“The main idea was to leave everything I’d done—all the sounds, even the way I write,” Amy Shark tells Apple Music of her fourth album, soft pop. “I just felt like I needed to change it all up.” Where the singer-songwriter’s previous records were preceded by globe-straddling songwriting sessions with various international collaborators, for soft pop Shark shut herself away in her apartment for 30 days and focused solely on writing alone. “I feel like I cracked another stage in my songwriting where I was so in the moment, and I was left alone and didn’t have any distractions,” she offers. “I think I managed to tap into another part of my life, and other friendships-slash-relationships and personal situations that I haven’t before.” The largely acoustic record was stripped of big beats and shiny production techniques to reflect the raw vulnerability with which it was written, and here, Shark tells the story of soft pop, track by track. “The Biggest Dick” “Relationships are such a big part of what I write about. And I’ve had enough for there to still be some juice left to squeeze. I feel like I’m in a safer place and a more secure place to write about when I was so insecure. So I borrow things from the past and things from today and put them all together. And that became ‘The Biggest Dick.’” “It’s Kinda Hot” “An energetic, beautiful love song about the best part of a relationship. You only get so many times in life where you find someone that you’re so excited about. My friend group, we say, ‘It’s kinda hot’ all the time, even for weird, twisted shit. So that little slogan turned into a song.” “Child of Divorce” “[It’s] about the person in my life who’s made me feel so loved and seen, and I probably didn’t get that much as a kid. Because of that I feel like I have all these little kinks here and there that are probably difficult to be around. This one really is a thank you for the person who sticks around.” “Our Last Fight” “I’m a Taurus. So all the relationships I’ve had, I’ve been the jealous kind, but I never want to look like I’m jealous. And I always want to look like I’m coming out on top: ‘You’re the one that misses me, I don’t miss you.’ So it’s got a bit of that in it. A lot of my personality.” “Movies” “I really drew inspiration from ‘Mr. Brightside’ by The Killers. To write about two people and not focus on her or him—it’s them. And watching them manoeuvre around the room. It’s like a play-by-play of watching it happen in front of your eyes.” “Like a Doll” “Super sexy song. I remember coming out with ‘This was meant to be, that’s what I’ve decided to believe.’ Like, no matter what happens, this is happening. I love that it takes a little turn into dance world. It’s also got one of the coolest, almost country-sounding guitar licks in it.” “Ruins” “I’ve been calling it the reply to [2019 single] ‘Mess Her Up.’ I was thinking about this person that I haven’t thought of in a while. And I wondered what she was up to. For whatever reason I thought, ‘I wonder what song she would write me.’” “Hotel Towels” “It’s just so breezy and it lifts you up. It feels like such a summer song about those sweet moments that you capture in that little pocket of a relationship.” “I Know a Place Just up the Street” “It’s just a ‘life’ song. It reminded me of that Passenger song [‘Let Her Go’] how he says, ‘Only know you’ve been high when you’re feeling low...’ Only this, only that. It pays homage to that, which is another sort of universal look on life.” “Not Old Enough to Drive” “I hadn’t really written about this guy who broke me in a thousand pieces. It took such a long time, even after marriage, to be OK with how bad it was. You still care about this person who just broke you because they’re so broken, and they’re never going to find their place in life. They just self-sabotage everything. Again, I’m in a secure place, so now I can write about the times when I really wasn’t.” “Singapore Noodles” “Such a cool little song about a simple thing—going out with your person and having the best time and not knowing when to call it because you’re just having so much fun, and really enjoying the little things like sharing your headphones and laughing at comedy that probably would be frowned upon. It’s such an honest song.”