American singer-songwriter Lauv put out one of the biggest hits in 2017, with his song 'I Like Me Better'.
It was released less than a year ago and already has more than 367 million streams on Spotify.
He's in New Zealand for a one-off show at the Powerstation in Auckland. It's his second time here, but this will be his first show on NZ soil.
"I've toured the States a few times before and played in some of these cities - I hope it's as special for everybody here as it is for me to be playing here for the first time," he says.
The 23-year-old's real name is Ari Staprans Leff - Lauv is a tribute to his heritage.
"Lauv comes from the Latvian word for Lion, and my mum's side of the family is from Latvia so I'd go there every summer growing up, so I have a lot of fond memories," he says.
Lauv lives in Los Angeles, where he's making a big name for himself - and other artists. He's written and produced several huge hits, including 'Promises' by Cheat Codes feat. Demi Lovato.
While he enjoys writing music for others, it's his own sound he's keen to continue working on.
"Especially right now, I prefer doing it for myself - I mean I'm sure it will go back and forth as I get sick of being in my own head, but right now it's definitely been nice to focus on my own stuff."
He's just spent several weeks opening for Ed Sheeran on the Asia leg of his world tour.
"It was my first time playing in arenas, and you know like Ed is one of the most down to Earth people I've ever met and so inspiring to watch - so it was awesome."
Lauv's a big fan of New Zealand - he raved about our coffee. But there's one thing he wasn't so keen on.
"The sushi's kind of weird! There's so much chicken sushi, I'm used to like whatever - in LA, you can get some crazy like tuna and salmon and snapper and yellow tail and all this other stuff."
While he won't miss our sushi, he's pumped to play for his first Kiwi crowd - and hopefully it won't be his last.
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