How Elephante Channeled Hope and Healing After Heartache Into New Single ‘Love Again’
There are few feelings more powerful than being hopeful again for the first time after having your heart broken.
Elephante knows this well. The Taiwanese-American producer and singer-songwriter went through a painful breakup during the pandemic that plunged him into darkness before he was able to heal from it—and out of that process of healing came his latest single, "Love Again," with Thai-Candian producer SABAI. We've adored it from the very first listen, and we were lucky enough to get to chat with Elephante all about the new track, and discover what its lyrics mean to him.
The Story Behind 'Love Again'
Elephante: "Love Again" is about overcoming the fear and pain of a traumatic experience, and learning to have hope and put your heart out there again. I went through a brutal breakup a couple of years ago. Adding a global pandemic on top, for a long time, I felt like a shell of myself, and was totally petrified to have any kind of joy or expectations for the future. I wrote the song about finding a moment of healing, and trying to summon the courage to be open to love again, even if you could get hurt, again.
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Working With SABAI
Elephante: It's actually a pretty crazy story. The song started when I brought SABAI out to open on my album tour. I had no idea at the time, but SABAI (aka Gene) had actually heard me play one of his songs at EDC, and had made a demo for me right after but had never sent it. When I heard the demo, I immediately fell in love, and the lyrics just fell right out—the first line that popped in my head was "I've been waiting forever for someone like you," and I knew we were off to the races.
We worked remotely on it, sending ideas back and forth and working on FaceTime. It was really easy working with Gene—we share a lot of the same tastes, and he reminds me a lot of myself from five or six years ago, so the process was super easy.
What 'Love Again' Means
Elephante: I hope that my fans find their own meaning in the song—to me, once a song is out, it doesn't really matter what I think or what I intended. If it makes you feel joyful, that's great. If it makes you get in your feelings and cry, that's great, too.
(Photo credit: Alex Lopes)
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Elephante Favorite Lyric
Elephante: Honestly, I love the opening line so much—"I'm lying in the darkness, trying to fix this broken heart that I live with." I love these kinds of cold openings with strong imagery, and I just picture myself in a dark workshop, pulling out my heart like a mechanic trying to fix it like it's a carburetor or something.
(Photo credit: Alex Lopes)
Want to know what else we're loving this week? Click HERE to read our interview with Frawley on her new track, "If I Don't Laugh, I'll Cry."