The Story Behind Gnash's "I Hate U, I Love U”

Yo, what's good? This is Nash, and I'm here chillin' on Young Hollywood, and this is a song called "I Hate You, I Love You." Feeling used, but I'm still missing you, and I can't see the end of this. Just wanna feel your kiss against my lips, and now all this time is passing by, but I still can't seem to tell you why it hurts me every time I see you, realize how much I need you.

So, we have Nash here in the studio.

Yeah, yeah.

Hold on, you were telling me earlier about what the tour is called.

Yeah, the "Sleepover Tour," and my dreamers are my, uh, fanbase, and they have a thing called the Dream Team. So, the Dream Team is like my street team and we kinda like have them do little like fun missions like go put posters up or whatever, and then when they send proof of that in, uh, my little sister actually like handles all of the day-to-day of the email account, and so she gives the points out, and then they can redeem those points for things like free meet and greet packages, a pizza party on the bus, fifty thousand points, bunch of crazy stuff. So, we just have fun with it, and, and, and we got a lot of cool, awesome dreamers out there killing it for us, so.

That's so awesome. Yeah. Have you ever been like on the streets and been like, "Whoa, who put that billboard up?"

I haven't seen any of those yet, just because, you know what it comes down to? I don't leave the house really. So, no, not really. I pretty much, when I'm home, I'm either rehearsing for the next tour, making new songs in my studio, or walking to get coffee and walking back home. So, those are kinda like my three big activities in life besides sleeping. Um, because I am a nap enthusiast. And there you go. Nap enthusiast. So, I, I like in college, I got really into, um, like the intricacies of the science of sleep, and like the ideal nap time that you can take, so that you don't feel groggy and all those different things. And I kinda applied it to myself, and it's actually super helpful. People always ask me at meet and greets and stuff like, "What? Like, I wanna nap better," and I like, I like explain it to 'em. I'll like take some extra time and really go through the whole science of the whole thing with 'em, 'cause it's something that's super important. I hate you, I love you. I hate that I love you. Don't want to, but I can't put nobody else above you. I hate you, I love you. I hate that I want you. You want her, you need her, and I'll never be her. Shout out to Olivia O'Brien. You all alone, I watch you watch her. She is the only thing you ever see. How is it you never noticed that you were slowly killing me. I hate you, I love you.

Tell me, what is it about? I mean, what what what Oh.

Um, "I Hate You, I Love You" is, is, is actually kinda crazy story. So, I was kinda going through something personally, and I had all these feelings about it, and "Hate You, Love You" was kinda gonna be my last word on the matter, and then it turned into this really big phenomenon that I'm really glad happened, of course, but it came to me in a really cool way. I met Olivia O'Brien, 'cause she covered my first original song. So, I heard this demo that she sent me after she covered my first original song. She said, "Hey, this is the first thing I've ever written, and I was curious what your opinion is on it." So, I listened to it, and I was like, "Hey, this is incredible." And so, um, produced it out, put my verses down, and then dropped it, and it just started taking off on the internet like crazy, because what it comes down to is that like my favorite kinda music to make is music that connects with people here, um, instead of like anywhere else.

Very Yeah. It's relatable. That's the connection I think that's going on here. It's honesty.

My dad always raised me just to talk about how I felt, so like, he raised me in a super open house where like, if I had a feeling or I was bummed or upset or happy or whatever it was, I would always just come home and talk about it, and home was the place to heal. And so, um, I kinda just apply that to everything I do in music, and it, people really seem to resonate with it. I like to think sometimes that I'm like kinda speaking for the person that's listening, and then vice versa. And I think that that's one of the coolest things about making art, is that, you know, you can put it out there and it's super raw and honest, and as long as you keep it super real, people hopefully will connect with it. Doesn't matter where we are. We are never far apart. No, I. It doesn't matter where we go. 'Cause when I'm with you, I am home. Yeah, I am home. I think it was last year on my birthday, when you broke the news, things ain't rolling how we need 'em to, and we have to move.

Okay, so that was the first time I've ever heard "Home." I don't know if anybody else here's even heard that song. That song was fresh. You were rapping, you were, you know, giving a little flow there?

Yeah, yeah, definitely, man. I, uh, "Home" is, "Home" is about like kinda what me and my family have been through over the last couple years, and, um, it's a super personal one as well. I think it's a reality a lot of people face, especially post-recession, and people losing their jobs like crazy in super unfortunate ways. And, um, the same thing hit us. So, I made a song about it, and people seem to really love it. When I'm out there on the road, you can always hit my phone, so I'm always right there next to you. Now I'm missing all these birthdays, just to put my family in a good place. 'Cause that's all I wanted in the first place, 'cause I only do it for my family, so we good. Because when I get it all, I'mma give it all to you.

Let's check out his Instagram feed. We wanna talk about some of the, uh, the posts that you make on Instagram. Yeah. Okay. So, Oh, I saw this one yesterday. I was lurking your Instagram. Who's that guy?

That's Ed Sheeran, man. I've been a huge fan of his for so long, and my little sister actually put me on to him like four or five years ago when he was just getting started before the "Plus" album came out, and I had to find a version of it online, 'cause it wasn't available in America yet. And, and I just fell in love with it.

This is dope. Wow. Oh, I love that photo.

Oh, thanks. My friend

Let's talk about your hair for a second.

My friend Brennan took that. Yeah, sure. I was doing a feature spot in a music video that I'm on a song I'm featured on for my friend Mod Sun called "Beautiful Problem." They asked me if I wanted a stylist for the shoot, and I just told 'em that I wanted Mod to style me. So, this is what he put together for me. Um, so shout out to Mod Sun there.

I could rock some suspenders. I love suspenders.

Yeah, they're great. And when I get it all, I'mma give it all to you. And when I get it all, I'mma give it all to you. And know I did it all. Yeah, I did it all for you. When I'm with you, I am home. Yeah, I am home. Thank you.