Michigan native Mayer Hawthorne has just wrapped a European tour, in a pre-emptive promotional push for his new album Where Does This Door Go, before heading out on a new tour supporting OneRepublic. The sonic charmer has undergone some changes between his first Universal release and this latest offering, which were partly inspired by a particularly combative ego-tyrannosaur named Kanye West.
In this week’s interview with LA Weekly, the singer/songwriter explains why a chance meeting with Kanye West changed his perception about his own art, and the blank canvas reality truly provides – despite what others may insist.
“Yes. This is actually a really funny story that I haven’t told anyone. I met Kanye West at a festival in Scandinavia somewhere that we both played. After the show, we talked for like five hours straight about literally everything. The thing that I really got from that conversation from those five hours was that there are no rules and that’s what stuck with me. He was really big on that and it felt like more of a life lesson than anything else. After hearing him say that, I thought to myself that, “Man, he’s really right. There are no rules.” So for this album, I decided I’d throw all the rules out and the only rule that I kept was that this (making the album) had to be fun. It was very liberating.
Check out slow-burner croon jam “Her Favorite Song” below – and is that a dog drinking wine out of a shot glass?
