It’s been a big year for Tiger Lewis. With his debut EP, Mr. Right Now, officially dropped on Aug. 14, he’s stepping into a new chapter and giving fans a chance to hear more of what he’s been working on.
For Tiger, music has always been about more than just one sound. As a singer, songwriter and guitarist, he’s continued to explore different sides of himself through his music while figuring out where he wants to go next.
Before taking the stage at his sold-out Moroccan Lounge show, we had the chance to sit down with Tiger to talk about Mr. Right Now, his journey making the project, and what this moment means to him. Read our full interview with Tiger Lewis below.
Sweety High: For readers who are just getting to know you, can you introduce yourself?
Tiger Lewis: My name is Tiger Lewis, and I’m here drawing on a Polaroid. Super excited to be here.
(Photo credit: Alicia Zamora)
SH: Tonight is such a big moment for you, with Mr. Right Now finally coming out. What does it feel like to be standing here on release day and getting ready to perform this project for the first time?
TL: It’s enthralling. So ridiculously exciting. I’m sure everyone says that. I think more than anything else, the journey of this entire EP has been so rewarding in and of itself. The fact that it has had the reception that it has was completely… I didn’t know. I had no idea what it was going to be like. So it’s all surprising, and I’m just taking it in and being as grateful as I possibly can.
SH: How do we feel about tonight? How’s the energy? Any routines or rituals you have before the show?
TL: Yeah, typically before shows, I’m always steaming the voice. In terms of actually being with other people, my band will all do a little group huddle and kind of give it a small pep talk before we get on stage.
SH: The EP explores a lot of contradictions—sensitivity, insecurity and desire, soul and grit. When you were making it, did you feel like you were intentionally exploring those different sides of yourself, or did that come out naturally?
TL: I think going into the project, there was no sort of clear, like, “I want it to look like this, and this is the project.” It was more so uncovering as you go on. Hundreds of songs were in, and so when we kind of chose to curate it, I chose to create a certain narrative where there are these different sorts of vignettes of who I was and how I used to contort myself to be more admirable or acceptable. And I felt like there was a little bit of humor in it. I really enjoyed the through line between all these different sorts of ways I wasn’t myself, which became Mr. Right Now. Yeah, I think it was intentional, but only after the fact.
(Photo credit: Caity Krone)
SH: How long did the EP take you to make?
TL: I started writing in February of 2024, so two and a half years.
SH: Is there a song on the EP that feels especially personal to you right now? What makes that one stand out?
TL: “Runaway” for me feels really exciting because it is the last song of the EP that comes out tonight, and it is also so far into where I want to go sonically. It’s starting to get into that genre we call “grunge groove.” We’re taking late ’60s, early ’70s, these amazing soul singers with the grunge outfits of the early ’90s, like Scott or Cornell, you know. So I think that song to me speaks to that, and so it speaks to the direction we’re going. I’m excited about that.
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SH: You’re a singer, songwriter and guitarist, and the guitar is such a big part of your sound. What does playing guitar allow you to express that you don’t think you could get across in the same way just through your voice?
TL: I think there’s a subtlety in guitar. My voice is very loud and abrasive, and it’s hard to make it feel sweet, if that makes any sense. And I think that’s why the subject material is very sensitive. That’s why I gravitate towards it. But I do think, with guitar playing, I can make very somber, sweet little things, you know? It’s like a little companion.
SH: Your music pulls from R&B, soul, blues and rock. Were there any artists or songs you were listening to a lot while making this project?
TL: You know, the whole basis of this project was Otis Yorke, which is like Otis Redding and Thom Yorke. It was fusing that stuff together. And so I was definitely listening to a lot of Radiohead. I was listening to a lot of Motown, for sure. But I think, to be completely honest with you, it was a culmination of all different kinds of stuff that I grew up listening to. I don’t think I tried to listen to a lot of music while I was actually creating it. It’s almost like in the downtime is when I really go in, because I think for artists, it’s really easy to get excited about different sorts of things that are going on. Like, “Oh, let me try on this hat.” But being very intentional about the direction you’re going, I think, takes a certain level of curation.
SH: This is your debut EP, so you’re really introducing people to Tiger Lewis through this project. What’s something you hope people understand about you after listening to Mr. Right Now?
TL: That’s a great question. I think, for me, I can’t speak on everyone’s experience, but I felt very alienated in how I viewed masculinity, and it’s made me do stuff I didn’t ever want to do or try and become something that I never will be. And as soon as I kind of redefined it for myself and included sensitivity, that’s when I kind of felt a little bit more normal in who I am. And so I just hope that people kind of walk away feeling like they’re enough. And also just laugh at yourself trying to be something that you aren’t.
SH: You’re about to headline the Moroccan Lounge tonight. What do you want someone who has never seen you perform before to walk away feeling?
TL: They need to be covered in sweat. It’s sold out, so it’s gonna be super hot. I do want them to feel completely out of their body. I want them to not remember who they are. That is the goal of any sort of really good live show. I felt that way when I was a kid, and I’d go out to all these punk shows. You go, and you kind of forget what you look like. As soon as you start thinking about, like, “Oh, my back hurts,” you’re like, “Oh, you gotta leave.” You know what I mean? You have to feel like you’re not even there.
(Photo credit: Alicia Zamora)
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SH: The title Mr. Right Now is really interesting. What does that phrase mean to you, especially at this point in your career?
TL: Mr. Right Now, to me, is the culmination of all the ways you have changed yourself to be acceptable, admirable. And so it’s like a tongue-in-cheek, “I’m gonna be Mr. Right Now. Whatever it is you need me to be, I will be.” So that is the whole breadth of that project.
SH: When you think about the artist you want to become, what are you still figuring out about yourself?
TL: My favorite artists have always been writers, artists or great singers and players. And so I don’t think I’m intentionally trying to become anything. There are certain genres I want to explore, but in terms of my actual artistry, I just hope that I continue to make things that I’m continuing to be inspired by. You know, that’s such a vague answer. I just hope I look back at all this and be like, “Man, I’m proud of all these decisions I’ve made,” you know, and staying true to whatever path that it was. But I don’t necessarily have a certain idea of what artist I want to turn into. I just want to become what I’m meant to be.
SH: What has surprised you most about yourself during the process of making and releasing your first EP?
TL: My taste changes over the course of this EP, and I think I would have never expected to unlock certain things vocally that I could. There’s a lot of vocal stuff that I was like, “I didn’t even know I could do that.” Then sitting down and honing that, I feel like this first EP is a lot about sharpening tools more so than it is about, “This is setting the groundwork for, like, a long-standing something ahead,” you know?
SH: Before we wrap up, if you could go back to the beginning of making this project and tell yourself one thing, what would you say?
TL: Stay the course. Find out what’s on the other side of everything and give yourself some grace. It’s not gonna be overnight. It’s gonna take a lot of time behind closed doors, and no one’s gonna care about you. So just enjoy it.
(Photo credit: Caity Krone)
We also reviewed Tiger’s show at the Moroccan Lounge. Read what we had to say HERE.
