Perfume Genius on suffering for art: "I really don't think you need to go through that"

In a recent interview with Hot Press, Perfume Genius has discussed his creative process.

Also known as Mike Hadreas, the artist released his seventh album on March 28. He called the project his most collaborative record to date, working with his band, long-time producer Blake Mills and collaborator and husband Alan Wyffels.

"All the demos for this record were just piano and vocal and maybe some harmony,” he said. “On the last few records, the demos were a lot more formed – they had an aesthetic to them, or a sonic world that I had envisioned. This was more just the melody, the chords and some of the lyrics. Even though I write in gibberish, they were still coming out really wordy, in a plain-spoken way. I knew they were about really complicated things that are universal. It’s this mix of something very simple, and something that’s been true for a long time, like the fear of dying!”

Hadreas revealed his favourite track on the record is ‘Left For Tomorrow,’ a song reflecting on loss.

“Originally, I wanted it to have a bright melody and a really warm, life-affirming quality, but I’d let it ignore pain,” he said. “That didn’t feel right, so I changed the lyrics to something that felt closer to me, which is anticipating losing my dog, or my mom, or someone that is such a big keeper of my heart. Like, how could I survive it?”

In another track, ‘In A Row,’ Hadreas mocks the trope that one must suffer for their art. It follows a kidnapping victim who looks forward to deriving creative inspiration from their suffering.

“I didn’t make my first record until I got sober and healthy, because then I could literally commit to making something,” he said. “I was healthy enough to stay the whole time and finish a song. When I was living in New York and doing a lot of drugs, and going out, I felt very much like I was an artist, but I made zero art.”

“A lot of my songs are informed by how dark that got,” he added. “But I don’t know if I needed it, to make something equally as dark. I really don’t think you need to go through that. Especially since during the first record I wrote, I was the most contented I’d been in a really long time – and yet the songs came out really melancholy or disturbing, or whatever.”

Listen to Glory below: