It's hard to believe a decade has passed since Lauv recorded his first single, "The Other", one of the many songs of heartbreak that he, as a music industry veteran, has come to be known for. But even before that tune was birthed from a 2014 split, Lauv could harness turbulent waves attached to romantic relationships before actually being in them; this kid was penning break-up bangers back in school. His ability to reach in and excavate raw emotion landed him a publishing deal upon graduation, with tracks snapped up by the likes of Cheat Codes, Demi Lovato, and Charli XCX, no less.

"It took me time to get the confidence to put out my own song," Lauv said, "but 'The Other' was different. It was a really personal song about a break-up. That feeling of when you know in your gut it's not right, but you're also not sure how to explain it in your head. On paper, it should be good."

"The Other" would act as a soft launch while Lauv (aka Ari Staprans Leff) busily pedalled hit after hit for other artists. But soon he'd join their ranks with a slew of hits, most notably, the 2017 hit "I Like Me Better" became an international smash. Inspired by his move to New York City and a romance that swiftly ensued, the electropop number became a soundtrack for summer lovers (as it did too for Netflix rom-com, To All the Boys I've Loved Before). It stayed on the US Billboard Hot 100 for over six months and broke Lauv across Europe, Asia and Australia.

"I was wondering if anything was going to happen in my music career... if it was going to go anywhere. Then I finally released 'I Like Me Better' and within the first hour of refreshing the YouTube page, the views and comments went up like crazy. Life became extremely busy, really fun but also super stressful. It became a lot of touring, interviews, artwork, making content and more songs, and quickly turned into 'this is my full-time thing now."

That September, Lauv joined British superstar Ed Sheeran on his Divide Tour in Asia. First stop: the Singapore Indoor Stadium. "I remember the city was so pretty, so clean and so vast. I had chilli crab, chicken rice and stuff like that, but I do need to delve more into Singaporean food. Success in APAC swung Lauv back and forth east on the regular. Lauv even collaborated on tracks with Lay Zhang, BTS, and TWICE.

"I still have to process the weight of some of these collabs. They've been so much bigger than I could have imagined," he muses. "Another cool aspect of it all has been being able to play some awesome shows in Korea, and meet tonnes more K-pop artists."

Lauv was in Japan promoting the compilation, I Met You When I Was 18, when we first met and I asked him to describe what it felt like being in love. “It’s awful!” he said in 2018, based on that experience, the one which shaped his acclaimed debut. He maturely echoes that sentiment today.

“Looking back, I feel like my first relationship maybe wasn’t the healthiest. Not necessarily the best match, but it was such a high just knowing you had somebody and feeling like you had a partner to rely on, especially at that age when I was at the end of high school, so shy and feeling pretty lost. Falling in love for the first time was magical.

“Now I’m in a place where I’m so single and really afraid to let in love again. It’s something I’m working on because in my 20s I’ve had a lot of career success but I’ve also had a lot of personal issues.” He admits, “I feel like in a lot of ways I don’t really know myself, trust myself or love myself fully. I needed to stop running to other people to fix that or band-aid that, and instead to learn to love myself and the right partner will come along.”

Emphasis on “partner”. “I don’t really have any particular answers yet, other than it’s something that I’m exploring in my music and exploring in my mind, and I’m going to be exploring in my life,” Lauv said in a 2013 social media post.

He reveals about where he is with that exploration. “It’s been a really awesome and exciting journey but it’s also been so hard for me. Two months ago I stopped taking all of my medication for my mental health stuff because I was feeling like it was numbing me a little bit and I felt ready to address my deeper issues and work them out in therapy.

“Now I’m doing a tonne of therapy multiple times a week to work through all of the deeper stuff I have going on. I’ve also been so lucky to have so much support from people around me: friends, family, and even my team. They’re like ‘Don’t rush yourself in this process, don’t rush to label yourself, and you don’t need to do this for anyone else except for yourself.’"

“Potential”, his first song released a year after the social media post, marks the beginning of what he calls the most authentic chapter of both his career and life to date.

“This is something that’s happened to me too many times in the past year or two, where I’m looking at friendships and being like ‘Wait...maybe these feelings aren’t just friendship feelings and maybe they’re way deeper for me'. 'Potential’ is a song exploring that.”

The colourful accompanying promo to “Potential” shows Lauv and dancers in start-to-finish choreography for the first time, expressing those emotions to a rather attractive love interest.

“Shooting the music video was really fun and such a positive experience. Everybody on the shoot had such a loving energy that made me feel very safe to explore something on camera that I’ve never really explored on camera.”

In 2019, Lauv joined forces with out-and-proud Australian pop singer, Troye Sivan, on the number three single on the Singapore chart. Lauv explains how Troye has been a constant source of support in this life following their at-first professional encounter.

“We were actually just texting yesterday, I miss him as it’s been a minute since we’ve seen each other. Troye was amazing from the moment we met, during the peak of crazy anxious times for me. Working together was such an easy process and then doing promo, shooting content, making the video...he’s been somebody I’ll forever be grateful for, who took the time to talk me through stuff. A couple of times in the past few years, I’ve hit these points of extreme self-questioning and feeling very lost, and he’s always been there, and been somebody who has been very... non-judgmental, accepting, kind, and patient. He puts me at ease.”

At ease including that of speaking openly and honestly about his crushes. When asked how that feels, a noticeable weight appears lifted off his shoulders.

“I’m at the point where once I started admitting it to myself, I found myself being so inspired and writing all these songs about different guys in my life or fantasising about a potential lover. It felt so beautiful and natural to me. I do feel like in terms of life experience I have so much more to unpack and experience. I’ve gone through the phase of allowing myself to talk about this and admit these feelings, dream and write about them, and now it’s like ‘Let’s go Ari,’ and I’m like, ‘ahhh!’”

Ari is his birth name. Ari Leff. Lauv’s stage name was coined from his Leo zodiac sign and his mother’s Latvian heritage (“Lauva” is Latvian for “Lion”). Lauv turns 30 on 8 August; a milestone birthday, which he describes as an opportunity to start fresh, not start over.

“This is my decade to be myself and live my life for me and not for any outside anything. There’s no turning back from where I’m at right now, so I have to embrace all the parts of myself and learn how to be comfortable in my own skin. I’m also trying not to put too much emphasis on only career since a lot of my 20s were so career-focused, however, at past points in my life when I’ve felt most at peace with myself, I’ve made music that I really love.

“Now I want to dig back into family, friendships, and living just as ‘Ari’. Not worrying as much about ‘Lauv’ and letting that follow suit however it does.”

With that in mind, what are his plans for the big 3-0?

“I’m not going to have a huge party. I’m going to do something intimate with people that I care about, who have been there for me and I want to be there for, just coming together and having a nice wholesome celebration together.”

Of course, Lauv’s not Lauv with a pinch of excess thought.

“I am nervous though,” he finally admits, “It’s wild turning 30!”

Photography, Digital Imaging and Retouching: Jayden Tan
Styling: Asri Jasman
Grooming: Emma Wendorff
Photography Assistant: Brian Neo