Q: What is the biggest change between your first and second album that came out this past November?
A: The first album it feels like it was a collection of songs that we had written over the course of five or six years and a lot of the songs had already been released, or different versions of the songs.
This new album we had a few months to write it, a few months to record it, nobody had any idea what the hell we were working on. We felt super pressured, we felt this rush to put it out in the world. A lot more people were expecting something from us.
That being said, we think the songwriting on this last album, some of the songs were the most proud of, we feel like we were able to maintain the heart of A Great Big World, but evolve the sound a little bit.
Q: About that pressure you feel, especially with a song like “Say Something,” did you feel like you wanted to branch off or like you wanted to create something completely new?
A: After “Say Something” we had all these people on our team—you have to be in the room with this pop writer or that pop writer and go in the direction of a Demi Lovato or Selena Gomez and fit into their world. But it doesn’t feel like who we are, and it doesn’t feel as honest, and our goal from that point on was to be as honest and human as possible instead of trying to sound like what pop music is.
We never wrote anything to be a hit song, we were just writing for the joy of writing and then suddenly our dreams came true, but it also came with a bunch of stuff that we weren’t expecting; the whole business side of it, the pressures from the label, the expectations from press, to sing something that’s not a pop song.
Q: Are there any experiences or influences from your life that you pulled from to write your music?
A: Yeah totally, I [Ian] wrote “One Step Ahead” about my relationship with my now fiancé. I used that song to ask her to marry me, so [it’s] really personal stuff we are putting out there, and it’s amazing to be able to play that song for the first time with my fiancé in the room.
Q: Are any of those songs that have a confessional aspect more difficult or challenging to perform or write?
A: Those are the songs that are easy, some people have a hard time being open—Chad and I are not those people. The honest songs are the easiest to write—it feels like you’re giving birth to something, not that I know what that feels like. It feels like there’s this huge ball of energy in your body and it feels like it just wants to get out, and it’s so cathartic. We cry during some of the sessions […]
So the song “Don’t Stop Running” is all about my journey with Multiple Sclerosis—that song feels like the message is a little bit masked in these hooks, but if you really look at the lyrics and look at it with this eye, here’s this guy who has MS and this is his journey.
Q: Some of the messages might be masked, but do you have fans who come up to you because the song resonates with them? How have fans expressed this to you? Fan story time!
A: Yeah we get responses back that are responses that we never would have imagined or thought of. “Say Something” is an example of that, it was [about] heartbreak and letting go. When we put the audio online on YouTube before we had a music video, and all of a sudden people were using the YouTube channel as a confessional. They were telling their stories and it feels like these people never told their stories before, and all of a sudden everyone was chiming in, thousands of people—they were stories about death, stories from children.
I mean, I remember at one show we played in Alabama, someone came up to us after we played “Everyone is Gay,” […] she was crying and I just remember she just let her body let go into Chad and just hug him. [She] was crying because her parents were sitting next to her at the show and they tried to give her an exorcism because she was gay. So when that happens it just brings it to a whole ‘nother level. It’s a spiritual journey for us.
Q: Do you have any rituals before you perform live? Do you get nervous?
A: Every night before I go out on stage I feel completely insecure. I feel like, “Oh my god, what am I doing? Why am I here? These people are going to be so disappointed.” Then I go out on stage, I start playing, and I’m reminded instantly; I see their reaction, everyone’s into it. “Oh, this is what I’m supposed to be doing” […]
Get the full interview online at umassmedia.com.