LOST IN TRANSLATION

LUKE HEMMINGS EMERGED ONTO THE MUSIC SCENE, AND INTO THE LIMELIGHT, FOURTEEN YEARS AGO ON YOUTUBE WITH THREE OF HIS BEST FRIENDS. FIVE SECONDS OF SUMMER TOOK THE WORLD BY STORM, WITH HEMMINGS COMING ALONG FOR THE RIDE. THE MUSICIAN HAS WOVEN A FANBASE THAT HAS LOVED HIM UNCONDITIONALLY, SUPPORTING HIM FROM HIS TEENAGE YEARS, INTO WHERE HE STANDS NOW, AS A 27-YEAR-OLD, VENTURING INTO HIS PROJECTS. HE IS AN ARTIST OF PRIVACY, HONESTY, AND DEEP COMPLEXITY WHO DEMONSTRATED SUCH WITH HIS FIRST STUDIO ALBUM WHEN FACING THE THINGS WE TURN AWAY FROM IN 2021. NOW, THREE YEARS LATER, HEMMINGS IS RELEASING BOY, A SIBLING PROJECT TO HIS PRIOR ALBUM THAT EXPANDS ON PREVIOUS FEELINGS DISCOVERED WITH MORE ASSURANCE, CONFIDENCE, AND CONTENTMENT. THIS EP ENCAPSULATES THE SENSITIVITY OF WHAT IT IS TO BE CONSTANTLY MOVING AND FEELING, AND HOW TO FIND SOLACE AND HOPE IN THOSE SPACES. WE CAUGHT UP WITH THE ARTIST TO DISCUSS HIS CREATIVE PROCESS WITH BOY, HIS IDENTITY AS A BAND MEMBER AND SOLO ARTIST, AND CONSTANTLY FIGURING THINGS OUT.

Left Jacket & shirt **Loewe**
Right Coat, shirt, shoes, tie **Alexander McQueen**, Jeans **Wax London**

What was your creative process when crafting Boy? Who did you have to see, and where did you have to go?

Oh, my goodness. It's a long list. The creative process was, I came in, after my first solo album, tentatively knowing I wanted to expand on it and see how far I could go—you know—what else I could make my own. So I worked with Sandy Woody from the first album again. And it was written in pieces around the world, on planes and hotel rooms. And then the bulk of it was written in New York, in Brooklyn. And that's where a lot of the initial energy of the EP came after the travelling parts, it sort of came to fruition in New York. And I was listening to a lot of LCD Soundsystem, a lot of The Rapture, a lot of Cocteau Twins, and My Bloody Valentine. So, kind of that 1990s-2000s sort of area. And I was just trying to get through all that I can remember. I mean, I'm always watching a wide mixture of stuff, but specifically for the visuals of the videos and all, there's a lot of like Paris, Texas and Lost in Translation. Those sorts of, you know, beautiful existential-like visuals and feelings to them.

Shirt & shoes **Prada**, Jeans **Isabel Marant**

What are some of the instruments or types of production we're hearing throughout the project? Especially since they sound quite similar to film scorings.

There was a lot of, for some reason, I bought a bunch of vintage drum machines. For years, I have written on a guitar and piano. And the first album was very much like that as well. And it was fun going into this kind of like, I don't know, messing around with things. I'm not a drummer, but I can sort of get by, and it just sort of made the process a lot more childlike fun and stuff. I always use my voice as kind of a vocal pad and I was pitching my voice around a lot like even on Shakes and Close Enough to Feel You, there are these pitch vocals that are the main thing, and then Still Your Boy has a big vocal stack. So, you can't pick out what the lead is on it. And then it's kind of a mixture, like lots of the drums are either Super Stroke Z type high hat or really big, mid-three Beach House sort of drones.

Jacket **LGN Louis Gabriel Nouchi**, shirt **Emporio Armani**, Jeans **Isabel Marant**, tie stylist own

Which song on Boy felt the most vulnerable to make?

They kind of all have a bit of it. I think “Still Your Boy” is pretty vulnerable. Yeah, I think that's probably the one where perhaps I come across the worst? I just think it's such an emotionally deep song. And I think the chorus being that one line is not something I would say. And I kind of like that. It's a little bit tongue-in-cheek, which is not what I would have done on the first album. I just felt happy that it was sort of slightly out of my comfort zone a bit.

Right Jacket & shirt **Loewe**, Jeans **Wax London**

How do you want your audience to feel? Or what do you want them to picture throughout their listening experience?

Yeah, the stuff I've touched on is kind of where I was writing it from. That's the emotional place. A bit disenfranchised, disconnected from human life. I think the whole thing, as I was writing it, I really didn't want it to be a sad bunch of songs. I think the first album had a little bit of that where listening back to them I was like, “Okay, I love this. But how do I make it so it's more of a full spectrum of human emotion as opposed to just sad songs?” So I was always trying to ride that melancholic line. If you listen to those movies I mentioned earlier, where it sort of depends on what headspace the person watching or listening is in, it decides how you feel after if that makes sense. So I think, for me, there's a lot of hope in the songs, even though they feel cinematic and dreary and emotional. Distraught— a little bit sometimes—but it was a conscious effort to not let it go too far to the other side. I wanted it to feel hopeful and a little bit more like a full broad spectrum of human emotion, I suppose, is the best way I can put it. Not every day is bad. Not every day is great. But I think my headspace goes up and down. So in a volatile way, I wanted it to ride that middle spot.

Left Full look **Valentino**
Right Coat, shirt, tie **Alexander McQueen**

Your prior record When Facing the Things We Turn Away From and Boy are almost sibling albums. And they're two different interpretations of your feelings. What are the lessons you take from both in your life now?

I think the first album, they're both—well, for me personally, even removing myself from the lyrics, I feel really proud of that first album, because I was really scared. And I wasn't sure if I could do anything on my own and write something that I really loved wholeheartedly on my own. So that was a really big step. And then coming to the second one, because the second, you know, Boy wasn't written in COVID. It was kind of just written. It was written on the road. But that's kind of what my normal life is. So it was kind of written more novel life. I'm really stoked, I wanted to expand on the first record and make something that I thought was closer to what I was trying to get to. I think the first time had a bunch of different influences. And Boy does, but it feels more fun. I think, as an artist, you're trying to get to the heart of why. Whatever the art you think you want to make. Like you're trying to get to what is it, and I think I got way closer on this. So that's super exciting. And then I think like, lyrically, when you're making bodies of work like this, you're trying to have a snapshot of where your life was, and what your headspace was at a certain time, and I think, I see lyrical growth. And a bit more hope. A bit more ‘years under the belt to talk about stuff,’ you know, and I'm sure I'll think the same thing about Boy, and I'd be like, “Ah, I thought I thought I knew everything back then.” But then you fast forward a couple of years later, you're like, “Oh, shit, I didn't have it all figured out.” And I feel like it probably just goes on like that until you die. You think you can just sort of feel like you know what you're doing. And then you go, “Oh, shit, I didn't know what I was doing.”

Left Full look **Valentino**
Right Shirt & shoes **Prada**, Jeans **Isabel Marant**

Did you imagine that all the songs that you're making would turn into an EP? Did you imagine you'd make something like a follow-up project that would be longer? Or were you quite content that it turned out to be more of a shorter album?

Well, I think at the time where it was like, I think we're gonna do an EP, I probably had like two fewer songs. And because when I'm in writing mode, it sort of consumes my life. So I was lucky enough that a few more songs came out. So it's a longer EP and it's a shorter album. And I kind of love it. So I'm really happy with how it feels. Feels like this cool world you can easily get lost in, which is, it's less daunting than, I don't know 12 tracks or 14 tracks staying in the same vein, and I love how every song has its own video. Shakes is like the montage of all the other videos. And I don't think I would have been able to do that. With more songs it would have, it would have lost more meaning adding more songs and more videos. So I think it turned out exactly the way it was supposed to.

Jacket & shirt **Loewe**, Jeans **Wax London**

What are the types of visuals that we should expect to get from each music video for each song?

Yes, so there are seven scenes, almost like each song has its own scene of different moments in time and Shakes is the combination of all those put together. All the other videos will be almost—I guess they’re like visualizers because they're sort of a bit monotonous. Shakes is very chop-chop-chop montage-y vibes and the other ones are very much like you're watching real life, which is where those references came in. You know, when you watch Lost in Translation, when he's in the elevator, it almost goes on a bit too long. That's kind of the feeling I was trying to get across.

So you've been in the limelight for over 10 years, which is crazy. How do you feel like that reflects your fan base? How would you describe your audience now, in contrast to who they were during the 2010s?

When 5SOS started as a band, I think everyone was our age. And as you know, from 15 to 25, or, you know, I'm 27 now, from that age, it’s such a massive growth, and it’s life-changing. I think, for me, it feels like we've grown up with that fanbase that started with us. And as people have come and gone, and there are people that just listen to this song or this album or whatever, but for the most part, it does feel like they've grown up with us and the band has changed influences a lot. To a certain extent, the band doing solo projects is being mirrored because I think it's exciting to see other stuff come out and I think our band is unique in the sense that people can attach themselves to anyone in the band because we're all very equal. And we all can write, perform, and play. I just think it's rad. And I'm stoked that people still listen, they allow me and allow us to have different creative endeavours as we get older, knowing the band is a safe place and a place that we will always come back to.

So how do you separate the identity you have with 5SOS in contrast to the one that you're developing as a solo artist? Has Boy made it easier to detach from both roles?

Yeah, I think I feel it is easier than the first album. I've been in the band for so many years, and from such a young age, that it really does feel like they're my brothers. And it's a family. So it was scary. And I was very anxious about that. But I do feel like, on Boy, I feel more like I can stand on my own two feet. Which is really, really nice. But I think that's who I am. And I think, as the band grows up, we all have, you know, different partners, live in different places. And, some of us have families, and I feel like I know who I am in both of those settings. Now more than ever, I like doing both—I find them both rewarding in different ways.