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He was still reeling from a punishing streak of bad luck.
A day later, he learned his mother had cancer.
So Jesso moved back home.
He returned, instead, to his comfort zone: helping other artists write songs.
Instead, the musician, jet-lagged and overcaffeinated, shared that he recently wrote and recordedGoon 2.
WouldGoonhave come together without all that happening?I guess that is a great story.
ButGoondidnt come together from that.
Well, notlikeRandy Newman hes a legend but in that vein.
When I wrote that first demo ofJust a Dream,I felt it had more staying power for me.
I realized,Oh, I can do this for myself.
I dont have to go through the industry rat race.
You chose to send those early demos to J.R. White of Girls.
Why?I was a huge fan of Girls.
Christopher Owens was the reason I opened my mouth to sing.
I loved how bratty he got with his voice.
When I had those demos, Girls was breaking up.
I had J.R.s email from …
I think it was a blog post.
So, I emailed him Just a Dream and Can We Still Be Friends.
He replied and said, Can you kindly call me?
Ive been crying listening to this stuff.
Where do you live?
I want to do this record.
What about it?The nights, going to parties, drugs and stuff.
Everyones going into the thrift store and shoplifting.
There were a lot of things that didnt make sense to me.
But a lot of songs went missing.
When I went to work with Patrick, I thought I was being shelved.
Half the songs were lost.
The budget was over.
My friend Dakota
Dakota Johnson?Yeah.
Dakota was with Patrick Carney at the time, and she said, I played him your demos.
You should talk to him.
I got in touch, and he was like, Yeah, Ill produce some songs.
So I flew out to Nashville to work with him, then came back to Vancouver.
We used all my friends who were doing big favors for me.
Whats your relationship to that canon now?I was listening to Harry Nilsson and Randy Newman.
Theres no getting around that.
But it didnt matter if somebody said, Oh, that sounds like theCheerstheme song.
Its not like I tried to rip it off.
It doesnt come from an inauthentic place.
This full circle of like,I cant do this anymore.
I give this up.
I dont want to do this at all.
And then going and seeing him and being like,Whoa.
My favorite bit ofGoonpromo was that billboard that read You cant miss Tobias Jesso Jr. Hes six foot seven.
Whose idea was that?That was Dean Bein, the brilliant mind behind theGoonmarketing campaign.
Maybe we lean into it.
I liked it because it was cheeky.
Theyre like,I forgot how tall you were?Exactly.
And then they see me again, and its, Did you grow?
Im showing up and Im taller than they remember, I guess.
You recently worked on the new Haim single.
I seem to remember there being unfounded dating rumors about you and Alana Haim.
Is that something you joke about when youre writing a song calledRelationshipstogether?Of course.
Alana and I will joke about that.
With them, its not like Im texting a band that I need to work with or something.
Its a lot more intimate.
She kind of directs me, then we hammer out these moments of beauty that we both really love.
And in the end, Im just so glad shes getting what she wants.
Are you guys working on anything now?Nothing recently, no.
Whatever shes up to, maybe Ill get the call, maybe I wont.
You often hear stories about songwriters getting stiffed by big names in the industry or screwed by payment structures.
This is random, but I have to ask: Whats that behind you?
ASesame Streetpuppet?Oh, no, I actually had that puppet made.
Thats of my gardener.
His names Martin Martini.
He helped me write my next album.
How did your gardener help you write your next album?He was gardening my ex-wifes property in Australia.
I really didnt like him at first.
Then he started to open my eyes to see things in a different way.
I couldnt tell whether he was full of shit or not, so it was a confusing journey.
He has his opinions aboutGoon, and he had no problem telling me those opinions.
What were his thoughts onGoon?Very critical.
I think that resonated with me, because Im critical of myself.
So the Martin Martini version of making an album was for him to do that to me.
And we wrote the new songsin two and a half weeks.
It really was a return to center.
And youre calling itGoon 2?Yeah, itsGoon 2.
So, working with your ex-wifes gardener.
Is that a strange dynamic to navigate?Well, he was our gardener when we were married.
And then he got fired.
Was that related to you, or no?Yeah.
You fired him?Yeah, as a gardener, he was not bringing a lot to the table.
But as a friend, we remain strong.
Through my divorce, he really was there for me.
I have to let some parts go and say, Okay, lets just see if this works.
And they do very well for themselves.
But thats not who I am.
Im just more of a collaborator.
