”TIME” - in Måns Zelmerlöw’s own words:

The album is called “Time” because it's a chronological journey from a couple of years back – sometimes even earlier than that – up until now. I've always wanted to make an album that tells a story from start to finish. It begins with a letter from myself to my younger self as a young boy, then it moves to quite a dark place; breaking up with an ex, how I felt at that time, desperately wanting to hold on to her, and how I could ever hope to change. Then, on to meeting the woman of my dreams, but still wondering if she's just a dream or if I'm only desperate to find someone.

After a while I’m realizing that she is real, and I try to make her realize that I am a better person, and consent with who I am now. I sing about the fights we have, which hopefully make things better, followed by a couple of songs to our son. It ends with an absolute love song, but in a different way.

I'm really proud of this album. I believe it's by far the best album I've ever done, and I'm excited to share it with everyone else, and to get their reactions. It is also a lot more emotional, because there's so much of me in this album.

Musically, I feel that I'm more secure in myself, in my own voice, and production wise. It has been a relief to work with British writers, who don't know my story and don't have any preconcieved ideas about me. They just want to do their best, as do I, and in my opinion, we have found a sound that's very 2019, but still recognizeable as me.

Our main influences for this album include people like Lewis Capaldi and James Arthur. Like James, I wanted to write personal songs, which people can still relate to, and I do feel that the lyrics on “Time” are a lot stronger than anything I've done before. In addition to those influences, there will probably always be a Coldplay influence in my music. Some may also be able to detect a touch of The Police.

Making this entire album has for me been like one long therapy session about the past. Therapy that I didn't even know that I needed at the time. It's been really nice to be able to talk about and write about it. This is the most honest album I've ever made, and I hope that the themes are universal and relatable enough.

TIME – track by track:

“One my Way” is a letter to myself as a young boy. The first verse is about my being 11 years old and bullied. I'm telling myself all the things that I wish someone had told me back then; that everything was going to turn out OK, and that all I needed to do was to believe in myself. At 12 and 13 years old, I was still an outsider. The letter goes on to about later stages, like having my heart broken for the first time at 15, and having ‘made it’ at 21, but knowing that I had a lot of work in front of me and nothing comes easily. I was already on my way– and I'm still on my way. I don't know the destination, but I'm happy to make the journey. Musically, “On My Way” contains a new sound for me. Fredrik Sundfors’ and Pete Hammerton’s production is very different – it's very me in 2019. The song almost wrote itself, it came together really quickly, and it came naturally – and I love it when that happens!”

“Faker” was one of the first songs that we wrote for this album. It really speaks to me. It's about having left a relationship and wanting to feel that you'll be OK and you can move on, although something is missing. You can't really laugh properly about anything, because there's no joy and happiness –it's all fake. The music really appealed to me straight away. I have co-written a lot of the album together with Jon Eyden, who I now consider him my go-to guy, my Guy Chambers, because we write so well together. We really understand each other. I look forward to collaborating with him a lot more in the future! The production didn't really fall into place until producer Oliver Lundström took it on. He nailed it straight away and added the guitar, which runs through the song and keeps it emotional, even though it ended up being almost like an up-tempo song. It's a fine line, and he did it. And the middle eight is one of my favourites, I look forward to performing, and building on it, in a live setting – because it's so amazing.”

“Walk with Me” was one of the first songs we wrote and was the first single off the forthcoming album. We wrote it in a studio in Battersea in London together with, among others, Andrew Jackson, who's a great songwriter, with Laconic producing it. Everyone involved immediately felt that we were onto something good. Everything seemed to fit, and it felt like a logical sequel to “Happyland”, which was the last single off the previous album. The lyrics for “Walk with Me” are about coming out of a relationship and being so eager to find someone new that you are willing to forget who you are. Just to get the comfort of a new partner and a new relationship, while you become the person you want to be. This song is quite emotional to me. This song is a duet with Dotter. I saw her perform live in 2017, and thought she was so good, had her own style and a great voice. We met in a studio in London, and really clicked. Musically, “Walk with Me” is dark and massive, and could easily have become a power ballad, but Laconic's production turned it into something a lot more contemporary and up to date, and not too dark.”

“Careless” is a personal favourite of mine. I wrote that together with Jon, at home by my piano. It's about the frustration you feel when have come out of a relationship and your former partner has totally moved on, doesn't show any sign of having any love left for you, whereas I don't know how to get there. The third stage after the breakup. And I love the lyrics in the mid eight. I'm so happy with the production as well. For the longest time, we sat by the piano recording pieces I'd done on voicemail and didn't know how to take it further. However, Oliver Lundström got hold of it and, together with Samsson, nailed it straight away. They made it sound a bit like “Youngblood” by 50 Seconds of Summer.

“Real Life” was written by Jon Aiden, Alex Shield and myself. It describes the stage when you've started building something new. It's about having found a new person that you think is the greatest, but you're still not entirely sure whether it's just you wanting to find someone new, or if it's a person that you really do love. This was the first song I wrote with Alex. He's a genius as well. Everything he played to me when I first came to his studio was great. We started writing and it felt just right straight away. I also like the fact that the melody and production are a little bit reminiscent of Christian Walz, a Swedish artist who I listened a lot to when I was younger. I more or less wanted to be him, and this is probably as close as I'll ever get.

Chapter two of the album starts out with “Better Now”, which was the second single off the album. It's very different from most of the things I've done, a lot happier. But when you take a closer look at the lyrics, they are quite serious. It's about when I met my wife, and how I wanted her to know that I was a different person, that I had left that dark place and wasn't out partying anymore. I think a lot of people will be able to relate. Most of us have woken up with a hangover, feeling empty inside.

The new single, “One”, is another favourite of mine, quite a serious one. It's about a couple that fights a lot in order to let it all out, to be able to continue with a clean slate and an even deeper understanding, an ability to love each other even more, and be ‘the exception to the rule’. So, in the end it's a happy song. Jon and I went to a little house on the countryside where Mac & Phil's studio was. They took on the song like it was a script. That felt new to me, and really fits the album.

“Mirror” is about telling someone with a lot of insecurities that they are absolutely perfect the way they are. What they see as flaws are not flaws to me. I think many of us have something that we're fixated on, and probably spend too much time agonizing over it. It has a massive chorus, and it made me discover my ‘new’ voice, I have a kind of growl that sounds pretty cool. Joy Deb, Moh Denebi, Melanie Wehbe and it was a great session. A great moment was when we came up with the ‘talky’ section!

“Grow Up To Be You” is obviously a song to my son. It's about how I want him to go his own way, and make his own life choices, and I will love him no matter what, and always support him. I remember that even if my parents, who are doctors, always supported my choice to make music, they were hoping that I would get an education. I don't want my son to feel that. As a more acoustic track, it stands out a bit, but I like too much to keep it off the album. This song was very easy to write. As soon as I had decided what it should be about, it conjured up memories from my own childhood and teen years, like stealing liqour from my dad.

“You and I” is also to my son, Albert. It's about how it took me a while to understand how big this was, and how much I actually love him. I'd have heard from friends that becoming a parent would be a life changing experience, but I didn't really feel that for the first couple of months. I was starting to wonder if I had a heart of stone. After a few months, it completely happened, and now I love him more than anything I've ever loved. I wrote the music together with Alex Shield. He had this off-beat guitar thing that was strange and cool. We wanted an Avicii-like chorus. It may be strange to put a song about my son to such an offbeat song, but it's also cool, I think.

“Something to You” works, in part, thanks to the quirkiness. That's what's touching about it: ‘I can be anything, as long as I'm something to you’. The lyrics were written by Jon and I and revolve around things we had been talking about several times. I think I cried when I heard the song. I'm happy to use a lower voice for this one and stay in that register for the entirety of the song. It's smooth, and a little different. I can't wait to sit down at the front of the stage and perform this one acoustically!

MZW TIME 2019