Going into this record was there any overarching thing that you specifically wanted to do differently from Special Affections?
Yeah, I knew that I wanted it to be a step up, sonically. I had this real epiphany moment when my creative director Lisa and I went to see Katy Perry in Toronto, at the hockey arena where she was playing last summer. And somehow “All Yr Songs,” one of my first tracks, made it onto the playlist that they were playing before her set. And that was really cool, on the one hand, hearing it in that context, this bedroom, lo-fi recording being played in this big hockey arena. But on the other hand it sort of showed how different what I was doing sounded from everything else that was from, let’s face it, what a large percentage of the population is really into. I think as a pop artist, or one that strives to be a pop artist, ultimately I want to connect with people, as many people as I can. So I knew that I wanted songs to kind of speak that more populist language, sonically. I didn’t really change my approach lyrically or emotionally. I feel like they’re still conveying the same message, but just coated in a way that has a few more layers of gloss. It’s like we spent a two more hours waxing the car.
