Getting Candid with Oscar Lang [Interview]

Oscar Lang’s album “Look Now” came out this summer on Dirty Hit and details the highs and lows of breaking up with your childhood sweetheart. The record pays homage to the greats of British music — pulling influence from The Beatles and Elton John to Oasis and Peace.

We’re getting candid with Oscar Lang how music is his ultimate therapeutic release, how writing music in other genres helps with creativity, and why the term “ballad” has such a stigma around it. And much more!

You can find a transcribed excerpt of our interview below.

Name 3 Songs: Your new album Look Now is out. In the past you’ve said you really focused on making rock music. But for this album, you fell in love with this idea of writing ballads and drew inspiration from people who can sit at the piano and sing a song everyone can relate to. I love that sentiment. But my question for you is, do you feel like there’s a stigma around the idea of a ballad?

Oscar Lang: There’s definitely some sort of stigma around the idea of a ballad. I know it’s not the coolest thing to be into ballads, but I don’t really care. I love these old 60s songwriters and I know people will be saying that for years. You’re like, “Oh, you like The Beatles?” But that’s because they’re so universally loved. There’s no other band that can do that. 

I love all of that rock stuff and I listen to such a wide range of music that it’s kind of hard to figure out what I want to do with mine. But the piano ballad love has always been there in my heart and I’ve got a secret love for musical songs. I always loved the musical Bugsy Malone, so I got a lot of inspiration off of that for this album.

I know also you were, unfortunately, inspired by a breakup to shift into this kind of music. Did you feel like the type of emotions you were feeling would only fit into more ballad-leaning music?

I think it was. When we started writing this album, it was me and my co-producer, Rich Turvey. And it started off in this weird, fun, funky place. I am constantly battling being too much of a silly goose. And so it was in this silly disco place. 

And then it was the first breakup – of my childhood relationship. And it was quite hard to come into the studio and start writing silly disco tunes. So my first instinct was to sit at the piano. And I’d always wanted to make music like this. I think they’re just songs really is how I describe it. I just make a lot of songs.

When it comes to your songwriting and having to tap into personal, emotional spaces – men aren’t always encouraged to share their emotions in today’s society and that there’s a huge stigma around seeking help for mental health help. Do you feel like you’ve had to deal with that stigma personally?

It’s a weird thing for me because music has always been my form of therapy. So I’m not shy about telling people how I feel. “She Likes Another Boy” was the first song I ever released and it was a really honest song. And I realized those connected with people the most because they felt like they came from the soul. 

Every song on this album means something to me. I use music as therapy and as a byproduct of my therapy, I have a bunch of songs to listen to. And then I might as well show these to everyone. But at first, that period of holding onto those songs is definitely a form of therapy.

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