Pronounced as La-ov

Ari Staprans Leff was the name, this American artist was known by before he rose to his fame with the release of his first single ‘The Other’. Lauv started his career in 2015, when he had just completed college. In 2015 it self, Lauv released his debut E.P.(Extended Play) ‘Lost in the Light’ featuring 5 songs(including The Other).Till now he has release 1 E.P. and a single album (which he apparently calls a playlist) - I met you when I was 18. As of right now, Lauv stands at 1.5 million subscribers on You Tube with over 1 million followers on Spotify, he is the 42nd most streamed artsit on Spotify. 

Woah! That’s big for a 24-year-old. In just 5 years Lauv has gained such mass following that he is going on a world tour( named as ~how I’m feeling~) to Asia and yeah, he’s coming to India too. His first and the only release this year is a song with Troye Sivan called ‘I’m so tired’ which came out end of January. Now, moving on to the lyrics section and his first E.P. Lost in the Light. 
Lost in the Light consists of 5 songs, each talking in some way or the other, about how he feels that his partner is not the right one for him and one day this relationship between them will come to an end, he just doesn’t know, if it is to be done now or let it happen gradually. Now lyrically, I have been a huge Lauv fan. His lyrics have depth and the intensity to convey his message from the song through real life props and situations. This line from his song The Other for example,   

Like a spotlight the water hits me
Ran it extra cold to shake the words from my mouth

The ‘Like a spotlight the water’ means the shower. So the water from the shower hits him like a spotlight on stage and the water makes him think about all the things he has to do to end the conflict in his mind about his relationship. Now, on the surface these seems as relate able as they are dumb, but if you give them a thought, you cannot deny the fact that intense thoughts and imaginary arguments and difficult decisions are pondered upon in the shower. To me, that’s a pretty good use of a real world prop. Okay, some of you might still feel this is not enough to justify his praise, but just look at all the names of the songs- Comfortable , Adrenalin , Reforget and Come back home. Each of these take a real life situation/experience and covey it through a song. Let’s take another example, below are the lyrics to Reforget-

Lost in the light
And I don’t know what night it is
You’re somewhere else, I’m drinking not to guess
Blurry bodies, but you're on my mind
We let it go now I'm full of rum and regret
I go out just so I can reforget      

The above paragraph talks about how after a break up everyone tends to go outside, to try to leave behind the past but everything still reminds them of their partner. They have been with each other for so long that it is just not easy to get over it and therefore they go out, have a drink, try to forget everything and just try to move on, but no matter how hard they try that person is still stuck in their minds. This is a real life phenomenon, actually experienced by people and the way this has been conveyed through the song is just remarkable.
His next release was an album (which as I said before he considers a playlist) called I met you when I was 18.   This album is essentially a continuation of the E.P., it contains all the 5 songs of the E.P. and some extra songs to make this an album (obviously).In total this album has 17 songs, including the ones from Lost in the Light. Lyrically this album follows the same theme of love conflict just adds some elements after and before break up. Songs like I like me better (which, by the way, was the song which was a breakthrough song for Lauv’s career) talk about all the feelings he had before the break up, when everything was fine and neither of them had realized what was to come. The following lyrics signify these facts-

To be young and in love in New York City (New York City)
To not know who I am but still know that I'm good long as you're here with me
To be drunk and in love in New York City
Midnight into morning coffee
Burning through the hours talking

And of course, the name is the biggest give off of the context of the song.

Another song, Getting Over You talks about, well….getting over someone after the breakup. I mean there is not much to say about the lyrics, but have a look at the pre-chorus (the lines I like the most in the song)-

I tried spending my nights under
Someone new
But the truth is
I could spend my whole life getting over you

Okay that is enough with the lyrics, now let’s talk about….yeah you guessed it …..PRODUCTION!

Lauv has a very weird production style, the music  in his songs seems vague but it comes together to create something different and enjoyable. He works mostly on electronic, but some of his more acoustic songs have piano and a faded drum (in the background).You can say that he is a mixture of Charlie Puth and electronic music. His songs fall into multiple genres including R&B (Rhythm and Blues), pop and jazz. Most of his non-acoustic songs have his signature ‘poppy drum beat’ which make the songs very catchy. Another thing that he does in his songs is voice overlaying. Almost all of his songs have deeper-upper vocals backed by higher-pitched lower vocals. It is kind of his thing, as he says in an interview. I don’t mind this upper vocal-lower vocal thing, ‘cause it adds this different 'Lauv vibe' to the songs and besides Lauv’s voice is pretty modulated anyway so it doesn’t really matter. He sings with his natural voice even though at places it feels like he’s doing falsetto but most of the time it’s just his natural voice, that’s just how it is. His voice is like that. Like I said before he has a nice voice and really does not NEED auto tune but he still, for some odd reason uses it in his live shows…not in his songs(probably cause he doesn’t need to because of vocal layering) but in his live performances. His life choices I guess...laughs
And after that ‘offbeat’ joke( puns, right ?!), I would like to conclude by saying that if you have a thing for deep lyrics and 20th century jazz, plus electronic sounds, Lauv is an artist for you. And even if you’re not into to those and just like to experiment with your music choices and want some music lyrically familiar but musically distinct, you might wanna give Mr. Ari Leff a try.