IN LOVE WITH LAUV
His Path to Success + Upcoming Debut Album
He’s a producer, and a songwriter who’s written tracks for some phenomenal women including Celine Dion, Charli XCX and Demi Lovato. In the past few years, he’s made a name for himself as a breakout pop artist with some of the catchiest beats on the charts.
Lauv, or Ari Staprans Leff, is a 25-year-old San Francisco native who’s captured our attention with his infectious melodies and choruses we can’t get out of our head. The NYU graduate studied music technology and got his start interning at Jungle City Studios, where legends like Jay-Z, Alicia Keys and Justin Timberlake recorded.
It was also during college that he took on the stage name Lauv, a play on the Latvian word for “lion.” He released his first solo EP in 2015 while continuing to work on writing and producing for other artists. But his true breakout moment as a solo artist came in 2017 with the release of his single “I Like Me Better.” The synth-heavy, affectionately romantic song peaked at number 27 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was certified platinum in seven countries.
With that track, Lauv became a globetrotting international success. He supported Ed Sheeran on his Divide Tour in Asia, and followed it up with his own world tour named after his work I Met You When I Was 18. The collection, which dropped in May 2018, featured 17 new and previously released tracks and was streamed more than a billion times on Spotify by August of that year.
The accolades kept coming, as he was named a top emerging artist by Billboard that year. His next hit single “I’m so tired…” charted in dozens of countries after releasing in January 2019. All of this hype has made us so very excited to hear his debut album How I’m Feeling. Four tracks have been released so far, all fitting his signature groovy synth sound with sweet crooning vocals.
How I’m Feeling is set to release March 6 through the label AWAL. He’ll follow up the release with a world tour that will include Chelsea Cutler, Carlie Hanson and bülow.
