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Juno Award Nominated indie pop band Valley recently released their hopeful new single, "The Problem Song," and it's the shot of positivity we all need right now. The song is an ode to mental health, with incredibly smooth and delicate instrumentation that still packs a punch as it juggles its deeply impactful lyrics.

"The Problem Song" contains multitudes of sonics reminiscent of '90s pop rock and a distinctive deep vocal sample that carries the profound message of the chorus, "Yeah, we got problems, baby / But I know we can fix them." The consolatory lyrics acknowledge the inevitable and the obvious; life is hard and will always be full of challenges, however, the broken aspects of life can and will mend with time.

Ones To Watch had the chance to talk with lead singer Rob Laska about the optimistic anthem and what the future holds for this new era of Valley.

Ones To Watch: Where did the idea for "The Problem Song" come from, and can you describe the process of fleshing it out into what it is now?

Valley: In a very classic Valley Way, I feel like we're always—I've been saying this a lot recently—but we're in that era of being a band where we're pressing shuffle on our process. I feel like we've known how to get in a room together for the past few years and make Valley happen, and that's been great because we're owning who we are and what naturally comes to us. But I think for the first time going into this next album, it was more like, "Okay, how do we flip the process on its head?" and that came from us experiencing life more. We've had a crazy pandemic; we've had a crazy few years of just putting every second into this band to get to a level we can feel like we can have a bit of a perspective. I think the biggest thing we lacked was just life experience and actually figuring out what we wanted to write about, being a bit more honest and straightforward, and not trying to mask or hide behind words or grand ideas. Sometimes people just want to hear what you're saying and thinking, and it doesn't have to be the most clever or game-changing thing in the world. I think that process opened up a whole new world for us, where we can just talk about simple things and make them feel unique to us, so that's where "The Problem Song" started.

We had that title, and problem is kind of a bland word because, like, what is the "problem?" How do we make this work and have a message? So Mickey was hungover at an airport in Belgium. He just started to make this beat, [makes beat noises], that whole kind of iconic intro, and he basically came home, and then we went away to this cabin in the woods. We usually go away every record cycle to just really kind of get away from the city and breathe for a second. He played us that beat, and we freaked out. So we just started working on it and talking about what we were talking about, simplifying feelings. The song is really boiled down to a concept. I've been with my girlfriend for so many years now, and for anyone that's in a long-haul relationship that on paper has found "the one," shit gets really fucking hard sometimes. Everyone jokes about the six-year hump, or whatever the hump is in a relationship; I've been through a bunch of those with my partner, and I have so many friends who are in the middle of long-term, long-haul relationships. I think that's our experience right now. You know we're all in pretty locked-in relationships. We just wanted to talk about hope and find the truth and joy in starting again. That's kind of where that all stemmed from, and then obviously, I love when people take something like "The Problem Song" and make it their own. Everyone will have their own perspective or lens on it, which excites me the most about music. Sometimes I love it when artists don't explain a song too much because I'm like, "Oh, I don't even want to know what it is to you. I'm gonna figure out what it is to me." I always go kind of back and forth with that. So yeah, with this song, we wanted to lead with something heartfelt, honest, and simple.

If people listening could take anything away from "The Problem Song", any one bit of reassurance or hope you want to offer a listener, what do you hope they get from it?

That's a great question. I mean, I do hope, on a simpler level, that people enjoy it and can soundtrack their day to it. That's just the bare-knuckle, bare minimum for Valley. When we put out music in the world, as long as it's a part of someone's drive or commute or fucking anything, as long as it's a part of someone's day-to-day, that's awesome. But, on a more personal level, I think it's more of what I just talked about. Anyone in the process of starting again, figuring out a moment they've been working towards or working with someone or in a relationship or whatever, just knowing that the ability to start again exists and to push through and to work on yourself and work on whatever situation you're in is super important. 

If you could create a playlist centered around this track, what would you call it?

"I got 99 problems, and this Valley song is one." Definitely something around that lyric? Maybe, "I got 99 problems, but 'The Problem Song' ain't one." The flow sounds off, but it somehow works.

You mentioned that right now, Valley is in the middle of writing. If you can share, how does the single fit into the overall project and what do you want to express with your upcoming work?

We wanted to lead with something familiar but also a new sonic chapter, and I think we achieved that. To me, it's very classic Valley. It has a big chorus, and we have a choir on it, and it's a big thing, but as I said before, the lyrics are more direct. In this era of a band, it's really the song and its initial feeling, and that's it. In the past, we would get really caught up in lyrics and would think that something wasn't clever enough for something or that something needs to sound more unique or whatever. But, what we've boiled everything down to is when I listen to this, does this make me feel something, whether it's good, bad, weird, or whatever. If so, cool, then it's probably great. It's probably great for me or for us. If no one likes it, that's fine, but we like it. I think we're in that kind of era of our band, where we're just going based on initial feeling and gut feeling. So this album is coming together nicely in that sense, where I think there's a song for everyone. We try not to cater, but we're always getting obsessed over different artists and music, and like I said, it's just a shuffle of our music tastes, and we try to kind of create in that way. But yeah, this album was really special. We're still deciding on all the songs, but "The Problem Song" was one of those songs where we knew we should lead with this because it feels really good. But, for the next single, we don't know what the next one is. We're still kind of in the middle of figuring out how we are going to set up this album, but we're really excited. I think this is the most excited we've ever been about an album. We've dropped EPs during the pandemic, and we had one debut that we put out in 2017 or 2016, so it's exciting. I mean, it's the scary second album, as everyone says, but we're just excited. I think we've sort of reset, and I don't know, I think a lot of the songs are really special. I think people are going to be really, really stoked to hear this record. So we're just very happy.

Well, it makes us happy to hear that you're all so excited and obsessed with what you're working on! The last thing you want to hear is that an artist feels lukewarm towards something they've made.

Yeah, and that's where we've landed because, even if we put out the next thing on this record, and people hate it, that's fine because I don't. We're asking ourselves, "How do we feel, and how is this actually affecting us?" We're not looking to chase the moment with this record or to break down walls that people set up for us. We're just kind of breaking down our own walls and how we push our creativity and writing and get to the next chapter that feels right for us. Luckily, we have amazing fans and a fantastic platform where, hopefully, it's received with open arms and love, but we're just excited to be experimenting and really doing it.

What artists are you obsessed with right now?

Oh my god, there are so many. There's Omar Apollo. His last record is excellent. He's just another level. There are so many bops on that record, like that song "Go Away" and then "Invincible" with Daniel Cesar. Our friend ELIO is also great. She's just putting out so much great music and has so much new music. It's insane. Our friend mathijs.iv is also about to put out an EP, and it's so good. Oh! We played Life is Beautiful recently in Vegas, and I fell in love with Jungle. They are so good live like they're just unbelievable. And then Tai Verdes just dropped a new album called HDTV that I like and think is clever.

Are there any upcoming live shows that fans should know about?

So depending on when this article is coming out, we'll be playing in New York City, opening for this childhood dream band of mine. They're called The Maine. I grew up listening to them and going to Warped Tour to see them, and they were just a significant influence on pop punk and pop rock music for me. They're great pop-rock writers and just amazing people. So we're opening for them, and then we're flying to South Korea, and we're doing some stuff there. Then we're coming home and doing some touring in Canada because we haven't toured Canada in a minute. We have some other dates we haven't announced yet too. Then we'll keep working on the album more because we have to finish it before the end of the year. Then we're going on tour next year! We have lots of potential dates penciled in in the calendar. All I'll just say is we will be going to a lot of places next year!