Not On Drugs

Album: Truth Serum (2014)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This, like many of Tove Lo's songs, is about love. She explained to MTV UK, "It's about the happy kind of love where you feel like there's nothing that can get you higher than the person you're with and have these feelings for."
  • Asked the best way to listen to this song, Tove Lo replied, "I guess the best way to listen to it is when you're in that state of mind; I think if you're heartbroken it might be a bit hard to relate to it. So if you've just met someone you love you should listen to it then… On repeat!"
  • The song's music video finds Tove Lo performing the song in a white room filled with colored smoke bombs and various computerized animation. "I choked on the paint, the smoke made me half blind and here is my three-minute trip that shows the intensity and weirdness I feel when falling in love," she told Rolling Stone. "The main theme we had in mind while making this video was 'What just happened?' It was quite amazing making something with the happy piece of my heart this time!"
  • This also featured on Tove Lo's Queen of the Clouds album. The Swede told Artist Direct that the long player's title comes from a lyric on "Not On Drugs". "Ever since I released the EP in March, everything has happened so fast," she explained. "All of a sudden, I'm traveling the world with my band and playing all of these shows. It's been pretty amazing."

    "Besides feeling like I'm floating on top of the world, I'm trying to take a step back and look at everything like, 'Okay, this is my world now' and take it all in," Tove Lo continued. "That's how I feel. I feel like Queen of the Clouds [Laughs]. I was proud of the title Truth Serum. I felt like it described what it was about. It was important for me that the album name did the same thing or it represented me."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Bill Withers

Bill WithersSongwriter Interviews

Soul music legend Bill Withers on how life experience and the company you keep leads to classic songs like "Lean On Me."

Dick Wagner (Alice Cooper/Lou Reed)

Dick Wagner (Alice Cooper/Lou Reed)Songwriter Interviews

The co-writer/guitarist on many Alice Cooper hits, Dick was also Lou Reed's axeman on the Rock n' Roll Animal album.

Women Who Rock

Women Who RockSong Writing

Evelyn McDonnell, editor of the book Women Who Rock, on why the Supremes are just as important as Bob Dylan.

Tom Johnston from The Doobie Brothers

Tom Johnston from The Doobie BrothersSongwriter Interviews

The Doobies guitarist and lead singer, Tom wrote the classics "Listen To The Music," "Long Train Runnin'" and "China Grove."

Evolution Of The Prince Symbol

Evolution Of The Prince SymbolSong Writing

The evolution of the symbol that was Prince's name from 1993-2000.

Pete Anderson

Pete AndersonSongwriter Interviews

Pete produced Dwight Yoakam, Michelle Shocked, Meat Puppets, and a very memorable track for Roy Orbison.