Lukas Graham On His Musical Collab With Vietnamese Artist Vũ.

Ever since his personal rebranding, Vũ. has been announcing various new projects for the pleasure of his music listeners. Coming up soon is his much-awaited collaboration with Lukas Graham for Happy For You.

Lukas Graham is the name of a Danish pop group, they named themselves after the lead singer, Lukas Graham Forchhammer. The band also stars bassist Magnus Larsson and drummer Mark Falgren.

Lukas Graham broke out onto the international stage in 2016 with their songs 7 Years and Love Someone, with two Grammy nominations under their belt for Record of the Year and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance in 2017.

Happy For You, an emotionally charged single released in early 2021 by the band, is about the pain brought on after the end of a relationship. With two musical forces coming together, Happy For You promises to take its listeners on an emotional ride, with Vũ. bringing a Vietnamese element to the song.

Besides Vũ., the band has also collaborated with other international artists for their single Happy For You including Hanin Dhiya from Indonesia and Janice Vidal, featuring her Cantonese vocals.

Vietcetera had a chance to chat with Lukas Graham, the lead singer, to hear his thoughts on Happy For You and why they chose Vũ. for this beautiful project.

1) How did you and Vũ. meet? What made you decide that you two would make a good duet?

I heard about Vũ. through Warner Music, which is also our record label. When I first heard his voice, I thought it would be a great fit for Happy For You.

After hearing our combined recordings, I felt like the song had become something I really wanted: a song about a broken friendship. It’s about two friends who want to heal but find it difficult to set aside their egos.

2) Why do you think Happy For You fits Vũ.?

Happy For You isn’t necessarily about romantic relationships, the lyrics don’t really restrict it in that way. It can also be about friendship and friends who are no longer in our lives.

Friendship is really something that colors our lives but friends can also break each other’s hearts, Vũ. really helped me bring life into this alternate meaning of the song.

Hearing Vũ.’s interpretation of some of my words was really beautiful on top of the tremolo effect he creates when he sings. It’s also really fun to hear how my song sounds when it is translated into another language and even better to see how well it actually works.

3) You and Vũ. did the collab remotely. How was it?

Yeah, we did it very remotely with me in Denmark and him in Vietnam. (chuckles) It’s weird, I’ve done some collabs remotely with G-Eazy, Wiz Khalifa, or Cash Cash. Even with Lauren Alaina, where we did this really amazing love song.

It remains to be weird though, but it’s the new normal, right? We just have to hope for the best, and be grateful that we still have the Internet!

4) You're now a new father and have your own family, how do you relate to this song?

I have two kids, one is four and a half and the other is just over a year old. To me, Happy For You isn’t a song about my personal experience, it's more of a song about if the worst had come to pass and I didn't have my loved ones by my side.

I think that’s a real fear of mine, I was never really afraid of losing anything before I had children but now I wake up afraid of things falling apart. But I think that’s a normal reaction to getting older and starting a family of your own.

5) Besides Vũ., is there any other Vietnamese artist that catches your interest?

I don’t have much experience with Vietnamese artists. But I do look forward to one day visiting Vietnam to listen to some local music, enjoy a lot of local food, and experience a proud and ancient culture.

Translated by Nina Pham