Lightspeed Champion Waves 'Bye Bye' to Unhappiness

Lightspeed Champion's 2010 EP, 'Bye Bye,' includes a sprightly, pretty cover of the Beach Boys' 'Til I Die.' Aside from the surf-rock legends, who else does Lightspeed Champion (aka Devonte Hynes) admire?

"Todd Rundgren, Serge Gainsbourg, Harry Nilsson. Mainly those," he tells Spinner. "There are others as well, like Lee Hazlewood." The list isn't surprising given the classic pop feel of Hynes' most recent LP, 'Life Is Sweet! Nice To Meet You,' which was inspired by feelgood '70s radio hits. These days, Hynes says he's really into feeling good.

Listen to Lightspeed Champion's Cover of 'Til I Die'
Lightspeed Champion - 'Til I Die (Beach Boys Cover) by DominoRecordCo
"I look at it like this. I don't want to generalize but I will. It's quite cool to be unhappy," the chatty New York City-based, London-raised singer-songwriter says. "A lot of people probably are unhappy, but they almost force themselves into it. They are much more willing to look at the negative aspects of their life and exaggerate those. I thought it would be more interesting to do that with the happy things. I really think about stuff like this."

On a recent trip to England, he recalls being depressed. "I was pretty bummed out. I wanted to come home to my bedroom. Yet, the same things are happening in my life here as they are there. I was only looking at the negative things. Now I'm back home and can eat something a bit different and even though I'm in the same situation, I feel better. The same s----y things are happening but I can't be bothered to let them take over."

Hynes proposes that prolonged unhappiness might be a bad habit that people fall into. "It's just funny. I've been realizing that, if I'm honest, there's a lot worse things in my life now than when I was younger and I was getting really down about things. But there's really no point. Where does that get anyone?"

Lightspeed Champion's 'Madam Van Damme' Video


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