Is that a normal thing for you – when inspiration strikes, you can just blast out a song in a day?
“Yeah (laughs). I hate this word so much, but it helps when you’re ‘triggered’ by something. I was kind of triggered, and all of the lyrics for Turbulent were written in about 15 minutes. I was like, ‘Loop the instrumental real quick,’ so it was just the drums and guitar, and part of the bass, and I just got out my notes and it was like, ‘There it is!’”
It’s an interesting song, lyrically, about a break-up…
“This time around I really don’t want to make a bunch of whiny break-up songs. I wanted to come from a more empowering place – rather than just, ‘(Pretends to cry) Wah, I got my heart broke!’ So many bands do that, and I feel like it kind of trains your brain to go, ‘Okay, when someone hurts you, you have to be sad and mopey and all this shit.’ And I’m not blaming it on those kind of songs necessarily, but it definitely played a role for me about how I felt. When I was sad and depressed in high school, I would listen to all my favourite bands singing this ‘woe is me’ pity shit, and I feel like it kind of trained my brain to be depressed about shit. I think it’s a cool thing to approach it from a more empowering standpoint, because that can change the way that other people handle it when someone hurts them. If I had an album that was like, ‘Nah dude, they fucked up and you’re tight as hell,’ then I might have come out of being devastated quicker when I was younger. That sort of thing is more prevalent in hip-hop and pop: for people to seem like they have self-worth. I think it’s an important attitude and view to have in this kind of world – especially because with a lot of people that I meet or talk to, it seems like they have low self-esteem. I think it’s cool to give them something to look at and be like, ‘Hey, maybe I’m actually pretty tight.’”
You name-drop Fall Out Boy's Pete Wentz and Patrick Stump in the song's opening lyrics. If Pete didn’t approve of you using his name, did you have a back-up?!
“I didn’t (laughs) – I was just really hoping that he would like it and not be mad that I used his name! It’s really not me saying, ‘Yeah, I’m better than both of them’ – that’s not what it is at all. It’s just saying, because Pete writes the lyrics and Patrick sings, it’s me saying, ‘You had someone who would write you songs and then sing about you to people.’ And the person that’s about, we both love Fall Out Boy very much, and it was kind of also a little Easter egg for me.”
Before Entertainment was released, you admitted your break-up “ruined” that album. Is it strange to be in a place where you’re feeling positive about new music?
“It is, actually. This is probably the best I’ve ever felt putting out a song, and it’s also probably the best it’s ever been received. In less than a week it was already just short of a million streams, and I’m like, ‘What?!’ That’s never happened for us before. It’s already Number One on our Apple and Spotify playlists, which is crazy. And there are dudes in bands that never talk to me, or who I feel like, ‘Oh no, these guys definitely don’t fuck with us,’ are tweeting at me, or came up to me at Slam Dunk and are like, ‘Yo, that new song is fucking crazy – it’s so good.’ I’m like, ‘Oh my God, thanks!’ It’s crazy to actually get the acknowledgement when you’re trying something new and unfamiliar – there are so many people that don’t normally reach out to give you that validation.”
What are your plans for the rest of the year – can UK fans expect a headline tour at some point?
“You know, I actually just saw a rough, tentative schedule, and I can’t confirm anything – but there will be a Waterparks album this year. I think if I got, like, 10 full days in the studio, then it would be done.”
So it could be coming fairly soon?
“It could be! This is the first opportunity we’ve ever had to do a real, proper rollout, and I want to take advantage of that…”