Dean Lewis Press Conference
On Valentine’s Day, I had the chance to speak with Dean Lewis during a press conference put on by °1824.
I’ve been a big fan of Dean Lewis for years, so it was pretty cool to be able to talk with him and get a closer look into his artistic process.
The Australian singer/songwriter rose to fame with his multi-platinum single, “Waves” in 2016. This song was featured in TV shows such as All American, Grey’s Anatomy, and Riverdale. Dean’s first album, A Place We Knew, was released in 2019 and included popular singles such as “Be Alright” and “Half A Man.”
Dean’s second studio album, The Hardest Love, was released in November of 2022. His sophomore album touches on challenging times, heartbreak, and vulnerability.
His lead single, “How Do I Say Goodbye,” is a touching song dedicated to his father who was in the midst of a fight against cancer. His father was given a 25% chance of living over a year, and Dean dealt with that news the only way he knew how - writing about it. Thankfully, Dean’s dad is now in remission, but the song still tugs at the heartstrings quite a bit.
On his Instagram post announcing the album he included a little blurb outlining the background of it, “I wrote most of the songs about one girl, the girl I thought I’d end up with – songs about the hope of it working out, and eventually the pain of that girl not being there when I felt like the world was crashing down.”
Chatting with Dean and the other press conference participants was so fun! There were lots of intricate and thoughtful questions, and I really enjoyed learning more about Dean’s writing process.
Question: Which song from the album are you most excited to perform live?
Dean: It’s kind of a boring answer, but I would say “How Do I Say Goodbye.” It’s fun to play but it’s so high in register and emotional that it’s tougher to sing. Or another song is “Scares Me,” and it’s just so fun to play. It’s one of those songs you’re on the piano, and it’s really connective. When you sing it, the chorus, when it hits, and I’m playing the piano, and I hear reverb in my in-ears. It sounds so nice when it hits the chorus. It feels like everything soars. It feels like flying when you sing that chorus. There’s full control, and it’s emotional.
When asked about musical influences, Dean had a wide variety of answers.
“The bands that I love the most are weirdly like The Fray. I love The Fray. And I love the Goo Goo Dolls. And I love Eminem,” he said. “And then I just love The Fray, like I’m obsessed with them. I’ve been listening to them so much lately because they just have really good fundamentals of songwriting.”
Hearing Dean Lewis rave about The Fray was probably my favorite part of this press conference.
Q: TikTok has been a huge influence on the success of “How Do I Say Goodbye” over the last few months. Having massive success both before and after TikTok, how do you feel about its influence on the industry? Do you view it as a hassle or more of an opportunity to show a different side of yourself?
D: It’s a tough thing. I always think, look, TikTok is the way of the future. It is here and there are the rules as an artist that you work with it. And you can choose to not play in that game, and you just will not have the success, it’s the reality of what it is. What is weird is this idea of you writing a song for TikTok. Like, people write songs for it, and they write maybe even just a chorus.
When I put out “How Do I Say Goodbye” nothing was happening, like there was zero heat. Then suddenly, we posted it, and it started working. Like people started using the sound. And you want to encourage that. You need that help, and you need that fire to amplify the song to grow. You really have to find an angle, and TikTok is really good for that. I don’t write a song for TikTok. I write a lot of songs, and I don’t stop, and I keep writing until I have a bunch of songs.
I’ll promote my best songs on TikTok, but I’ll never write the song for TikTok.”
When talking with Dean, he brought up a great life mantra that I’d like to end with.
“Great art finds a way.”
If you want to learn more about Dean, check out the links below: