OWL CITY
By Jeff Royer

Twenty-three-year-old electronica imp Adam Young – better known as Owl City – entered the pop culture lexicon in 2009 with the ubiquitous #1 hit “Fireflies,” an inescapably catchy dreamscape about giving hugs to lightning bugs and watching them do the foxtrot above his bed. What? Yeah.

Psychotropic lyrics aside, the song topped the Hot 100 twice last year and was downloaded well over a million times, and Young’s album, Ocean Eyes, was certified gold in a time when cracking 100,000 copies is a total coup. Plenty of journalists have chipped in snarky comments about the debts Owl City owes to its electro-pop predecessors (“Owl City hits No. 1 so the Postal Service don’t have to!” chimed Entertainment Weekly).

Regardless, the stars have aligned for the Minnesota wunderkind. Now millions of listeners around the globe are firm believers that planet Earth turns slowly.

Fly Magazine tracked down the notoriously reclusive singer – via e-mail, mind you – for a cutesy chat about his burgeoning career, his new life in the spotlight and what, exactly, a lightning bug hug feels like.

Fly Magazine: I read that you started making music out of boredom. Can you tell me more about that time in your life and how you got started?
Adam Young: I did start writing partially out of boredom, as something to keep me busy. I used to work for Coca-Cola, loading trucks in a sweet warehouse, and would write when I got home at night. A year ago, I said to myself, “Hey, this works – this should be my day job!” and that was that.

     FM: What role does insomnia play in your songwriting?
     AY: The middle of the night is when ideas rush over me without warning. I find I become most inspired during those moments in life when I’m totally alone.

     FM: Have you had time to digest the fact that you wrote a song that a good percentage of Americans can sing by heart? Can you explain what that feels like?
     AY: It feels unreal. I’m still taking it all in. Never in my wildest dreams did I think the effort would result in anything other than a handful of songs sitting on my computer, unheard by everyone but my close friends. It’s incredibly surreal how far the project has gone. I couldn’t be more grateful for being allowed to do this with my life.

     FM: Now people are looking past the song to the man who wrote it. What do you make of your newfound fame?
     AY: It’s all very brand-new. One day at a time.

     FM: Despite the new scrutiny, you remain, as one writer put it, “shrouded in mystery.” Why is that? Are you shy? Private? Or is it a marketing decision?
     AY: I really am just shy. I certainly enjoy people, but I’m not the best conversationalist ever to walk the earth.

     FM: For you, what’s the real payoff of a successful career in music? By all accounts, you don’t seem like the drugs-and-strippers kind of guy. What’s the good stuff?
     AY: Well, now I can now go to the grocery store and buy the more expensive kind of frozen pizza.

     FM: What’s been the most surreal moment for you so far?
     AY: Taylor Swift came out to my last show in NYC. That was pretty surreal.

     FM: You decorate your songs with abstract lyrics. What draws you to that as opposed to, say, confessional lyrics or storytelling?
     AY: As a listener, I like music that takes a bit of thought to digest, which is the most fulfilling kind of listening in my opinion. I like being “suggested” how to feel when listening to a song rather than “told” how to feel.

     FM: What does a lightning bug hug feel like?
     AY: Bright!

     FM: What’s next for Owl City?
     AY: Right now, I have three and a half months of touring ahead of me that spans the entire globe. Until May, I’ll be a busy little owl!