Album Preview
Lontalius: I'll Forget 17
Like many teens, Johnston feels everything acutely: first love, the ephemeral nature of said love, the turmoil of the larger world as well as the need to experience that world. Lontalius asks the existential questions that haunt all of us at that transitional age and couches them in these forlorn yet resonant pop songs.
“You are moving so fast/ but I caught a glimpse of you,” sings 18-year-old Eddie "Lontalius" Johnston, on his debut album I’ll Forget 17. “Feeling so sweet/ but then it goes away.” Like many teens, Johnston feels everything acutely: first love, the ephemeral nature of said love, the turmoil of the larger world as well as the need to experience that world. Lontalius asks the existential questions that haunt all of us at that transitional age and couches them in these forlorn yet resonant pop songs.
In the short time that he has been making music, Lontalius has gone from making bedroom-pop remixes to making fully developed, vulnerable and relatable love songs; made fans out of fellow New Zealand stars Lorde and Troye Sivan; collaborated with Ty Dolla $ign and Ryan Hemsworth (including releasing several tracks on Hemsworth's Secret Songs); and garnered praise from fans and press alike.
His ten song debut, I’ll Forget 17, announces a bright new voice in pop. While fans of Lontalius might have admired the teen’s ability to find the sad sentiment underneath the pop exteriors, his emotional astuteness carries over into his original material. “I’ve always really loved dance remixes where they put an emotional breakdown with an acapella,” he says, adding that a song like “Kick in the Head” remains a favorite of his as it marks when he “started writing about real experiences and real feelings.”