Interview: Livingston on Deluxe Album and More!

Singer-songwriter Livingston released his deluxe album, A Hometown Odyssey (The Story Continues), earlier this month. Raised in a small midwest town, Livingston has made quite a name for himself with over 3 million monthly listeners on Spotify alone! His music blends cinematic storytelling with pop, indie, and orchestral elements, drawing his listeners in immediately. We had the pleasure of sitting down with Livingston to dive into some of our questions about the new deluxe album, his upcoming tour, and more!

What was the moment in your life that you realized you wanted to pursue music?

I was on the L train into Chicago on a family trip when I was 13, and I had Logic Pro on my MacBook. I had been messing around with making beats for a while and just using a bunch of different sounds together. I found these strings and horns that I could play just on my computer keyboard. Then I made this beat, and the sound ended up being called “Young.” It was on my first EP. There was nothing wild about it. It was just kind of like those early 2010s pop songs with all the orchestral stuff in it. There was something that happened in my heart just watching the city unfold out the window of the train and creating something on the computer that felt in sync with the emotion I was viewing at that very second in the outside world. I was like, this is what I want to do for the rest of my life. I'll do anything to do this because this feeling makes sense, and nothing else really does for me.

Looking back at your journey from writing music in isolation to now headlining a tour, how do you think you've grown as an artist?

I think when I was younger, I was making a lot of guesses about how the world works, what my place was in it, and how to create things that made things make sense to me. Getting out into the world is really scary — whether you leave home, go to college, or follow your dream. Whatever it is, it's the first time. But it's also this comforting thing. I realize that no one has it figured out. Everyone is trying to take it one day at a time; everyone always has that kind of wonder. Like, what am I doing, and where's this going long-term? No matter how good things are going. That's changed my songwriting a lot and my journey a lot. Now, it's not just about how I can make the world make sense to me and try to make it small so that it's not so scary. It's more about embracing that there's so much I don't know, there's so much I have left to learn. I find that exciting — just letting go and being a part of that process.

I see on Spotify that the deluxe album is set up differently than the typical deluxe release. How did you decide where to place these new tracks? How do they add to the story you first told in A Hometown Odyssey?

I think there are a couple of things. First, it's like your new stuff is always your favorite stuff, and I didn’t want to tuck it under songs that I made when I was 14 years old. It just felt strange. I was like, I'd rather it be a statement, but then as a new chapter on top of the old songs — a disc two but almost presented as the main disc. There's a lot packed into it that I think the original album had, but it's just brighter, more colorful, and more electric versions of it. So I just wanted to make a big statement and put them all at the top, yeah.

Can you share any behind-the-scenes experiences or challenges you faced while creating the new material for the deluxe album?

Yeah, you know, it’s something that I’m thinking a lot about going into the next album — which is, you have your whole life to make your first album. When stuff works, and in my head, I was always like, Oh, I really want this to work. I really want to go play shows. I’m tired of being in the same place every day doing the same stuff. Well, my wish was granted. I've been touring, about to enter the fifth leg of this tour. It's about to be 100 shows in one year for this album. So my wish, which I'm so grateful for, has been granted. The other side of that is finding time to create the music and to protect the asset is now the new challenge. It's like everything that I wanted to happen happened. I'm out in the world, I'm touring, I have an amazing fan base. I'm lucky enough to play shows all the time. Now, it’s about getting back to home base to create the next world — which used to have a lot more airspace to do that. Now, I’ve got to be intentional about finding it.

If someone’s never heard your music before, what’s the one thing you hope they take away after hearing this album?

Inspiration. I just want people to have a bit of awe and wonder and kind of hold onto that, even when there's a lot of reasons not to. That's it. That’s all I want to do. It’s simple. Whatever song helps them feel that way — good for them.

You've been on multiple tours as both a supporting artist and as a headliner. What are some things that stay the same throughout the tours you've been on, and what has changed as you've played more headlining shows?

Things do stay the same. There is an arc to the tour — kind of like how you have energy throughout the day. You start the day with a lot of energy, then you get tired in the afternoon with the coffee crash and all that. That occurs on a larger timescale with a tour, whether you're opening or headlining. At least in my experience, there's this huge burst of energy in the beginning. Then about two weeks in, everybody gets really sick. It could be anything: a head cold, stomach bug — it could be whatever. We call that the slog. The slog is usually about a week. You put on the same shows, and nobody in the audience should be able to tell that you're going through it, but it takes about three times more energy to put on the show than the ones in the beginning. But you do it anyway. Then, about three and a half to four weeks into the tour, going into those last eight shows, I call it the push. That's where everybody gets over whatever the illness was, the end is in sight, and the shows just become easy again. Then you kind of take it to the finish line.

Things change too. It has gotten easier to sleep. I've figured out how to sleep better on a tour bus. I have specific healthier protein stuff that helps me stay good with my diet on tour. Those things change, but others stay the same.

With The Story Continues Tour coming up, what are you most excited to bring to this set of live shows?

Riding a guitar is gonna be fun. The stages are way bigger — that's gonna be fun. I’m training super, super hard so I can do cooler stuff on stage and move around without running out of breath. So I think people are in for a treat.

A Hometown Odyssey (The Story Continues) is out now on all streaming platforms. If you love artists like David Kushner, Macklemore, and Imagine Dragons, you’ll love Livingston! Thank you so much to Livingston for taking the time to answer our questions and thank you to his team for taking the time to set this up.