Fantastic Man #39 - Autumn Winter 2024

He spent his time making music in his bedroom, driving around in a Kia listening to Stereolab CDs and going on tour as the guitarist for ungoogleable band The Internet. Since then he’s become a superstar: his chart-topping song ‘Bad Habit’ streamed billions of times, a Grammy award-winning album, plus a handsome appearance as the face of Saint Laurent in 2023. He’s still only 26.

His is the kind of fame that sells out stadiums and sees people obsess over the details of his life, like his friendships with rapper Kendrick Lamar and singer Fousheé or what he gets up to with his dog, Eve. Despite being so popular, Steve is more interested in mastering the art of being a ridiculously talented musician who can sing beautifully, write his own music, play multiple instruments, command a stage and fuse a million references together into something thrillingly original. Right now he’s busy working on a new album, which is hundreds of drafts deep and slowly being perfected. As always, he’s quite happy to keep things weird.