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For a heartthrob singer who counts Haim among his friends and Taylor Swift among his fans, Tobias Jesso Jr. is surprisingly unassuming—or he would be, if he wasn’t 6’7. The floppy-haired musician, who’s as tall in talent as he is in genes (not to mention jeans), has been compared to artists as legendary as Billy Joel and Harry Nilsson. And though it’s not hard to see why, between his '70s-tinged dad rock and old-school piano melodies, he's quick to shrug off the praise.
But Tobias isn't going to be able to keep the modest act up much longer. His debut album, Goon, has been widely praised (see previously-mentioned Taylor Swift cosign), his international tour is almost entirely sold out, and his dashing good looks have landed him a Saint Laurent campaign.
Despite all his sudden success, the Vancouver native is still as humble as ever. Calling from a hotel in Paris, where he's playing a show that had to be moved to a bigger venue because of the sheer demand for tickets, Tobias still sounds like he can't believe his luck. He also can't believe that people—lots and lots of them, in fact—pay to see him play live every night. Before his nightly pre-show nerves inevitably set in, Tobias opened up about ex-girlfriends, stage fright, and fanning out over Haim.
Your shows sell out all over the country, but getting on stage doesn’t seem to be your thing. Do you find any joy in touring?
It’s not my favorite. If you just keep a positive attitude, you can enjoy anything. But I like routine, and I like things to be known before I go into them. When you’re aimlessly touring, there’s a schedule but so much room for things to go wrong. I'd say I like finishing playing shows.
I guess the best way I can describe it is that I don’t mind attention in certain ways. There’s certain things that don’t bother me at all. But it’s tough when I can’t help being nervous. And no matter how much I practice performing, I can’t practice being nervous. Most nights, I find myself in the same spot: I can’t believe all these people paid to see me. I look at the stage and think, "I would love to see someone suffering up there." It’s everyone else’s night off.
Do you have fangirls trying to take selfies with you after shows?
These days, the people who stick around after a show are over 50.
Most of your music seems to be about young love, which people find universally relatable—whether they're 15 or 50.These songs are my first take on love. I wasn’t writing personal lyrics when I first started writing songs. When I first got to LA, I wanted to be, let's day, a carpenter. So I started to build houses that looked like every other house. Then I gave up, and built one house for myself. It was my first collection of songs that I had written about myself.
And clearly it resonated. A lot of Goon is about a broken heart. What's the best way you've found to get over a broken heart?I don’t know, honestly. The best thing is time and being able to understand that there’s always going to be something better if you just look for it. You can lose any item you have, including people. If it’s not meant to be, it’s not going to be.
"Can We Still Be Friends" is about remaining friendly with an ex. Do you think that's possible?
100%. I’m friends with most of my exes. In fact, I was just a groomsman in one of my ex-girlfriend's wedding [Riley Keough, Elvis Presley's granddaughter], and her husband's name is Ben [Smith-Petersen] and is the actor in the "Without You" music video.
You've worked with some really awesome producers, like Ariel Rechtshaid (who's a favorite of Haim, Vampire Weekend, and Solange) and Chet "J.R." White (formerly of indie band Girls). How'd you get linked up with them?
It was completely by chance. I sent JR a "hail mary" email with some of my songs. He wrote back right away, and he sent back something that said, "Let me help you with this." So he took it on. I recorded with him, but I had visa restrictions, so I had to go to Canada. Then I had a friend who was shooting 50 Shades Of Grey in Vancouver, and she said, "I sent your demo Patrick Carney [of The Black Keys]. Then Patrick was said, "Let’s work together." I was mixing the record, and by chance, the mixer was like I know a guy who’s perfect—it was Ariel. Serendipitous. Nothing was forced.
The Haim girls obviously love you. When can we expect a collaboration?
I love those girls. I haven’t collaborated with them officially, but I’ve seen in a room doing their thing. I fell in love with all of them. It’s a childhood friend thing. It’s one of those feelings I get. They’re wildly talented. I was fanning out on them.
You got your first taste of Hollywood when there were all those rumors about you being the latest object of Taylor Swift’s affection, which we now know isn’t the case. How would you feel about being Taylor Swift-level famous?
That would be a nightmare.
It’s clear that you’ve never sought out fame, but did you always want to be a singer?
I never wanted to be a singer. I still don’t want to be singer. When I was younger, I just wanted to do something that I could be my own boss at. I explored owning bakery to being a writer of books or movies or TV. I lived in LA, music was a constant continuous passion. I had multiple terrible jobs. I was still working 9-5 jobs.
