Zane Lowe chatted to Jared Leto on his Beats 1 show last night after he played 30 Seconds to Mars' song ‘Dangerous Night'.
Check out some key quotes below where they talk about why Jared has avoided writing about love in the past, Justin Timberlake and working with Kanye West.
On 'Dangerous Night'…
It’s a song about love. Something that I've successfully avoided singing about for many many years and you know but I had to address it at some point...We just finished this song four days ago and it's coming out already. I can't believe it. Look who we have here to celebrate.
On why he’s avoided writing about love in the past...
I just feel like it had been done so well by so many people especially in the beginning. I didn't want to sing about my dad or my girlfriend or something. I thought that it was such visited territory. But you know someone said recently to me, don't be afraid of the cliches. And I think there's something to that. Cliches are cliches because they're true. And singing about hope and dreams and love are really worthy things. But what makes this song unique to me is it's not just about a relationship, it's kind of about this metaphorical relationship that is America right now as if it were a relationship. What is that relationship like and I think if you listen to the song from that vantage point it has a whole new meaning.
On Justin Timberlake and his new album ‘Man of the Woods’ and his ‘wild beardy appearance'…
JARED: I heard that Justin Timberlake’s album is called Man of the Wild and I can relate.
ZANE: It's called Man of the Woods, which means that man the wild is actually open and you can take that if you want.
JARED: Ok, I’m man of the wild and he’s man of the woods. We are both men and we are wild and woody.
On America…
Well I think the idea of being American is really, it's a global question in a way right now. What kind of world do we want to live in? What type of people do we want to be? I think that's a question that people are asking all over the world. And you know we made it a film, a documentary called A Day In The Life of America. We shot in all 50 states in a single day and it's going to be a companion piece to the album. We look at you know the mundane, the normal, the tragic, the beautiful and we kind of get a slice of life that is America. But that film could've easily been made in the UK or Australia and New Zealand or anywhere. It's about people, it's about us it's about who and what we are the day and age that we're living in.
On finishing the album and collaborating with Kanye West…
Well we have four songs that are basically mixed. We have seven or eight other songs that are about 80 percent done. so we are pretty close. But I always say that the longer you work on a song, the longer it takes to finish. So the last 10 to 20 percent is sometimes the hardest part of the song...Yeah for sure, we have some surprises and we have some guests. I always want more guests because we haven't done that often. I mean, we had Kanye sing on a song.
On their American tour…
We have a tour on sale now in Europe and it's our biggest and most successful tour we've ever done. And then we’ll come to America.
