Luke Mock’s Newest Single Should Be The Center of Your “Universe”

Posted On June 12, 2020

Samantha Colleran, June 2020

Ahead of his highly anticipated single release, I met with singer-songwriter Luke Mock to discuss his song “Universe”, songwriting, and how quarantine changed his perspective on music. Check out the interview below, and be sure to listen to Luke’s out of this world single on all streaming services today!

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SC: Hey Luke! Thank you for doing this. I know you from school, but would you mind just giving a brief introduction to those who are unfamiliar with your work. Just some general information about who you are, how you got started, other things you want people to know?

LM: Sure, of course. I grew up in a town called Auburn, New York. I was actually born in Salem, Massachusetts, very random, I moved when I was young. I sang in all these talent shows when I was a kid, I was always that annoying kid that would sing all the time no matter what. It was really bad, I wasn’t a good singer, I was just running around and being annoying. Eventually I did some talent shows and then I got to that age around middle school where your voice changes a lot, and I couldn’t find songs that fit my vocal range anymore, so I decided to learn guitar. I got lessons at a place called Jim van Arsdale Guitar Studio, and I got lessons from a man named Bob Nadzo who is a lifelong friend to me now, I would say. After getting guitar lessons for like, a year or so, I got introduced to making original music and I got to perform that music through an organization called Perform 4 Purpose, an organization where tons of kids and young adults can play for benefits and charities to raise money. I got to play all of my original songs and then I really found a love to write and perform more. So that’s where my performing background started. 

SC: So we’re talking about your new single, “Universe”. Massive congratulations on that, by the way, that’s really awesome! 

LM: Thank you so much!

SC: First of all, I listened to it and I love the sound. It’s very Shawn Mendes-ish almost, which I thought was super cool. Who are some of your other inspirations?

LM: Shawn Mendes is a huge inspiration of mine, I love Shawn Mendes. John Mayer too, I love listening to John Mayer and his writing, obviously he’s a great guitar player too, but I picked up more on the writing though, I really love his writing. Charlie Puth, I really like his knowledge about how music works. I’ve loved Billie Eilish’s sound recently, it’s motivated me to do some lyrical things, I would say. 

SC: Awesome! When was “Universe” written and what was your inspiration for it?

LM: When was it written? I wrote it with a friend named Jessica… I want to say October, but I might have the exact date, let me see if I can find it… I have it in my voice memos, I recorded it the day we did it. I didn’t want to forget it, so I sang it into my phone so I didn’t forget how it goes… It was October 5th. We started writing it in October. 

The whole story itself is based around, in a literal way, you’re in a relationship and someone else is getting in the way of the relationship, but it can also be metaphorical, I think. It can be something getting in the way of something you love. I kind of related it to this thought of the universe because there’s so many things that we can’t control that come into our lives and just like the universe, there’s no answers and you can’t do anything about it. So that’s where that came from.

SC: What were the recording process and production process like? Were they different from what you normally do or was it the same?

LM: Well… there’s kind of a mixed answer here. At first, it was normal. I would go to my producer’s house and we started during winter break. We started recording in January and we just went and recorded a few days at a time, a few full days. Then when COVID-19 happened, everything changed. I ended up turning my room into a studio and I’ve been sending back and forth between my producer and Zoom calling to figure out how it’s going to work. We made it work, I think. 

SC: Definitely, it [“Universe”] sounds awesome considering the circumstances.

LM: Thank you!

SC: You’re welcome. That was actually going to be one of my follow up questions. Has making music been any different for you since Corona hit, in terms of things like creativity, messages you want to get across, the writing process?

LM: Yes, all sorts of stuff like that. Obviously the recording’s been very different, especially now. When I used to record music, it wasn’t like I was doing it with someone else, it was more like ‘This is my idea, this is what I want to do’, but now it’s like collaborating with a producer on a song I’ve written. That’s a totally new aspect to me, especially because of COVID, recording from home… I actually kind of like doing vocals at home because I’m very particular and I feel like there’s not a lot of pressure, I’m in my own little space. 

I’ve had a lot more time to write, as well. A lot of it was like… I guess Corona kind of made me feel a little bit lonely. That might play into some of the songs I’ve written recently. I’ve had a lot more time to expand myself musically and listen to new artists, try to pick up some more skills on the piano and stuff like that.

SC: Who have you been listening to in quarantine?

LM: Well I’ve been listening to a lot of this artist named BENEE, I love her music. It’s so different from what I’m making but I just love it so much. 

SC: Doesn’t she sing the song “Glitter”?

LM: She does. She also sings the Tik Tok song! I mean, I listened to her a little bit before that, but it’s crazy that that song got really big.

SC: “Supalonely”, right?

LM: Yeah, yeah. 

SC: Is there anyone else you’ve been listening to? I feel for me personally, I’ve just been listening to anything anyone tells me to listen to because now I have the time and no excuses not to.

LM: I’ve been spending time listening to the New Music Friday playlist. 

SC: The Spotify one?

LM: Yes. And I feel like… it’s weird, because I like to invest into a specific artist rather than specific songs. That’s when I really like to listen to music. I’m still trying to find a new person just by listening to the New Music Friday playlist. So far I like a lot of the songs. Not all of them are the kind of stuff I like to listen to, but of course there’s different moods for everything. If I was hanging out with my friends and we were doing something cool, then I would probably want to listen to a lot of the new stuff on that playlist, but obviously no one’s really with their friends right now. It’s all just based on the mood and the tone. 

SC: Has your mood towards writing or trying to style your music changed at all since you’ve listened to new stuff, or even after writing “Universe”, do you think you want to stick to that musical direction or expand beyond that?

LM: I think from a business standpoint, I want to establish myself with a certain sound. I’m not stuck on something, when I write I’m not thinking about… I’ll think about if it sounds good, not if I’m sounding a certain way. I have other songs that are kind of out there compared to what you would expect from a pop artist. I would love to expand and show those songs as well.

SC: Can we expect an album in the future?

LM: Yes… in the future. I don’t know when in the future, right now the idea of an album is a little far out. It all depends on responses to the single. 

SC: Well, if people respond to “Universe” the way I did, I think that you’ll be perfectly fine because it’s really such a good song. 

LM: Thank you so much, that really makes my day. 

SC: You’re welcome. I mean, as soon as Temima [Shames, manager] sent it to me, I was like ‘Wow, this is so good!’ I did have to put it down for a few days because of everything going on, but I was listening to it again last night and this morning and I kept thinking ‘This needs to be on the radio’, it’s really awesome.

LM: I’m so excited, I’m so excited! My team and I considered delaying the release because I didn’t want to overshadow Black Lives Matter, however, we decided to release it on time because music has the power to bring people together. ‘Universe’ is about uncontrollable forces in the world that can get in the way of us loving each other. It’s up to us to make that change and remember that we all orbit the same sun. 

SC: Understandable. Do you have any long term goals you want to achieve with your art, this project in particular? I know you said an album is far out but is there anything you hope for with “Universe”?

LM: I’m always hoping to have people connect with me. My biggest dreams are performing in stadiums and hearing people sing along with me and have people feel with me. I’ve listened to these performers and they always say that when you’re on a stage you feel like you’re floating in the air and I want to experience that one day. I want it to be mutual, like everyone in the audience feels a connection, that’s my longest term goal. Album wise, I definitely have songs, it’s just a matter of what people are liking when I put it out to see what will come next 

SC: That whole floating thing, as soon as you said that, it made me think of the Rocketman movie, I don’t know if you’ve seen it. There’s this one scene where Elton goes to America for the first time and since the movie is a musical fantasy of course everything is dramatized, but there’s the one scene where he’s doing “Crocodile Rock” and he goes for the first time to jump up on the piano and he starts floating. He looks out at the audience and they’re all floating, too. I feel like it may feel like that.

LM: I like that. It’s something I’ll never truly understand until it happens. I’m hoping that happens, the way for that to happen is if people can share my emotions with me or gain their own value and emotions from what I make. 

SC: What kind of emotions do you hope people will feel when they listen to “Universe”?

LM: Of course it’s totally up to them. What I imagine they would think is… the song is kind of metaphorical, so it doesn’t have to be about a relationship where some other person is getting in the way, it can be about anything getting in the way of something you love that sometimes isn’t in your control. What I would like people to feel, I suppose, is just to be able to relate and know that other people are feeling the same way they are, and there’s so many things out there, there’s just no telling what’s going to happen. That’s how I imagined it all with “Universe”, because when you think of space there’s so many unanswered questions. 

SC: I love the metaphor of space, I think it’s so cool. Where can people follow you and stream your music? I know you have your website, but where are you currently streaming your music?

LM: “Universe” is going to be available on June 12th at the moment, and it’ll be on Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, Amazon, places like that. My main platform at the moment is Instagram, and my tag for everything is #LukeMockMusic, anything on Twitter, Facebook, MySpace… not really MySpace. 

SC: MySpace! Haven’t heard that one in a while. 

LM: Actually I never used MySpace. 

SC: I think we were too young for that.

LM: Yeah, I think we passed that age!

SC: I just want to thank you for your time, and congratulations on the release once again.

LM: Thank you!

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“Universe” is out now on all streaming services! Congratulations once again Luke! Click to listen on Spotify and Apple Music.