The VH1 You Oughta Know family is proud to welcome the British troubadour Passenger (aka Mike Rosenberg) into the mix. His song “Let Her Go,” one of a dozen tracks that make up the All The Little Lights LP, has already gone to #1 in sixteen (!) countries, including Australia, Ireland and Sweden, and is poised to become a major hit here Stateside, too. Passenger’s body of work is already drawing comparisons to fellow UK-based singer-songwriters like Ed Sheeran and James Blunt, and we has the privilege of sitting down with him a few weeks ago to discuss the stories behind each of the songs on All The Little Lights as part of our ongoing series, Track-By-Track.
EXCERPT OF PASSENGER’S COMMENTARY: “It’s a song about how difficult it is to remain positive and keep on pursuing what you love. You have to be grateful for what you have, and not always striving towards what’s over there.” 2. “Let Her Go”
EXCERPT OF PASSENGER’S COMMENTARY: “It didn’t take long to write, at all. Under an hour, I think. When I wrote it, I definitely felt like it had something… I never had a song on the radio, I didn’t believe I could have a song on the radio, because generally, folk music doesn’t get on commercial radio, it just doesn’t. I kinda thought that that kind of success was for other people, people who really tried to get that kind of success, because I never have.” 3. “Staring At The Stars”
EXCERPT OF PASSENGER’S COMMENTARY: “It’s a bit tongue-in-cheek, and meant to be a bit funny as well. You know that thing at school where your taught that if you work really hard, you can achieve anything? At the time of writing [this song], I just didn’t agree with that. It felt like bullsh*t.” 4. “All The Little Lights”
EXCERPT OF PASSENGER’S COMMENTARY: “It’s a difficult one to explain without sounding a bit like a hippie. I think it’s important with songwriting that you’re honest, and you’re vulnerable. There’s a balance, because you don’t want to specifically talk about yourself the whole time. You want to relate to people, and you want to give them the opportunity to put their own emotions into these songs — but every now and again, I like to put something specific and personal into them.” 5. “The Wrong Direction”
EXCERPT OF PASSENGER’S COMMENTARY: “As we get older, we become cynical as far as love goes. When you first fall in love at 15, it’s the most wonderful and incredible thing. And then, inevitably, that probably doesn’t work out as a relationship and your heart is broke and you don’t know what to do.” 6. “Circles”
EXCERPT OF PASSENGER’S COMMENTARY: “It’s a song I wrote about my best friend. We grew up together, we did everything together until we were about 16. I dropped out of school to become a musician, and he went to university. When we meet up, on one level, I know everything about him, but on another level, we’re kind of like strangers because we’ve spent so little time together over the last 10 years.”
Be sure and come back tomorrow to check out Passenger’s commentary on the other six tracks on his All The Little Lights LP, available in stores now!