No Rome returns with breezy new single ‘I Want U’

No Rome has revealed the second taste of his much-anticipated debut album ‘It’s All Smiles’, in the form of upbeat new single ‘I Want U’.

You can hear the track below, which was first written in the back of a tour bus in Las Vegas but only recorded as a demo last summer.

After first recording it in a small apartment in the musician’s hometown of Manila in the Philippines, where he was left stranded during the coronavirus pandemic, later he took it to producer BJ Burton, who co-produced the upcoming album with The 1975’s George Daniel.

“This is the first song me and BJ worked on – that’s when we knew we were gonna make this album together,” the Dirty Hit signee said. “I wanted to do the lyrics more like talking, storytelling almost, painting the picture of what was happening that moment through lyrics.”

‘It’s All Smiles’ will arrive on December 3 via Dirty Hit, home of No Rome’s former collaborators The 1975. It will also feature last month’s dramatic single ‘When She Comes Around’.

No Rome said that track was inspired by watching Björk perform a live version of her album ‘Vespertine’. “I wanted to make a song that was heavy on the strings but after days on working on it I eventually brought it to a more guitar driven song,” he said.

“I sent this song to BJ and he came back with something much more than I expected, with more textures and stronger bass sounds and just better structure really and we just went crazy on it.”

Speaking about the album in a recent interview with DIY he said of the album’s production: “I’m obsessed with sound designing, crazy textures & details but I also don’t know what I’m doing most of the time.

“Meeting BJ and Sachi and having help from George really helped me get the sound to where I wanted it to be and for it to sound what it is now. We spent a whole year working remotely. I was stuck in the Philippines and just FaceTiming for hours talking about ideas and sending each other stems and what not.”