AJR: “People see through the facade when someone else is doing the work for you”

Whether its the artwork, coming up with ideas for music videos, or connecting with fans on social media, brothers Adam, Jack, and Ryan Met that make up indie pop band AJR like to keep their hands firmly on the steering wheel. The New Yorkers, who scored a hit with the song Weak, have had a strong Do It Yourself attitude ever since they started in their New York apartment. Creative control is sacred, and these days it doesn’t always go without saying, but this goes for writing their songs as well. “When you’re a band you can go about writing music in two ways, you can either get big writers like a Max Martin or Sia to write with you, almost like artificially morphing you into a songwriter. Or, you can put in the years, get good on your own, and that’s how we decided to do it.”