After some secret messages were exchanged through their music, rumours started circulating about a potential romance between Adam Young and Taylor Swift. We all know nothing really happened around Valentine’s Day but we’re still curious about what exactly went down. We asked Owl City about his musical flirting with Taylor Swift and a rather controversial blog post about changing his musical style.
andPOP had an email interview with Adam Young, who talked about collaborating with Canadian singer, Lights, keeping in touch with friends and writing about personal relationships.
“Some are true, some are fabricated, some are metaphorical, some are written entirely from the imagination,” said the Minnesota native. “The only songs I’ve ever written 100% accurate to a very personal relationship of mine is a melancholy piano ballad entitled called Lonely Lullaby.”
Young said the song Lonely Lullaby is about his ex-girlfriend Ann Marie who he described as the “most wonderful, beautiful woman” he knew.
He was “madly in love with everything about her” and said she had a huge impact on his life.
Maybe communication was the reason their relationship didn’t last.
“Ironically I’m too shy to webcam with friends, or even family for that matter. I’m not much for phone calls or texting either. Communicating is just not something I’m crazy about. I’d rather communicate through music.”
When asked about All Things Bright and Beautiful, Owl City’s latest album, Young said that he wishes his music could portray the “pure and perfect dreams” his “imagination so effortlessly captures.” But translating what’s in one’s mind isn’t the easiest of tasks.
“I wanted the record to feel extremely innocent because of my innate fascination with all things that are pure and beautifully innocent. Nature might be the most perfect form of innocence I can think of and that’s ultimately why the album is very “forest/countryside” themed,” said Young.
As a multi-instrumentalist and producer, Young spent a lot of time polishing his “craft as an engineer” before worrying about writing lyrics or arranging songs.
“Rather than turn knobs without knowing what they do, this time around I made sure I really knew the gear I had in the studio before diving into the songwriting part of the process,” said Young. “The record is a notch up for me with respect to production, I’m really happy with how it turned out and I’m very excited about the next chapter in this wild and crazy story known as Owl City.”
While writing The Yacht Club, a dance track, Young decided that the track needed a “breathy, whimsical, dreamy female vocalist.” Guess who popped into his mind? Our very own Lights! And good choice too. For Young, it was a dream come true to work with her.
Breaking news: Adam Young, the artist behind the electronic/pop project Owl City reveals exclusively to andPOP that he he hates owls. In the Q&A, Young — whose single “Fireflies” continues to top charts, including the Billboard Hot 100 — dishes on a possible collaboration with Lights, insomnia, Canada and of course, his “intense dislike of owls” (sorry Owl Society).
“I really hate to pop your bubble, but I in fact have an intense dislike for owls,” admits Young. “I mean, honestly. Does anyone really like owls? They eat vermin and puke up nasty pellets. If I owned an owl I’d name it Toilet Face.”
While he may dislike owls, what he does love is music. Young, whose voice closely resembles that of Death Cab for Cutie frontman Benjamin Gibbard, describes his music like so: “It’s like a flock of sweaty sheep in gym clothes at Anytime Fitness relentlessly running on treadmills and eating powdered sugar donuts simultaneously while watching ‘Brady Bunch’ reruns on overhead TVs. It’s also like grass.”
