Q&A: Love Spells Returns With Heartbreakingly Beautiful Single “Lie”
AFTER A SUCCESSFUL TOUR OPENING UP FOR KACY HILL — Love Spells has returned with his newest single, “Lie.” Typically, his music contains themes of finding true love, intimacy, and passion, and these themes are prevalent in the LA-based artist’s new single, but they’ve taken a new form.
Love is a spectrum, but what do we do when love takes a turn for the worse? Love Spells shares the story of a friend who experienced infidelity in her relationship, followed up by words of encouragement to not let the lie that her partner loved her consume her and bring her down.
With heavy lyrics like, “I wanna help you but you never listen, I wanna love you but it feels like prison,” the ethereal artist paints a picture of a relationship in emotional turmoil and the feelings that come along with it. Love Spells prides himself on being an artist devoted to love and intimacy within his music, and once again, he’s proven his capabilities of putting love, the good and the bad, into words.
Luna chatted with Love Spells to dive deeper into “Lie,” his experience performing live for the first time, life in LA, and more. Read the full interview below.
Photography Credit: Dan Franco
LUNA: You recently came back from tour opening up for Kacy Hill. That’s such a huge milestone! What was that experience like for you?
LOVE SPELLS: Since the tour was my first time ever performing, it was nerve-wracking at first, but then I got over it… It was just so fun. The worst part about it is waiting to perform right before. I didn't understand that I had real fans until I did those shows. People were like, “We came from San Diego to see you!” or they came from other places to see me. There was even a guy who heard my music for the first time that same day and went to get tickets. I wasn’t expecting that — it was amazing.
LUNA: It sounds like you had a lot of people showing up for you, which is incredible! Your new single, “Lie,” is out on August 30. What story are you choosing to tell with this one?
LOVE SPELLS: The song in itself isn't about me. The song is about someone that I know [who was] cheated on. It starts off with explaining how much that person meant to them and [how] they didn't expect anything back. Some people don't really need the same thing in return, and they didn't really ask for a lot in return. You can love someone a lot and I don't think it's necessarily fair to make your partner have the same intensity with their emotions that you do, so that could cause you to maybe act more intensely than they would with certain things. Then, the chorus shifts into a third person perspective of me telling that girl that he didn’t love her like he said he did and basically to try not to let that consume her. Obviously, I don't think I've ever released a song with this meaning before. It's going to be my first song that's not about something pure.
LUNA: Follow-up question: Besides cheating being an impure thing to do, what’s your personal message to fans with this song?
LOVE SPELLS: People lie, especially to cheat on someone, that in itself is a lie. It’s a lie to the entire relationship. You can't cheat on someone and then tell them that you love or miss them. So that's … why I called the song what I did.
LUNA: What lines from the song do you feel are the most impactful?
LOVE SPELLS: In the opening verse, there’s a line that says, “You meant more than words could ever sum you up / couldn’t fill my love for you inside the cup / but I didn’t expect the same instead I let it hurt / I didn’t want you leaving me cause nothing could be worse.” People say that there’s so much of something sometimes that it can’t be contained. It’s like pouring too much water into a cup and it overflows.
LUNA: Last time we spoke, you had recently moved to LA. It’s been a few months now, so do you feel like you’ve gotten more comfortable yet in the music scene here?
LOVE SPELLS: No (laughs).Oh my gosh, I don't know if I even enjoy it. It's such a different lifestyle from what I'm used to. A lot just seems so non personal here, but since I've been here, I've been going to sessions almost five days a week so that keeps me busy. But whenever I'm out of sessions, I don’t have a strict friend group here like the one I had back home. I did so many great things with them. We had so many intimate activities and were like-minded in that sense. When I got here, I lost all that so I’m kind of trying to find a way to replicate those same activities and everything that I enjoyed.
I don't really enjoy going out and going to parties like that — maybe it’s a little weird for my age, but I've already had so much chaos in my life that I don't really prefer to add to it. I've been trying to find places that I could go to to chill, but the main thing I miss is having little group dinners. That's one thing I miss so much, making food with my friends. I feel like those things are necessary for my soul, and I don't think I've been doing enough that's good for my soul. I only recently figured out how to not let certain aspects of LA affect who I am — trying to find the light in the dark.
LUNA: That right group of friends will come into your life when you least expect it. I wanted to ask about a clip you posted recently from tour. You had a band performing with you, do you think that helped take your music to a different level? Or do you see yourself performing solo in the future?
LOVE SPELLS: I would do a solo show, but I also prefer a band because we were feeding off of each other's energy the whole time. I was pretty nervous, and they definitely helped me remain calm throughout that performance, and it was nice to see that they were so into it as well. Those people are also people I consider my friends, so it's also just about being on stage with your friends, playing your music to people. I don't think I could replicate that by myself. So I love having a band, specifically a band of people that are close to me. I love performing my music for people. I love watching people in the crowd react to my music. I love the entire experience. It was nice being on the road with people you care about, like them also being there to experience that, and then also people coming up to you after the show and telling you that it impacted them.
LUNA: You have a group broadcast channel on Instagram where fans can connect personally with you. For those who haven’t joined yet, can you give us a sneak peek as to what’s going on in “Love Spell’s Brain”?
LOVE SPELLS: Honestly, random things. I don't even think I talk about my music there. Sometimes, I’ll go in there and I'll send random photos and ask people random questions. Most recently, I think I showed a picture of a flower, and I was just talking about how I wanted to eat it. It was a nice looking flower (laughs). I also asked them if they ever wanted to eat something they thought was beautiful, and they can respond or ask questions back too.
