Hollywood

Album: Goon (2015)
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Songfacts®:

  • Tobias Jesso Jr. spent four years in Los Angeles playing bass and writing songs without much success, before moving back to his home in North Vancouver. He started playing a piano in his spare time at the age of 27 while working for a moving company.

    This semi-autobiographical ballad written on his new instrument finds Jesso recalling his life as a struggling bassist and songwriter in Los Angeles. "I was in L.A. and I was just walking around like a regular guy. I was trying to be a songwriter; I really was, you know?" he told Stereogum. "I just don't think I was going about it the right way. And then when I went home, I started working for my best friend's moving company, and then I was like, 'OK, I'll figure it out here. I'll be a mover or something.' And then it was within a week or two that I started writing on piano."

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