He was out to capture the hearts of fans during his tour in Malaysia in June, so Dean Lewis decided to get real personal on his debut album, A Place We Knew.
“When you drive past a house you used to live with your ex-girlfriend, maybe five years ago, and you have both moved on, but thememories are still there …,” he shared. “I think that is very bittersweet and sad, and that kind of reminded me kind of how I wanted the songs to feel.”
The singer with the global hit, Be Alright, was in town for a live intimate showcase with fans organised by Universal Music Malaysia, at Slate @ The Row. He took time to play guitar and croon hits like Be Alright, 7 Minutes and Stay Awake.
According to the 32-year-old singer-songwriter, the first song that was written for the album was For the Last Time. It was the first time he felt that “the words, the melody all worked” and with that feeling, he thought maybe he could pursue music as a career.
After spending six years writing and developing songs and another year and a half recording them, the album finally came out last March, touching people with its meaningful lyrics and melancholic melodies.
“It’s good that the songs make people feel something and I think it’s cool that they feel they are not alone because they realise these things happen to others as well. I feel awful for making them cry, but I’m glad that I can make them feel something,” explained Lewis.
Although the Sydney-born artist is more well-known for writing sad songs, there are cheerful
tracks on the album that fans can look out for too.
“Some of the songs sound happy like Stay Awake and A Place We Knew. But the sad songs resonate more with me, I guess. I am also quite a happy guy and people always are confused when they meet me because I’m quite positive,” said the former sound engineer.
