KENZO top and pants. — **KENZO** top and pants.

When I type “being love” into Microsoft Word, the ever so daunting blue squiggly line appears below it. Word sees “being love” as grammatically incorrect, a context error. Maybe that’s where the problem lies. We are faced with the reality that we inhabit a world that molds us to seek validation and teaches us that love is a verb, instead of “a supreme creative act,” to quote the spiritual guru, Ram Dass. “I feel like love is a state of being,” remarks Ari Staprans Leff, better known by his stage moniker Lauv, an artist who has literally enjoyed billions of streams. Admiring the teachings of Ram Dass, Leff refers to the difference between loving someone, being in love with someone, and simply being love. “And being love,” he continues, “that’s essentially enlightenment.”

So, how does one remove the desire to give and receive love and instead be it? “I got super into this meditation that was sort of like non-religious prayer,” the pop artist continues. “It helps me find that space to just be, without needing to fill the space.” It’s about “speaking gratitude as things come to you and sending love to the people in your life.”

ETRO top and DAVID YURMAN necklace. — **ETRO** top and **DAVID YURMAN** necklace.

Meditation relies on openness—the opening of the third eye, clearing of the mind, extending love beyond physical reach—and so does curiosity. “The most important thing would be to try to maintain curiosity,” Lauv shares. “It’s easy to get jaded and assume you already know what something’s going to be like, and then you’re automatically not open to it. I think of it as trying to stay broken out of the simulation as much as possible.”

Lauv, once known as the king of quintessential sad songs, closed that chapter and walked himself into a library filled with spiritual exploration, acceptance, and equanimity. The artist is actively learning to relinquish control and focusing on the art of being present—inviting efflorescence. “I guess it’s been this mentality of honoring myself and listening intuitively to what I need.”

DRIES VAN NOTEN top, talent’s own pants, ANN DEMEULEMEESTER shoes, and DAVID YURMAN rings. — **DRIES VAN NOTEN** top, talent’s own pants, **ANN DEMEULEMEESTER** shoes, and **DAVID YURMAN** rings.

Lauv’s most recent album, ~how i’m feeling~, explored his emotions as separate entities—divergent identities. But when asked about his current condition, he presents his personal tug-of-war between finding full acceptance of his identity and completely detaching himself from it. “I feel the most freedom when I separate from the idea of who I am and more so just ‘be,’” he offers. “That universal being is something I’ve been trying to reach.”

Lauv’s next album, which follows a four-track EP, Without You, created during quarantine, will be spilling with bona fide narratives—“no hiding behind metaphors or poeticisms”—something everyone has experienced. It’s fascinating to think that this whole time we have been trying to navigate through a labyrinth of emotions, reading between the lines, analyzing the metaphors, and scavenging for our identity—when in reality, it’s not about that. Despite its evanescence, as Lauv will propose, it’s about sustaining yourself in the only moment that exists— now. It’s about seeing the blue squiggly line and choosing to be love anyways.