Lauv - All 4 Nothing

While it may not seem like there are a lot of parallels you can draw between American poet Emily Dickinson and Lauv, they do seem to agree on one thing: fame really is a fickle food. Having quickly risen through the ranks in the lead up to the release of his 2020 debut ‘~how i’m feeling~’, Ari Leff’s relationship with stardom has clearly already been a bit tumultuous. Take ‘26’, the opening track here; a glitchy offering which sees him pondering his own place in the world and how to move forward with the attention he’s now garnered (“He made a couple songs and they got big / He thought that he could do whatever he wanted / But it all left him with a hole in his heart”). It’s a jumping off point for a record that dabbles in self-reflection and reminiscing, but still, at its heart, mostly focuses on the sugary synth-pop he made his name on. From the dreamy ‘All 4 Nothing (I’m So In Love)’ to the confessional piano-introduced ‘Summer Nights’ (which soon melts into a slinky dance-flecked number), Lauv’s second record certainly provides an array of sweet pop highs, but still doesn’t quite show us who the writer behind it all really is.