Love Spells doesn’t just write music. He creates soundscapes that are intrinsically designed to spark emotion, invoke nostalgia, and set a cinematic scene for those tender enough to listen. Yet the emotions, memories, and tone of Love Spells’ work are entirely up to the listeners.
“I want to be used as the soundtrack for their lives,” the 21-year-old Houston native admits.
Offering merely a sonic tool for one to share their emotions with, Love Spells’ discography doesn’t aim to encourage or sway the mind of the listeners. Rather, his work is simply a vessel for you to move to and reflect with.
Today, Love Spells — the moniker of Sir Taegen Harris — shares his highly anticipated debut album LOVE IS THE LAW on RCA Records. Across 12 tracks, the singer delicately shares this intrinsic artistry, interweaving distinct tales of love, growth, and relationships that all share this ultimate message: love is effortless, love is the rule, love is inescapable, and love is the law. And while love is undeniably complicated and very often painful, Love Spells says it truly is the guiding force behind everything we do.
Not only does the artist now share their inaugural full-length release, but next week he’ll hit the road for his debut headlining tour, where he will make his way across Europe, the U.K., and North America this summer and fall. The tour kicks off July 30 with a supporting slot at Suki Waterhouse’s Lollapalooza Aftershow at Chicago’s House Of Blues, shortly followed by his own Lollapalooza set on July 31.
In the midst of a wildly transformative era in his budding career, the “Lovers Only” singer is well aware of just how drastically his life has transformed in recent years. After devoting himself to pursuing music at 18 years old, Love Spells struggled with the obstacles of breaking through an unrelenting music industry while battling homelessness. Soon making his way to California, he continued honing in on his signature alt-pop sound for six months before returning home to Houston. However, Love Spells didn’t stay for long after soon gaining the attention of Kevin Abstract, who asked Love Spells to work with him on his 2025 album Blush.
The experience convinced him to officially relocate to L.A., where he fully devoted himself to coming into his signature musicality. Balancing an unforgettable falsetto voice with echoing guitars and soft pop beats, Love Spells possesses a magnetic sonic identity that is entirely his own. Carrying a cinematic element to his work, Love Spells holds a sound that is equally nostalgic and relevant. Balancing a grounded tone with an ethereal romance, Love Spells’ music is as calculated and effortless as love — the pivotal theme behind all his songs.
LOVE IS THE LAW is a defining introduction from the singer-songwriter. Already making a name for himself as a sensitive and thoughtful artist, Love Spells knows how to make his message known without directing listeners’ hearts where to go. Encompassing passion, optimism, and softness all in one body of work, it is evident that the singer is creatively fueled by connection and community.
Speaking with Melodic Magazine ahead of the album’s release, Love Spells dove deep into self-reflection, musical inspiration, and the importance of romanticizing even the simplest of life’s wonders.
Super exciting to chat with you! You have so many cool things coming up, but what are the emotions like with the album coming out?
Oh, man. It’s so insane. It feels like I’m stepping into a whole new world, like my entire life for the past year has been leading up to this moment. And it’s just like, now that it’s out, I wonder what are people going to take from this? The only real thing I want people to take from this is the title. Because music-wise, everyone can take from it whatever they want. I’m not somebody who likes to explain the meanings of my songs or anything like that because that’s not for me to tell you how to feel. Whatever I make, I can put my own meaning into it, but that’s all it’ll ever be, just mine. You can put it out there. People are going to take it however they want. But I can’t wait to see how everyone’s going to take it and live with it. And I’m also just excited for the next thing too. I’m like, now this is out, let’s start the next one. Let’s go.
You’re also going on your world tour, which again is also super, super huge. So many dates are already sold out, if not at low ticket capacity, which is so cool. What are you most looking forward to with the tour?
Honestly, mostly just looking forward to hanging out with people again. I also just love to perform. So this is just going to be amazing in that way. But I do not like being in the car for that long. It’s going to suck. I’m essentially going to be on one long road trip, which is fine, just fine. I love seeing new places and everything. There’s a certain romance to that, but I can’t wait to just meet everyone and be able to put a face to all the love. That’s something that’s very important to me.
I imagine this era in your life is such a huge, monumental time for you. I know you’ve spoken about how in recent years, when you first started with music, you were struggling with making it in the industry and homelessness as well. And to think that now you’re putting out your debut full-length project and a world tour, I imagine it’s just such a crazy moment for you. How have you been reflecting lately at this current moment for you?
I’m always reflecting on that, honestly. All the time. There’s never a time where I’m not. But yeah, it’s just insane. It’s a complete shift in life so fast. So it’s always a lot to think about. And then it’s like, even from here, life is going to change even more. So it’s like, I feel like I have to prepare for that. Then it’s like, you can’t even prepare for that, you know?
Whatever happens, happens.
Yeah, what happens happens. And I just need to make sure that I’m equipped to try and deal with it at least.
For sure. What kept you motivated to not give up and to keep at it and keep pursuing music during that time?
I didn’t need to be motivated because making songs and making music was just my life at the time. I’d just wake up and I’d do it. And there’s no motivation there. It was kind of just ingrained in me. And as long as life keeps happening, I’ll have things I want to make songs about. So where I found my footing in that is just living life and creating art from it, you know, and that is the way that it’ll always be. I wasn’t thinking in mind to make money from it. Even when I was homeless, I was still making music, and I didn’t have the expectation of blowing up or anything. It just happened that way. I always tell people that, even when I first started making music, I never promoted my music. I never pushed it out there like that. I was on TikTok, posting every day. And only after a certain point, I started doing all that. But still making music. And I was like, if I’m going to make music, I might as well just post it. And people were also enjoying it. And again, I like that people take what I make and then live with it themselves. So of course, I’m going to post it for them and all this other stuff and I’ll speak about it online. But I remember back in the day, on Instagram, I’d literally post the song one time and that’d be it.
In a way it sounds like it just happened very naturally for you.
It’s community as well. A lot of the people I was hanging out with and talking to also loved what I was doing. And then when I did post on my story again, people would reply and say, ‘Oh, I love this,’ and I’d go talk to them. Word of mouth is so strong, and connections and stories are what did it.
Community and connecting with people goes a very long way for sure. In terms of your influences or what you incorporate into the music, I had read that you aimed to pull influence from your favorite films and then turn that into something musical, which I thought was super cool. And I was wondering if you could talk a little bit about that process. How do you watch a movie like Dirty Dancing or Footloose and then turn it into something musical?
It’s like making a song for a movie. I’m thinking about my favorite scene and how I felt watching the scene. Even with “Don’t Touch,” that song was literally from me watching Dirty Dancing. There’s a scene where Baby goes and she sees everyone dancing for the first time in that room. And they’re like, ‘Oh, what is she doing here?’ Then it was the way they were bumping and grinding, just that movement. And I was like, ‘Whoa, this is sick. I want to make a song for this environment for this scenario.’ But also, it needs to sound like that, but then, what am I talking about? What I’m talking about in that song is just that push and pull of hookup culture, but in a cheeky, fun way, you know? If people go out, what’s on their mind is, ‘Am I sexy? I want to be desired tonight. Do you want me?’ But yeah, when I watch these movies and I think about those scenarios, there’s so much for me to tie in there to take that feeling, and I take that image and then I go and run with it.
What I love is how you take a film like Dirty Dancing, for instance, but you turn it into your own thing. It’s not like it’s something pulled straight from the score, if that makes sense.
Yeah, because, of course, it’s important. I love influences and stuff, but also I have a different voice than everyone on that soundtrack. I can’t just go and make a song like “Love Man” by Otis Redding. That song is on there. I don’t have an Otis Redding voice. And even if I did, I wouldn’t want to do that. I’m 21. It’s not the 1960s, or whenever that song was made. So it just doesn’t make sense, you know?
I’d read an interview with you where you had spoken about this idea of, when you listen to music, even music from other artists, you picture scenes in your head of what might be happening if this song was playing. Certain visuals come to mind, which I think was just very interesting to hear you talk about. For Love Spells, what kind of visuals or emotions do you hope to invoke in other people? What comes to your mind when you listen to your music?
I want people to feel like they’re ultimately living in a movie. I want people to be able to reflect when listening to my music, especially with a lot of the slower songs. Even “Lovers Only,” for example, I’ll be in New York and I’m listening to that song and I just feel like I’m in a movie. But with my music and how I want people to view it in that way, it’s almost like I want it to be less of that and more of a movement, if that makes sense, of people just being able to express themselves however they want to my music. Or even just crying to it, listening to it in moments of vulnerability. It’s more of a movement in that way, which again, the title of LOVE IS THE LAW, it’s a statement in that way. There’s nothing personal about it. I don’t want people to think about me. Think about me if it helps you think about the message. I want to be associated with the message, is all. And I want people to be able to listen to it and lead with that love, not even just romantically, but that passion. I want to be used as the soundtrack for their lives.
Through the making of this record, what did you maybe learn about love or romance that you probably didn’t before?
I think I learned how complicated it is, more so again. I’m 21, and you think you’ve been in love until this thing happens. And then this happens. And then you have a new definition of love. These things change for everyone all the time. I’m always learning new definitions and meanings and ways to do it. But yeah, I just learned how complicated it is. I knew it was complicated before, but I see even more now. I’ve learned more about the spectrum of it all.
The main message of the album is that statement, “love is the law.” It’s the rule that we should all abide by. But if love is something that’s so complicated and comes with maybe a bit of sadness sometimes, why would you say it’s so important to live by love anyway?
Well, you don’t have a choice. You literally have no choice. Love exists in so many different ways and you don’t have a choice to do it, you just do. You wake up and you do. Even if it isn’t the normal conventional way of doing it, people have weird and strange ways of loving or ways that I wouldn’t even agree with. But that’s what feels like love to them. It’s so complicated in that way. There’s so many different ways and it’s something that we subconsciously do. And again, I’m not just talking about romantic love. So then there’s that whole area that you haven’t even covered yet.
Very multi-layered and just so many different variations of it for sure. How would you personally say it’s something that you express every day?
Just by living my life as the character that I am. I was a weird kid. So weird and loud and bubbly and weird in that way. And I’ve always been that way. Honestly, it’s weird until you’re cool. If I was that way right now, people would think I’m so annoying, but I guess I’m Love Spells now, so people are like, ‘Oh, he’s so bubbly!’ So I think people should just live that way regardless of it all. Express that love for yourself and the way you are. Even just sitting down with yourself and reading a book, the romance of life is so important. I’ll be in New York, and even just walking around, I think New York is so romantic. You go outside and see people living their lives. I love people watching. I went and sat in a cafe, and I’m just sitting there listening to music, eating my breakfast. And I make an effort to try not to be inside all the time, showing that romance to myself and my life to make myself more in love with my life and living it. That’s so important. But yeah, that’s how I show it, by just outwardly being myself and making sure that I’m leading with that love and romance for my life and keeping that interest and curiosity every day of my life.
I’m glad you mentioned the concept of just romanticizing your life every day. There are a lot of people who kind of view romanticizing your everyday life as kind of cheesy.
And it’s like, why does that even matter? I feel like we are failing as a society in the aspect that everyone is too cool now. Everyone’s too cool and everyone’s too self-centered. Everyone is looking out for themselves too much, in that way. Like okay, maybe it is just your morning coffee, but why is that any less important than these other things? What would be deserving of romance if not that? It’s so insane to me when people say that because it’s contributing to just being bland and teaching yourself that you need to pay to romanticize certain things, which isn’t true. Again, I think we are people that need love and live by it by default, in my opinion. I don’t think you need an excuse to do that at all. And it’s completely unreasonable to even say that. Like, why does it matter?
All it does is just spread more joy or fulfill you more. Why would I not romanticize my trip to the cafe?
It’s like grocery shopping. I love grocery shopping. I love grocery shopping with people and going on walks. I started taking a lot more walks recently, and I would get recognized as I’m walking. And having people show that care to you, and even just speaking to people, it’s checking in on people. It makes your life feel more alive. It makes you feel like you’re actually living your life and not just at home every day. ‘Oh, but it’ll take so much time to get ready, and then I have to do this, and then it costs this!’ All it does is cost time, but then at that point, that’s such a small part of your day it doesn’t matter. You should go spend it with people and show them you care. All it’s doing is enriching your own life.
Like whatever hassle it might be, the reward makes it so much worth it at the end of the day.
Yeah, exactly.
At the top of this interview you hinted that there’s new music you might be working on very soon after this. We don’t want to give too much away, but what can you say about what comes next after this record?
Everything’s so fluid and everything’s so uncertain, especially right now. I could say now, but then when it comes maybe I’m thinking something different, because that’s going to be like three months from now. Who knows what I’m going to be feeling after then. All I’ll say is that I’ll just be looking for the next message that I feel that people need to hear. The next thing that comes will be that message.
Stream LOVE IS THE LAW here.
Buy tickets to see Love Spells on tour here.
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