“Realising I don’t have any control over how well a song is going to do is actually freeing”: Dean Lewis on The Epilogue

Since his emergence in 2017, Australian singer-songwriter Dean Lewis has garnered more than 13 billion streams and a social media following of nearly seven million, thanks to his vulnerable and authentic songwriting that connects with fans all over the world. Hits like Be Alright, Waves and How Do I Say Goodbye have been met with widespread critical acclaim, and as he releases his third album The Epilogue, fans can expect a return to the raw, heartfelt songwriting that defined his early years.

Taking time out from tour rehearsals, Lewis sat down and spoke to us about his evolving sound, the highs and lows of his career so far, the challenges of staying grounded in the music industry and what fans can expect from his hotly-anticipated world tour.

Hi Dean, thanks so much for chatting to us! How are you feeling now your third album is being released?

I’m feeling very excited. I’m in a weird place because we’re doing the biggest shows of my life and I don’t really have a hit song right now, and it’s really interesting because we put on this tour and I think I’m seeing eight years of touring come together, so I’m really excited. Everything just feels so good. My first album was so big, and after my second album, it felt like things were sort of over, and then all of a sudden, I had a big song with How Do I Say Goodbye, but right now my life feels very calm. I have so much behind me now that I’m more relaxed about everything. There are less nerves this time. I lived with my Nan eight years ago and I had nothing, I had my back against the wall and after eight years of touring, I’m now realising that there are other really important things in life, so I feel more balanced this time around, which is cool. I’m just excited about releasing new music and these songs that I like.

If you could sum up this album in three words, how would you describe it?

Ah, that’s a funny question. How would I describe it? Oh maybe like past, present and future.

Your previous two albums were both named after a song on the album, but this album is called The Epilogue, which in a lot of ways symbolises an ending and a new beginning. Can you tell us a little bit more about the title and the inspiration behind it?

So the epilogue is the ending in a book that sometimes hints at what’s to come, and I’ve spent eight years grinding away at this sound that now really sounds like me. As a singer-songwriter, it’s difficult to have a sound that isn’t just an acoustic guitar playing like C, G, A, minor F. It’s difficult to do but I’ve tried to do it, and I think I’ve found my own little niche, you know? Not Ed Sheeran level, but it’s my own little thing. It feels like I’ve reached a point in my life where I’ve gone as far as I can with this, and after this, I think I’m going to take a little bit of a break and figure out what’s next, and it might be something completely different. I also put some songs that were supposed to be on the next album onto this one. All Your Lies and Empire were really supposed to be on the fourth album because I’m heading back to more of a raw sound, and I put them on this one because I felt like it made sense. So for me, I thought the word really summed up eight years of my life and hinted at what was to come.

How would you say your songwriting process has evolved over the last eight years?

I’ve been passionate about songwriting from the day I got into this until now. The next thing that I’m working on is always the most exciting thing in my life. So I don’t know if it actually evolves, but if anything, the difficulty is navigating the changing nature of music. I think the songwriting is still the same thing, and that’s what’s so great about songwriting, is the simplicity of it. It’s playing a guitar, closing your eyes and letting whatever come to you, and then crafting that together. That’s never going to change. I think the difficulty for me is in the changing nature of the world of music. It went from my first album being about the songs, to my second album being more about TikTok and that short-form content, so I think the real evolution has been in my philosophy and moving away again from TikTok and the “sell yourself” attitude. It’s about going back to a place where I realise why I’m doing this, so it’s not so much the songwriting, but it’s the changing nature of the other stuff that’s really changed and my view on it.

You’ve spoken about wanting to go back to that simplicity and finding a way to connect to people with songs from the heart. Are there any songs on the album that you think will particularly connect with people?

Yeah, there’s a song of mine called Clélia’s Song that I wrote about one girl who was like a sister to me and my brothers, and she passed away. I also wrote a bunch of songs for someone who was my best friend throughout my whole second album and kind of became like my right-hand person in terms of helping me with everything in my life, so Empire and Memories are about her as well. It’s about saying, “You go off and find yourself and whatever you want to do in your life, and if the wind ever breaks your windows down, I’ll be here to give you a hand.” There’s All Your Lies as well that I wrote about two-faced friends, about people that you trust after you have success and learning the lesson that not everyone always has good intentions. For me, the songs in my career that have actually connected are the ones that have been really genuine, like How Do I Say Goodbye, Half A Man, Be Alright and Waves. But I feel like I only get one of them once every few years. I’ll do an album and if I’m lucky, I’ll get one song that hits something and that’s my aim on this. If there’s one song that really connects, I’d be so happy.

You mentioned some songs that were meant for the fourth album ended up on this one. Were there any songs that didn’t end up on this album that you might use in the future?

We haven’t really talked about this a lot…I don’t know if I should say this but I’m going to say it anyway! I never normally give my songs away but I had a song that was going to be my big single on this album and Rihanna very excitingly wanted the song and it was supposed to be a single last year, and for whatever reason they didn’t end up using it. So a couple of months ago, I got the song back and I’m so excited. I actually have three deluxe singles that I think are my best songs. This is really a 15-track album and I held back three of the best songs that I’m going to release in November, January and March. It was really to keep it going because I didn’t want the whole album to come out and then all the songs would be old straightaway, so I’ve got so many other songs after this that I think are some of the best stuff, which is a weird way of doing it, but it’s kind of cool and I’m excited.

In the past, you’ve expressed a sense of constantly looking ahead for the next big thing and struggling to be present and enjoy the success you’re having in the moment. How have you come to terms with that over the years? Is it something you’ve got better at dealing with?

I think I’m learning the difference between self-confidence and self-worth. I don’t have any control over how well a song is going to do which is actually quite freeing, especially now with TikTok because you never know what’s going to be a hit. But I think the big lesson for me has been asking myself if I need to do more. Do I need more stuff? No. I don’t live with my Nan anymore. I could quit and do nothing if I wanted to. I’m doing this because I love it, and I think that was the first freeing thought I had. Then after that, it was noticing that I don’t have any control over my monthly listeners and if my self-worth is attached to that, or a festival offer or whether a tour sells out, there’s a certain point where you have to build up your self-worth away from that because you can go crazy like that. And I kind of did that for eight years, and if you feel a bit empty and try to get your value from external things, it can actually speed boost you to a place of success but you have to realise that it can destroy you because you can’t always be hot, you can’t always be the biggest artist. After my first album, I released my second album and I put three songs out and people weren’t even calling me back. And then How Do I Say Goodbye came out and it was a hit again and suddenly people were calling me back, and I thought, “Okay I see how this works. You don’t have forever.” So that’s why I’ve kind of gone back to writing what I love and accepting this might be the biggest it gets. I’m performing at Wembley [Arena] in February and we’ve sold it out already, which is crazy to me. A very small percentage of people from Australia can do that, so I feel very, very lucky and I’m appreciate it so much more than before.

You’re going on tour at the end of the month in Australia and New Zealand, before coming to the UK and Europe early next year. What can fans expect from this tour?

We’re doing big venues, some arenas, in the UK, which is insane to me to get to this level. If this is it, then it’s crazy. The show will be different in the sense we have a violinist now, we have a new set design, we have screens at some of the shows for the first time. We actually started rehearsals today, and it’s really cool because now we have too many songs to choose from. It’s going to be fun, awesome and energetic.

You’ve achieved so much over the last few years. If you could go back and talk to your younger self, the Dean living with his grandma making music in her spare room, what’s one piece of advice you’d tell him?  

Oh my god, so many things. I’d probably just say to release more songs and not to hold back so much. Just keep going with it and follow up your big hits up with a big song. Go to the studio and just write 50 songs and find the one that’s magic.

And lastly, as you look to the future, what are you most excited about in the next phase of your career?

I think balancing my life a little bit more. It’s been eight years of this sprint in this one direction, so moving it more into healthier things, like building a life for myself outside of music that will actually reinvigorate me to keep going. I’m going to be playing shows for the next year non-stop and I just want to enjoy it a little bit more and be more present, be happy and actually look out into these arenas and big shows and think, “Man, I did this. This is crazy.” And really take it all in.

Alex Davis
Image: Sean Loaney

The Epilogue is released on 18^th October 2024. For further information or to order the album visit Dean Lewis’s website here.

Watch the video for the single Empire here: