YREG Diary: deja vu

In my Notes App on my phone, I have all of these poems and little song concepts. One of the little hook lines that I had was ‘When I said I liked you do you get deja vu?’ Sometimes when you break up with someone and watch them live the life they lived with you, with another partner, that can be really frustrating. I think that’s a universal, relatable thing that happens.

I didn’t want to do the safe thing and put out another heartbreak ballad, I'd really wanted to show that I’m a versatile songwriter and a versatile artist. I can make heartbreak songs but I can also make cool alternative pop songs. I didn’t want to be pigeonholed into the ‘heartbreak ballad boy' thing.

“It’s one of my favorite songs ever. I love like the yelly vocals in it, like the harmonized yells that I do, I think they’re like super electric and moving, so I wanted to do something like that. The song is also the only collaboration between Olivia Rodrigo and Aeden, who both work with Antonoff.

Deja vu was the most stubborn song I've ever made. I told my boyfriend that, "I hate 'Deja vu', I don't like it, I don't want to put it out." It took me so long to get the mix to a good place. I wrote in the middle of July after 'SOUR' came out and I really liked the way it was presented. The concept of deja vu has always fascinated me and I thought it would be cool to use it in a song around the complex feelings after a relationship ends. I had so much fun creating the different melodies and sonic textures that you hear throughout.”