I want to ask you about the upcoming Grammys. Congratulations on Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd getting an Album of the Year nomination. Looking back on making that record, what did creating that work mean to you?
I didn’t think I was going to be making this album until I met Mike Hermosa; he did not consider himself a musician at all—he was a cameraman, a DP—but he would play, and I really liked some of the stuff he was playing. I then turned that into an unexpected album for myself. I knew it was going to be an album after I sang casually to about four of his four-chord licks; I didn’t expect to get four songs quickly, but once I have about four, I always feel like then I am probably going to make an album, if I think they’re good enough. I wrote “Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd,” “Let the Light In,” “The Grants, and “Taco Truck” within the same time period. With that little foundation, I was like, ‘Oh, okay, I’m going to go all the way with it.’ So that album kind of found me. Things did not really go the way I thought that year, we had a lot going on, so I wasn’t really sure what kind of life or legs the album would take on. Another thing that I think propelled it was actually the album covers. We took almost as long with making the cover as making the album; it was a slow process. But I really, really liked our album covers, and once I saw them all, I felt like there was a different energy around it. It’s sort of like, a picture’s worth a thousand words.
One of my favorite tracks on the album is “A&W,” which has a Grammy nod for Song of the Year. I think it delivers one of the best musical transitions of the year; the song takes you on a journey. What was the intention behind the track’s epic mid-song switch-up?
That song sat in Jack Antonoff’s mailbox for nine months. It was supposed to be a ballad, and when I was done making the album, I asked him to listen to it. I had already put down the instrumental, and it didn’t include the “Jimmy Cocoa Puff” part that it transitions into. He felt really, really strongly that it should. And I wasn’t sure, because I had written the Jimmy part 13 years ago, and I had recreated it with him two years ago. So I re-recreated that, and I did a different interpretation that was a little more bouncy. And at the time, I wasn’t really sure if the transition diminished the song’s point, or if distracted from it in a good way—if took it from one place into a better place. Ultimately I was like, I would prefer for this song to transition into a happier place; I don’t want it to land in this sad spot. So, it’s interesting: When Jack has a really strong opinion, I’ve definitely learned that it’s very worth trusting it. Sometimes we’re so differently inclined musically, but with this one, I’m really glad that we went with our inclination. If you asked me, I would not have thought that this song would gain any traction. But I am really happy about it; I think it’s cool.