I think that I’ve been good at writing lyrics and leaning into the sonics with them, making sure that there’s some kind of collaboration between both. “I’m Sick” is a good example, because it’s like a revenge song with a very playful backtrack. It’s a weird juxtaposition that I think drills the message in that nothing is ever that serious, which is another theme that I have been trying to hold on to through this chapter of my life. It was even the last lyric in my last album: “Don’t take that shit too seriously.”
Has there been a growing pressure to take yourself seriously once you became someone that people were actually paying attention to?
There wasn’t one at first, that kind of developed later on. When I started reading articles and tweets about myself on the internet, that’s when the pressure really settled in, but I’ve since been able to ground myself and always try to remind myself that, again, nothing is ever that serious.
What was it like seeing yourself on a TV show for the first time?
Nerve-wracking! It was literally my first time acting and I didn’t know if I was going to be shit on from all angles or not, but people were pretty receptive up until that guitar episode. I always say that you do what you can and just put your best foot forward when possible. I actually rented out a theater and invited a bunch of my friends and people from the show to watch the premiere and realized that I do not like seeing myself act no matter what, even if people tell me it’s good. I was in this movie that just dropped, Earth Mama, and I haven’t even seen it yet.
I have to go do ADR right after this, which is basically when you overdub the audio of a movie and I can’t stand watching or hearing myself when I do. Once I walked out of this ADR session I did and David Schwimmer came in at the same time as I left and was like, “The acting is phenomenal man” and I’m there thinking the complete opposite.
[Laughs] That’s sick. What goes through your head when rewatching?
I’m just like, “Look at this stupid face, this stupid guy right here, like what are you even doing?”
I feel the same way when I listen to something like my own voicemail! It’s such a weird feeling. Do you try to approach acting the same as you do music?
Ideally, it would come from the same place, but sometimes it comes from a more jaded area in the brain. I'm just like, “Ok, gotta look cool … make sure your eyes are okay, make sure you're breathing properly.” “Do people blink like this … when they're saying these words?” It can be super vain and self-analytical, but when it’s done right, I feel like it’s pure just as with music.
You mentioned earlier how the experience of making music can feel ephemeral to you despite hours passing. There’s also this childlike whimsy — maybe the word is openness — throughout the album that makes me wonder if there’s an age you defer back to when you write.
That’s a good question. I’d say that a lot of it addresses current themes that are taking place in my life right now, and then I sort of use bits and pieces of the past to string it all together. Except for a song like “Ant Pile”, which is definitely written about high school. That one was almost like a writing assignment in which I wanted to tell a story. I think that was the only song that I consciously made a decision to reach back and pull from the past.
The title track, “Sunburn”, seems to thread it all together into one coherent narrative. Do you mean it literally when you say, “When I die baby, lay me in the sun”?
“Sunburn” is really an ode to Florida, like when it’s all said and done, that’s where I grew up, where my moral compass was developed, and where I want to be when it’s over. I mean, not super literally, like when I die, bury me in Florida no matter what, even if I’m living in Little Canyon. But that’s where my heart is, those are the people that raised me and I’m sticking to that.
Does your mom like it?
She loves it. I called her like ten minutes before the record dropped, and was like, “Man, I think people are gonna fucking hate this shit mom.” I made it so long ago, I started having doubts that it was a good time to drop it, like I missed the mark or something, but she was very encouraging and told me that it would be fine.
She’s honestly been so supportive throughout my entire career, although the amount of time we have to spend apart is a bit saddening. That being said, it’s still such a step up from the life that we lived and I imagine that she’s very proud. I know that if I had a kid I would want them to do what they have to do, as much as I may want to hang on, be around and love them.