STACK #217 November 2022

MUSIC FEATURE

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Dean Lewis photographed by Kent Tarver

I'm bad at a lot of things, but the one thing I keep improving on is songwriting

You literally dropped your croissant on camera when you found out the track had cracked theTop 200 Global Songs. You've also said it's the best song you've ever written. Are you

confident there's another 'best' song, or two, or more in your future? Or do you try

not to think about that? I live for writing the best songs that I can write. I want the songs to be successful, [but] the difference [now] is I'm not desperate for it. Now, I think I was on my first album: I moved in with my grandma five years earlier, to save money and give this thing a crack. And so I knew what the other side of life was like for me, so I felt like I needed to have a song that was big, to get myself out of that situation. But it's also my passion, and life purpose. My purpose in life, I feel, is to become great at something. I want to be really good at one thing in my life. And I'm bad at a lot of things! But I feel like one thing that I keep improving on is songwriting, songwriting, songwriting. I'm always completely surprised at every song that connects on a on a bigger level. It's so rare, and almost impossible to do. It's like lightning striking. And I've had it once and if I have it a second time, that's enough, but I'm still at this point. I'm still thinking about the second time. The 6/8 time signature of Small Disasters gives it a real propulsion and an inevitability, which fits its narrative so well. Do you think about the form of your songs in this way, matching something technical to a feeling? I did not even know it was in a 6/8 time signature, I have no idea what I'm doing as I do this! This song was written the day after I wrote Be Alright , and I forgot about it. It was a song that my brother kept telling me that I needed to revisit. And I did revisit it, five years later. It was originally on piano, and in a different key. The

INTERVIEW

Dean Lewis's ill-fated relationship with a particular girl informed the bulk of the now Nashville-based artist's sophomore album, but it's all the lessons and observations between the knots of that liaison which make The Hardest Love such a compelling listen. Words Zoë Radas DEAN LEWIS

say?', or 'Is this embarrassing to say?' – then I remember that vulnerability, and my genuine, authentic feelings... if I write those down as simply as I can, it will help [listeners] process whatever they're going through. With a song like How Do I Say Goodbye , it's easier to talk about because my dad is in remission. But when I play it live on stage, I do get emotional, because it's intense... but it also

After listening to the album, here’s our most burning question: How do you make yourself vulnerable enough to write a song so emotionally raw that it requires you to mentally visit a place of pain to deliver it authentically? I released a song very early on – which I had this fear of releasing, and of what people would say – called Half a Man , from my first album. And I remember when I started playing the song, people would cry, or feel so deeply that they would tell me about how much it impacted them, and how much it moved them, and how much it helped them process something. So now when I have that same feeling – it's almost like a cringing feeling; I think, 'What are people going to

chorus used to go down so the verses were higher, and I flipped that because I just thought, 'I think I've learned a few more things over the years.' And I ended up coming up with this great guitar riff, I'm so proud of [it]... there's tension in it, where it's building and building. It's this relentless, beautiful riff over and over again...

The Hardest Love

by Dean Lewis is out Nov 4 via Island.

becomes quite a joyous, uplifting feeling, with everyone singing along. It's like having a good cry.

Continue reading the full interview online at stack.com.au

64 NOVEMBER 2022

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