Joseph LlanesA Great Big World gave their new single “Younger” its TV debut Wednesday on Live with Kelly and Ryan. The duo says the nostalgic track is about the childhood moment when you still have “a sense of wonder” — before “the bullying starts.”
“There’s this sense of ‘anything is possible,'” the duo’s Ian Axel tells ABC Radio. “There’s this freedom and this fearlessness that we lose as we get older…so when we wrote this song, we were just trying to hang on to that spark.”
His musical partner Chad King adds that “Younger” is about “getting back to the positive kid, the one that was having the most fun of his life.”
“Younger” is the lead single from the duo’s self-titled third album, due later this year. Ian says this time around, they “formed our own little bubble and surrounded ourselves with people that we trust…and didn’t really let the outside world[‘s] opinions into our process.”
As a result, he says, “We think we are the most authentic selves we’ve been on a record.”
Along with that new process, Ian’s sporting a new look: After ten years of having a “‘fro,” he shaved his head.
“I think I definitely horrified some people,” Ian says of his new “Mr. Clean” ‘do. “But I looked at myself in a mirror and I didn’t feel like what I saw. It feels like a new chapter and I just did it.”
Coincidentally, Christina Aguilera, A Great Big World’s duet partner on their Grammy-winning hit “Say Something,” also released new music this week.
“We’re in touch with her every once in a while and she’s so sweet,” Ian says. “That was really awesome that we got to [put out music] at the same time, unplanned. We’d love to work with her again.”