Even after three successful albums with his band Fitz and the Tantrums, the indie pop singer Michael Fitzpatrick finds the writing process challenging. “This is our fourth one, so it’s not my first time,” he says. “But it doesn’t get any easier, the journey you have to take.”
After the bands biggest hit yet “Handclap” the struggle has been trying to top himself and create an even better song. “It’s hard to not be crushed or suffocated by that,” he admits. Nevertheless, Fitz spent a year in the studio writing 80 songs for the band’s upcoming album. Out of the 80 songs written fifteen or so make the cut. “123456” became the lead single being an upbeat, poppy track to mark the band’s energetic return.
“123456” was written in maybe an hour. “I’ve always found that the songs that write themselves the fastest are always the best ones” Fitz explains. He says the “music gods” always kind of give it to you at once, but you gotta work at it. With the pressure of topping “Handclap” weighing on him he learned that “you really gotta do your best to put all that aside because if that’s ever in your consciousness it robs you of that moment of letting s song have life and have oxygen in the room” Fitz explains.
Fitz adds “I’d be a liar if I didn’t say that I didn’t want this song to be a… huge smash success. I think any artist would be a liar if they said otherwise. But at the end of the day, no matter what happens, I am more proud of this record than any other one we’ve made. I’ve put my heart and soul into it and I just hope that people can feel that when they listen.”
