Canadian singer-songwriter Johnny Orlando may only be 23 years old, but he’s already a showbiz veteran. He made his debut as a YouTube sensation at the tender age of 8 and — like his fellow early viral pop pioneers Justin Bieber, Charlie Puth, and Vine darling Shawn Mendes — eventually established himself as a respected musician, earning multiple wins and nominations at the Juno Awards MTV Europe Music Awards, and Kids’ Choice and Teen Choice Awards. But it’s only with the release of his vibey, dancey, largely self-produced and -written sophomore album, Songs for Young Lovers, that Orlando feels like he’s truly arrived.

At Studio City’s Licorice Pizza Records, Orlando recently held a private listening session for the deluxe edition of Songs for Young Lovers, out Nov. 6, premiering bonus tracks like the CSS-inspired, indie-sleazy “Praying Mantis” and the dubby, groovy “That’s My Baby.” There, for an intimate audience of superfans, or Orlandonators, he took a deep dive into the creative process behind the album, along the way discussing impostor syndrome, writer’s block, and how he learned to let go and trust that process and trust his gut. Check out the alternately fascinating, frank, and funny In the video above and edited Q&A below.

LPTV: This is your first full-length album since 2022, and people who haven’t been following you lately, or who still think of you as a child star or a YouTube star, will probably be really surprised by this record. I’m hearing a lot of aughts and 2010s indie influences, like MGMT, Foster the People, Tame Impala, Glass Animals, the Neighbourhood…

JOHNNY ORLANDO: For sure. This album was strange, because I only really want to make albums when I feel like there’s been some improvement in my writing or a big change. I kind of don’t back when people have 15 albums — unless you’ve been doing this shit for 50 years, then sure, do your 15 albums. But I just wanted this to be a lot different than All the Things That Could Go Wrong, which was the first one. And The Ride [EP series] feels to me like a very in-between spot and it’s kind of an album, we were kind of calling it an album, but when I look back on it, that was in transit to get to here. … But this album started as something else. It was going to be ’70s revival. I grew up listening to Led Zeppelin, my dad’s favorite band, and so that was where I was going with it. And then I was like, “This sucks. I’m not ready for that concept yet.” So, I scrapped it.

You made a whole album and don’t have any plans to ever put it out? Why did you shelve it?

It felt like I was trying too hard, to be honest. There were some moments for sure where I was like, “It’s too perfect. That adlib is not necessary and it feels too perfect and not raw.” I think I’m just by nature always trying to be perfect and so meticulous. … So, then I go in and I’m like, “OK, how can we make this chorus perfect?” And I add this adlib and then it fucks it up and makes it worse. That kind of sentiment was why I scrapped the ’70s thing. I’ll redo it once I’m better at not ruining things. Honestly, I’ve gotten so much better at not ruining things. Like, “That’s My Baby” is on the [Songs for Young Lovers] deluxe, finally — do you know how hard it was for me to not ruin that song? Because I wrote it three years ago. It’s like a pop song, it’s very fun, and if I were to have let myself do everything I wanted to do, it would’ve ruined it.

Why didn’t you put that song and the other new bonus tracks on the original Songs for Young Lovers release? Why’d you hold them for the deluxe? What was the strategy there?

I really wanted to have something special on the vinyl. … The album was done and then I wrote “Novice” and my A&R was like, “I’m going to put you in a session with this guy Grant Saylor.” I was like, “Fuck you. I don’t want to write anymore, dude. I’ve been writing for three years!” I reluctantly went to the session, and it ended up being amazing. I loved the song. I reproduced that one. I got the stems from him and reproduced it, and then we finished it together. I was just messing with that song. I put trap drums behind it. I was just fucking around practicing producing, basically. And then I was like, “Yo, this is dope.” Anyway, that song meshed well enough with “That’s My Baby” that it made sense to put it on the deluxe. I really wanted everything to just be cohesive. It just doesn’t make sense on the record without “Novice” as a bridge from” Get Me High” to “That’s My Baby,” so that’s why it’s there.

“That’s My Baby” has a bit of a reggae vibe, almost a Sublime thing. What’s the throughline between the deluxe songs, if there is one?

Big old drums. With “Novice,” that’s just a drum loop that I got off Splice, to be honest. I was like, “I’m going to redo these drums eventually; I’m just going to throw this loop in there for now.” Which is so lazy, but it works. That’s how “Espresso” was made —  don’t knock it! Big old drums on everything, that’s kind of the throughline. I wanted to get a little more electronic. Honestly, I wanted the deluxe to serve as a little sneak peek of what I’m about to do for next project.

You were talking about your tendency to second-guess or overthink things in the studio. Does any of that come from wanting to be taken seriously, because of the fact that you started so young and there might be preconceptions about someone who broke out via YouTube? Now it’s common for an artist to break out TikTok or social media, but it wasn’t as common back in 2011. Do you have a mindset like there’s a higher standard held for you?

Maybe not so much. I’m just trying to prove to myself that I’m nasty, basically! And my personality is that I want to be really good at everything I try to do. I don’t half-ass anything. It’s taken me my entire life to get to this point in music, and I’m still learning that I’m to fucking things up if I think too hard about it. But I would love for some of these songs to go nuts, and then I can look at the people who have fucked me over and been like, “Ha ha!”

Wait, do you have some nemesis? Nemeses?

Oh, I hold grudges. I’m bad at that. It’s real bad, real bad. I’m petty as hell.

What obstacles have you faced as someone who’s navigated teen stardom? You’re 23 now, your first full-length album came out when you were 19, and you made your YouTube debut at age 8. You’ve been through a lot already, but for some listeners maybe you’re being introduced, or reintroduced, with this latest album.

Every album in my life has led up to that point. And I’ve always wanted to be somebody that could be like, “Ooh, this is a concept album.” Every time I have put out a project or a song or an album or whatever, I’m like, “This is me right now.” And that’s kind of always my explanation. I would write the music and it would be very true to who I was and what I was doing in that moment. It would be like, “Emelia, you’re smoking my weed on my roof in my house, but it’s all cool.” That happened, and then I wrote about it the week after. And I think about it for three weeks just on a human level, not even about music, and then I go into a studio and I realize, “Oh shit, I’ve been thinking about this for three weeks. This has had some effect on me.” And then that’s what I end up writing about. That’s why The Ride was a breakup album, because I went through a breakup. I was such a piece of shit when I was 18. Oh my God. I was every 18-year-old boy. I figured it out, man. I’m an adult now. My parents can’t tell me shit.

Well, there’s a huge difference between 18 and 23.

Huge. And I had no idea. I was hit by a truck in that way. So, that’s what this album is. I think I’ve maybe finally realized that in 20 years from now, I’m not going to feel like a 43-year-old. I’m just going to feel like “John,” and I’m going to still be meeting interesting people and loving people, and I’m going to write about it, and that’s going to be my life.

Do you ever listen to things you wrote when you were, in your words, a piece of shit, and cringe? Or do you just go, “Yeah, that was me then, whatever”?

Oh, when I listen to “Boyfriend,” I’m like, “Yo, dude. What was I doing, bro?” That’s a crazy song.

Are there any particular tracks on Songs for Young Lovers that were particularly vulnerable to do?

“Shelf Life.” That was a tough song to write, to be honest. It was hard to say that shit out loud. Basically, the story is, I was talking to this girl for a while. I knew that she liked me more than I liked her, and I was too much of a pussy to end it, which was the right thing to do. And so, I let it drag on for a very long time, and I felt such immense guilt about it, and that’s what the song is about.

Does the woman who inspired “Shelf Life” know that song is about her?

Yes. I showed her it before it came out.

When you perform these personal songs live, it must take things to a whole other different level of vulnerability, especially if you’ve recorded in your own home which is safe, private space. How does it feel to present them in concert?

There are some songs that get me. A lot of the time I’ve listened to the song so many times that I’m more so reminding myself of what it’s about as I’m singing it. Or, I’m hearing myself sing the lyrics and then it kind of brings me back into it. When I perform “Shelf Life,” I haven’t done that song that many times, but it really brings something out of me. You can kind of desensitize yourself as an artist, I think, by playing a song so many times.

Does it ever feel weird to sing a song from a time when you were unhappy? Like, if you singing about a person you were in love with once, but you’re over it now, you must have to figure out a way to reinterpret that song.

Sure, and that works too. But I think you sometimes have to remind yourself what the song’s about. Obviously the goal is to put on a good show and perform well, and people that have come to this show have been listening to the song in their own time and they have their own story with it. All you can really do as an artist is give them what they want and do the best job. Sometimes it catches you off guard and you start crying onstage. That happens too. Yeah, I well up sometimes. But I don’t think I’ve cried real tears.

When you say you want to give the people what they want… when you’re working on a record, obviously you’re making it for yourself primarily. But since you have such a diehard fanbase that has followed you for years, do you think about what they want or expect, or basically how it’ll be accepted by your fans or the public in general? Does that cross your mind?

I feel like that’s a trap. If you’re in the studio and you’re thinking too much, full stop, I think that’s bad. It should really be a flow. Pharrell kind of talks about it in some weird, esoteric way, like creativity flows through you. But it really does. It does. You can’t force yourself to write a song about something on any given day — and if you can, then it doesn’t mean a whole lot. That’s why I never really have done writing for other people, because I want that control where I’m like, “OK, I’m not making a fucking club song today. I’m just not. I had a rough night.” I don’t want to ever be in that situation.

You’ve talked about not wanting to force things, and about how your career that led up to this album. But I saw recent red carpet interview about how at one time you were thinking of not doing music anymore.

Yeah. The shit is just hard sometimes. In a creative pursuit where everything is so subjective, it’s like there’s no guaranteed output for your input. Give me an example of a job doing literally anything else — if you work hard, you will have something to show for it. And so, there was a time where I had no fucking ideas at all. I had nothing. I remember that interview. It was like Christmastime, when the music industry shuts down. It gets very lonely. People stop texting you! I’m kidding, but it gets a little lonely around the holidays sometimes. And I was home at my parents’ house in Toronto. I had left my record label, that I was with since I was 15, in the summer. I had nothing to show for the last four months. And I was like, “I don’t like this anymore. I don’t like it right now, that’s for sure.” There were no prospects of an album. I had nothing. I had nothing. And it was pretty dark. And also, this shit just happens. I go through phases that I have had forever, where you’re really fighting to get out of bed. Some people get that, some people don’t. So, it was just kind of a perfect storm of all of these things happening all at once. But I haven’t felt like that in a very long time, which is good.

Obviously now you’re on this big creative tear, so how did you get out of that funk?

I think the best way to think when you’re [in that headspace] — and I’ve just figured this out not that long ago — is you just think, “I need to win. I just need to win. That’s all. Give me one fucking win and I’m back. We’re so back.” Honestly, when I booked a movie and a TV show… I was just kind of going through it and I was like, “I need a win, man. I need to win bad.” And then, after literally 10 years of auditioning and getting nothing, my agent calls me. He goes, “Do you want the good news or the bad news first?” And I was like, “The bad news, I guess.” And he goes, “Well, you’re not going to be able to do one of them…” And I was like, “What are you talking about?” And he’s like, “The good news is you booked a movie and a TV show.” And that’s the first time I’d ever booked anything with him. We’d been working together for years and he’s spending hella money and man-hours on me. His assistant’s texting me all the time. He’s invested in this too. So, that was really nice for both of us.

What were the movie and the show? Was this the Finding Her Edge Netflix show?

Yeah, I’m currently filming that until end of the year. And then with the movie, I can’t say anything about it yet, but we filmed that in August. It was really fucking fun. It was so fun. It’s a horror movie. It’s dope.

Do you get killed? Or do you kill people?

I can’t say. There is a bunch of killing, though. It’s crazy. It’s crazy work.

Did you have to scream in the movie? Did you have to practice your scream?

Well, I can’t tell you what the scene is for obvious reasons, but there’s a scene where I get scared. I don’t really scream. I kind of scream. I’m a pretty soft-spoken person. I don’t really yell [in real life], or I try not to, and it’s kind of awkward to yell on command also. It takes a lot for me to yell; I don’t just do that. So on set, I think my line was “What the fuck?” — and it was not good. But we did it a bunch of times. It’s chill.

Have you considered combining acting with music, like being in a biopic playing a famous artist, or doing a movie musical?

There’s been conversations about that! I can’t really get into it.

Who would you like to play in a biopic?

I don’t know. I’ve been told I look like Hillary Clinton, which I don’t think would work. I also apparently look like young Vladimir Putin, and that one’s true — look it up, it’s crazy. But definitely not that.

I was about to say was you kind of look like Jeff Buckley. You could play him.

Oh, that would be fucking cool. That would be really cool. Thank you! He’s handsome.

Can you sing as high Jeff Buckley?

Yeah, I can do it! I’ll train and shit.

Changing subjects, I only recently found out about the whole “Jombr” phenomenon. Fans love it when you and your friend Sombr get together…

We just lived together [from 2023-2024] and we made a bunch of videos together at the time.

Is that the house you’re in now? Because I know you recorded a lot of this new album at home, so I wondered if it was in that house.

I recorded “That’s My Baby” in that house, actually; I rerecorded the verses in that crib. [Sombr’s] Back to Friends” and “That’s My Baby” [are from] the same crib.

We’ve talked about “That’s My Baby,” so let’s talk about some of the other Songs for Young Lovers deluxe-edition tracks.

OK. “Novice” was a rare, rare exception where I was trying to write to a concept. This is not a real story. I guess there’s always elements of it that are real and there’ll be certain lines where I’m thinking about a specific person or a specific feeling, but this was not really a time in life. We were just, I think, trying to write a banger. … That one was fun. I was just trying to write not funny, but with “declining calls from my mother, it will be a while before she meets you,” I was just kind of fucking around. And then it’s so naive to say you want to die young, but it’s romantic to think of. Honestly, that came from when I was 16. Oh, I was so fucking edgy. I was like, “I don’t see myself living to 30.” It was so dumb. It’s so dumb to romanticize death. Life is so beautiful. We all have such a gift to be here in the place that we are. So anyway, yeah, I grew out of that.

When you’re 16, 30 seems ancient.

Yeah, it seems like it’s near death. Now it’s not so far away.

There are a lot of huge rock stars who sadly did die before age 30, when they were still at their peak, so I can get why there’s a mythology there. But then there are a lot of great artists like Paul McCartney who are still touring and making music in their older age. I assume you’re just going to keep doing this until you’re 100?

That would be amazing, but I think there’s a point in every artist’s career where they’re not dope anymore and then you have to stop. You’ve got to hang it up because you’re just fucking up your own legacy. I don’t really believe in legacies. … There’s Johnny Cash, who later in his career had some more bangers, so it’s not hard and fast. But I think the way that you become not dope anymore is you let yourself be “famous.” You can’t do that, because you’ll probably be a dick.

Would you ever really settle down and retire?

Oh, probably not. I’ll always be doing shit. My dad’s the same way. That guy works way too hard. I like doing stuff. I love making things. Maybe if I had a bunch of dough and I didn’t have to do anything in particular, I would just do exactly what I wanted. But I love other people deriving happiness from shit that I do. I don’t want to say I’m a people-pleaser, but…

You’re a people person.

Sure. I’m a people person. I love making things. I’ve been making things forever, not even for money just because I like doing it.

A lot of people your age are only putting out their first record now or getting famous now, and the whole fame game is new to them. But you’ve already been there, done that, and have probably figured out a lot of this stuff by now.

I’ve certainly microdosed it over time. We’re still all just people. I don’t want to sound like fucking Chris Martin, but I’m so incredibly lucky to be here. … When you’re 16 and you’re blowing up for the first time and you’ve got a little dough and you can sell out a venue or two, you feel so sick. But then life humbles you, as it does. And then hopefully if you can hang on and keep your love for music, and if people continue to support you, you just learn to be grateful.

I get the impression that you didn’t approach music as like, “I’m going to be a pop star and I’m going to have my name in lights!” Fame wasn’t the main goal.  

For a time, it certainly was. And I mean, I would love to play massive shows. Playing shows is so fun. And the best part of it for me is I get so much from seeing the audience have a good time. Obviously I’m not playing arenas, but I think when artists make that jump and they play arenas, it becomes a little bit impersonal. You’re so far away, and you’re looking at the screen for most of the time. There’s something absolutely beautiful about stopping at 5,000 or 10,000 tickets.

Let’s talk about my favorite deluxe track, “Praying Mantis.”

OK. Like I was saying before, the drums to me are kind of the throughline, and things are a little synthy as well, which I was super against for a while. But I think there’s a way to do it organically. There are analog synths, so I was like, OK, not everything has to sound like the 80s. You can get a little crazy with it. … So, the last couple months, I was on a shoot and I heard this song by CSS, “Let’s Make Love and Listen to Death from Above.” … I heard it just in passing on a shoot and I was like, “What is that melody?” I obsessively listened to this song for weeks and weeks and weeks, and then I went to Montreal and I was like, “I want to make this song.” That song is so dope. It’s so cool. There’s nothing in that song, and what I mean by that is there’s four tracks: drums, bass, guitar, synth. That’s all you need. I was a maximalist for so many years because I was like, “It’s not cool unless there’s so much shit going on.” But that’s crap. It’s not real.

So, I listened to [CSS] and I was like, “Whoa, you can make a complete song with nothing in it. And also, it’s way cooler if there’s nothing in it.” Anyway, I think this whole renaissance of me trying not to fuck shit up came from this, from listening to that song and being like, “This is a complete song. It’s so cool. It’s so busy, and yet there’s just four things happening.” That’s how you know shit is AI, because every riser is in the right place and every adlib is perfect. The opposite of what AI does is some really, really dope, tasteful shit with not that much going on, but it still gets it out of you. And so, that’s what I tried to do with “Praying Mantis.” It’s maybe my favorite song ever of mine. I’m so proud of that song.

“Praying Mantis” reminds me of LCD Soundsystem too.

Yeah, I think the cool thing about LCD Soundsystem is that it “sucks” and it’s not “good,” but that’s why it’s so good. That’s why it’s so good. It’s not overthought. And it might be, but it sounds like it isn’t. They’re obviously incredible musicians, but it sucks and it’s so good. And so, right before the second [“Praying Mantis”] verse, it gets so loud, and I was like, “That needs to be so loud that it hurts and you want to turn it down,” because it puts everything else into context. And on the second chorus, there are adlibs that are a bar ahead, and that was a mistake: We copied them over from the first chorus. I recorded them there and then we copied them and Soran, who produced it, put them in the wrong place. And I left it because I was like, “I don’t want to move this. It’s going to fuck it up.” And I mixed this song, which also… why did I do that? But everything that went into this and all the decisions not to do things are what made that what it is. And I like it.