve asked people to forgive me many times. Forgiveness is also something that can be discussed. It can be negotiated.

When I was writing this song, I was thinking of “Streets of Philadelphia” by Bruce Springsteen. The energy of it. The mood. For me, that song is a version of disco.

5. “Send to Robin Immediately”

This track reminds me of late night transcendence on a dancefloor. I love that the beat doesn’t drop until we’re halfway through the song.

It’s a song that I made with Kindness [Adam Bainbridge] right at the end of making the album. The file that Adam sent me was called “Send to Robin Immediately.” I played it for a friend, and he saw the file and said, “Is that the name of the song?” I said, “No, but maybe it should be.” The title stuck.

The lyric seems to be about urgency and immediateness, living in the nowness of things: “If you know that you really care/Don’t hold your breath.”

In the aftermath of losing people, you realize how important it is to appreciate them when you have them. Also, when you come out of a rough period, it becomes about the appreciation of life, of being here and having the things that you have, like friends and music. I wouldn’t say that making music is my therapy, but music does makes me feel like I want to be alive. There’s nothing that makes me feel as in love with my life like music.

6. “Honey”

I’ve read that this track took you longer to make than almost any other you’ve ever worked on.

The song was recorded in many different places: Sweden, Paris, L.A. All of those vocal sessions made it into the final recording. I was in a particular mood when I was writing it, and the lyrics talk about going to a sensual place, in the same way I talk about making music because it makes me feel good, that it’s a playful thing, something that I can do that soothes myself if I do it in the right way.

I called the album Honey because of what this song means to me, and how it was important to the making of the record. Maybe “Honey” describes a state of mind instead of the actual substance. To get myself back into actually enjoying making music again, I had to do it in a sensitive way. There’s a sensuality that came out of that, that I wanted to achieve.