Lukas Graham made his global debut with his 2016 self-titled album, which featured the huge global hit ‘7 Years’. The track went on to spend five weeks at #1 on the UK’s Official Singles Chart as it amassed over a billion streams at Spotify and three Grammy nominations and it became the biggest selling single by a debut artist in 2016.
The multi-platinum, Grammy-nominated artist Lukas Graham shares his emotive new track ‘Scars’, which is out now on Warner Records.
‘Scars’ is the latest release from the Danish artist following last year’s single ‘Lie’. His most recent album, 2018’s ‘3 (The Purple Album)’, featured the track ‘Love Someone’ which has been streamed over 500 million times and has reached platinum or multi-platinum status in twelve countries.
He said:
“Scars come in many shapes and forms, the physical ones are often the easiest to deal with, while psychological scars can be very hard to cope with because no one can see them so we have to actively share them. We need to talk about these things in order to heal.”
Lukas amplified the track’s attention with performances on key Stateside shows including ‘Good Morning America’, ‘American Idol’, ‘Dancing with the Stars’, and ‘The Late Late Show with James Corden’. Lukas Graham made his global debut with his 2016 self-titled album, which featured the huge global hit ‘7 Years’. The track went on to spend five weeks at #1 on the UK’s Official Singles Chart as it amassed over a billion streams at Spotify and three Grammy nominations and it became the biggest selling single by a debut artist in 2016.
We had the chance to interview Lukas, read below!
We love 'Scars', it's a great, emotional track and really touches on opening up to help mental health. Would you say writing and performing is one of the ways that you deal with your own mental health and help your personal scars heal? "Yes, writing songs is very cathartic and so is putting your feelings into words in general. I probably wrote 20 songs specifically about the death of my father, but I’ve only released "You’re Not There”. I write down how i feel, mostly for my own sake, haha, and when it’s good enough i release it!"
You released your album '3 (The Purple Album)' in 2018. Is there another album on the horizon? "Yes definitely! I know that the musical environment and the market right now is dominated by singles, but i’m still a fan of the entire album. Especially the vinyl, with it’s “here I am size” that allows for a better appreciation of the artwork, giving it a magical appearance. I have 24 songs that are album worthy and i’ve been adding more to the list so there’s more or less 2 albums ready. I fantasise about one album release late 2020 and one early/mid 2021. Fingers crossed. Until there’s an album and a release date for it we’ll just be putting out singles like pearls on a string."
You were born in Copenhagen but you've toured the world and achieved amazing success, particularly in the States. Where do you consider home? Do you find your surroundings impact on how you write?
"Writing songs and stories about the life that I live became “my way of doing it” fairly early on in my career and it helps me appreciate the stages I’ve gone through. Through my songs I’ve kind of evaluated my life in an ongoing process, so when my friends talk about times flying by, I talk about how many special moments and memories I’ve been blessed with. A positive byproduct of this so called evaluation, is that I can now accept Copenhagen as my home, because of my fiancé Rillo Schwartz and the family we’ve built. Traveling the world made me realise that having my family close was the most important thing for me, so now my in-laws are my next door neighbours."
Did you feel a lot of pressure to come back from having one of the biggest tracks of 2016? "No. I love writing songs more than I enjoy performing them, and no two songs are the same. You go into a room with nothing and you come out with something you’ve invented. That feeling is best described as exuberant. To me at least, the most important thing is to have fun and be happy in the life that I am leading. It’s so heartbreakingly easy to be miserable chasing success. On the contrary, I find it surprisingly easy to be happy and have fun when i’m chasing peace." What's next for Lukas Graham? "First up, we’re having another daughter, Billie in a few weeks (wish us luck under these strange corona circumstances) Then, of course, lots of singles and albums in the pipeline. Concerts, tours and festivals when we’re allowed to again. And as a fun little surprise to everyone who enjoys listening to our music, our first ever album with be made available to the whole world. (It was only ever released in Denmark and Germany)"
Find out more HERE