We lived in a very uncomfortable, aggressive house, a lot of alcoholism in my family.

My mother was really abused when I was growing up. I have tracks like вЂњWhereвЂ™s the MiracleвЂќ which is just a discussion of my childhood. What you end up with is an album that almost sounds like a band gig. To explore some of the subjects, they couldnвЂ™t be contained by just pop music. It definitely keeps my love of hooks and dancability on some of the tracks, but sometimes I just let that go. I want to call it pop rock, but sometimes it feels more like pop folk as well. It leans more on my love of LCD Soundsystem and Arcade Fire. It certainly adds more of a touch of Talking Heads to my usual Robyn-sounding thing. The synth parts arenвЂ™t a computer, theyвЂ™re beautiful synth keyboards from the 70s and 80s.

I love pop music, but itвЂ™sвЂ¦everything is real. How would you describe your sound on And the Boyfriends? I think a part of being a cis gay man pulls me into a society where I wasnвЂ™t including women in my life.ДЄt 21, Greyson Chance Is Back From Retirement And Ready For RedemptionДЇunbang1 was very synth-pop driven. IвЂ™ve spent so much of my life not actively engaging with the women around me. This is songs about my mother and my sister and my friends who were being fucked over in the industry, or women who have tried to help me in my life. The stories that I talk about arenвЂ™t necessarily my own stories. And despite being called And the Boyfriends, itвЂ™s pretty much a love letter to all the women in my life. I needed something bigger than me, and I used the imaginary band, The Boyfriends, to kind of clarify my message. YouвЂ™ve said that And the Boyfriends has a concept. In a recent chat, Maclean told Billboard all about his raw and honest new album as well as the party he plans to bring to the U.S. Still, the now 31-year-old hasnвЂ™t entirely given up on entertaining the world. вЂњI donвЂ™t want to call it a coming-of-age album, but I may not be able to avoid that. вЂњI was about to turn 30, and as my producer said to me, вЂSaturn returns with lessons to learn,вЂ™вЂќ Maclean admits. And the Boyfriends finds Maclean returning to the more organic sound of his earlier work, like his breakthrough single вЂњStupid.вЂќ ItвЂ™s also a darker album, with fewer of the bops and bangers that defined his last EP, funbang1. Bronze Avery Talks Being Mislabeled, Overcoming Stereotypes & His New 'Want 2' VideoДЄfter the whirlwind of funbang1 died down, Maclean took some time off to write his introspective follow-up.

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