The Japanese House on how a “batshit crazy love song” got her engaged, and working with George Daniel
The Japanese House caught up with NME backstage at Lollapalooza 2024 to chat about her new single ‘:)’, working with The 1975‘s George Daniel and her upcoming performance at Reading & Leeds.
- READ MORE: The Japanese House: “It’s much more interesting to not be restrictive and embarrass yourself”
Amber Bain – aka The Japanese House – sat down with us ahead of her performance on the Tito’s stage at this year’s edition of the annual Chicagoan music bash in Grant Park. Her performance at Lollapalooza came a few weeks after the release of her latest single ‘:) (Smiley Face)’ – a bright country-pop track that follows her recent second album ‘In The End It Always Does’.
Speaking to NME about the track, Bain shared: “It was kind of a different one for me because it’s finally I’ve written a song that’s not really depressing. I wrote that song when I was talking to someone online and I had fallen in love with her without having met her.
“I basically wrote this batshit crazy love song about her and then I sent it to her. I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, she’s gonna think I’m like a psycho freak’. She didn’t, well she did, but she was also a psycho freak so it’s fine – and now we’re engaged.”
The 1975 drummer and producer turned solo star George Daniel worked on ‘:)’ with Bain, after he previously co-produced her 2019 debut album ‘Good At Falling’ and 2023’s ‘In The End It Always Does’.
“Me and George Daniel have been friends for I think 10 years,” said Bain. “I don’t know, maybe even longer but we work on everything together. Him and Chloe Kramer, who’s also a producer and writer on this song are pretty much in the band, as far as I’m concerned. I never work with anyone else apart from them.”
Daniel recently released his solo debut single ‘Screen Cleaner’ via dh2 – the electronic imprint he spearheads via The 1975’s label, Dirty Hit. When asked if she’d ever venture into the world of electronic dance with Daniel on dh2, Bain said: “I would love that. Me and George have been working on a lot of stuff together recently. We’ll always be collaborating in one way or another so we’ll see.”
Earlier this summer, Bain joined Maggie Rogers on her ‘Don’t Forget Me’ tour across the US. Speaking about the things she learned while on the road with the ‘Alaska’ singer, Bain shared: “She’s lovely. She’s so old school in a way that I really admire. She’s a real performer.
“It reminded me how important performance is and how incredibly lucky I am to do this. She sort of relit a fire in me, because when you’re touring for a long time, it gets very old very quickly and you can start kicking the gravel beneath your feet, but it just made me wake up a bit and be a bit more grateful.”
Bain also opened up about the creation of her next LP, sharing: “It’s a refreshing album to write on because finally, I’m writing a happy love album. It’s basically narrating my relationship.”
She continued: “I’m really interested at the moment in delving into and exploring how there can be poignance in happiness and how you can write about happiness in a way that is still engaging and heart wrenching. I think happiness can be heart wrenching but it’s just hard to hit the nail on the head so I’m kind of just figuring all that out.”
The Japanese House will be playing this year’s edition of Reading & Leeds later this month – an honour she was looking forward to as it was thee first festival she ever went to when she was just 15-years-old.
“It was crowded and I was looking for somewhere to put my tent up and was like ‘Oh there’s a patch over there, like these idiots have left this patch open’,” she recalled of her first time at R&L, “because it was in a really good spot to watch the festival. But it was on wood chip and I was like, ‘We’ll be fine’ and put my tent up on wood chip. I woke up in the morning and my bags were floating because the tent completely flooded!
“The wood chip was there and no one was camping there because it was a flooded area. Security had to come down in a van and put our tent and stuff in the back of a pickup truck van.”
She continued: “There were only three seats in the car but I was with four people so I had to stand on the side of the van just like clinging on for dear life absolutely drenched and everyone was laughing at me. [The driver] was playing [Right Said Fred’s] ‘I’m Too Sexy’ really loudly it was all it was awful. But other than that, I’m looking forward to it.”
The Japanese House is currently in the middle of a US tour. Visit here to purchase any last minute tickets and a full list remaining dates.
Reading & Leeds will return for the August Bank Holiday weekend. Tickets are available for purchase here (for Reading) and here (for Leeds).
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Anagricel Duran
NME
