Lauv Trades All His Friends For 'Drugs & The Internet' In Wild New Video

Forget what you think you know about Lauv. The singer-songwriter launched his new era on Thursday (April 25) with the single illegal narcotics & The world wide web and it's a far cry from, mention, the lovestruck sweetness of "I Like Me Better."


narcotics is a total sonic adventure; it starts as a melancholy piano ballad, then warps into a bass-heavy banger that's equal parts sad and self-deprecating. "I don't wish to base my actions or reactions on the things they mention / And I don't aspire to hit delete on all the components of me that @they could hate," he sings, before lamenting on the hook, "I traded all my companions for contraband and the world wide web / Ah, shit."


The track comes to life in a Black Mirror-esque video that serves as a cautionary tale about getting sucked into social media. Lauv and director Jenna Marsh illustrate that concept of emotional disappearance by literally trapping him indoors an online world, where everything isn't as it seems. Check it out below, and try not to get creeped out by the pair of hairless cats roaming around.


In a statement about the new release, Lauv mentioned, "I wrote contraband & The world wide web at a time I was struggling with feelings of extreme emptiness and depression. I wrote it as a categorize kind of self-analysis for my obsession with the way I wanted present myself to the world — a commentary on the world we live today."


The "i'm so tired" singer added that he wrote the song in just a hour, and that it "felt more therapeutic than any song I'd written before." He continued, "As the initial song off of my album ~how i’m feeling~, it is the best entrance into the next phase of my life and music. I am more delighted of this song and video than anything I have ever created in my life, and I'm so excited that it's yours now."


~how i'm feeling~ is the follow-up to the 24-year-old's debut album, When I Met You I Was 18 (The Playlist), which arrived last year. There's no release date however, nevertheless contraband & The world wide web is a solid begin to what sounds like an adventurous new chapter for Lauv.