In the age of social media, consuming everybody’s highlight reel can leave us craving something real. When Lauv dropped All 4 Nothing on August 5th, he gave us real. The “I Like Me Better” singer’s newest album captures the tumultuous highs and lows on his journey to define happiness.

His first full-length mixtape, I met you when I was 18., spiralled Lauv into the life of a pop star, which came with its own unique challenges that are reflected upon in his first studio LP, ~How I’m Feeling~. Ironically, his global recognition led to a stark discovery when he still found himself struggling with his mental health: Reaching the level of success he had dreamed of wasn’t the key to happiness. All 4 Nothing is the aftermath — the self-healing process, the inward search for peace. “I was so unhappy on the inside and I felt so anxious all the time… My next journey was like, ‘Okay, let me define what happiness is for myself and let me go and find that.’”

This is far from the first time Lauv has spoken openly about mental health. In 2019, he launched Blue Boy Foundation, opening up the conversation and raising funds to support mental health initiatives. He also collaborated with Microsoft on My Blue Thoughts, an online outlet for people to vent about their struggles.

But while he’s always made an effort to help others, he had to overcome hurdles in learning how to better care for himself. Medication was one of those hurdles. “I was so resistant to the idea of even going to somebody like a psychiatrist, ‘cause I just felt like there was such a stigma around the idea of taking pills to fix your brain… Meanwhile, think of all the medicine we take just for anything when you’re healing.” When he eventually came around to the idea, he noticed its positive effects, and became fascinated with exploring the many avenues to wellness. He began investing himself into practices such as meditation and inner child exploration. “It’s just become deeper and deeper for me, you know? My love for the exploration of the mind, for how I can better take care of myself, better respond to others.”

The songs on All 4 Nothing don’t only retell this journey — they are part of the journey. A self-described “control freak” when it comes to production, Lauv took a step back for this album. He put his trust in a few producer friends so he could focus on honest storytelling, using music as a prompt to say what’s really on his mind. “It’s made music-making really fun in a different way… And it makes me trust myself a lot more, because before I would always be scared to just be in the moment.” His free-flowing approach manifested an album that hits listeners like a cold wave, whether they’re ready for it or not. “It’s all there for people to see in a way that’s not trying to be polished for a pop record… I think that was both the hardest part, because it’s kind of scary, and also the most gratifying part.”

Anyone who’s been on a self-healing journey knows it’s not all smoothie bowls and positive affirmations. It’s also digging down and uprooting beliefs you might’ve held your entire life, which can be heavy. Lauv doesn’t shy away from showing us the darkness along with the light. “We all have a dark side. And I feel like my life, especially at this time, just fully honestly, was like 50% healing and 50% party… Those were basically the two things that I was doing to kind of cope with trying to find groundedness in myself.” He namedrops “Molly in Mexico”, “Bad Trip”, and “I Don’t Have a Problem” as tracks that show “the side that’s a little bit less polished and pretty.”

“So it was a lot of meditation, inner child work, a lot of existential questioning… but then ultimately getting to a place of like ‘I just need to be good on the inside with myself no matter what happens on the outside in the world. I just need to feel okay as a person’… And I’m still working on it literally every single day.”

Check out All 4 Nothing, now on all streaming platforms.

Follow Lauv: @lauvsongs