Jens Lekman today announced his new LP Songs For Other People’s Weddings will be released on September 12th, 2025 (Secretly Canadian), sharing its joyful first single ‘Candy From A Stranger’ as an early preview of the album’s evocative, heartfelt storytelling. Songs For Other People’s Weddings is a companion album to a book of the same name by Lekman & award-winning, bestselling author David Levithannew book, due out August 5th, 2025 via ABRAMS. The project was inspired by the beloved Swedish artist’s own surprising side career as a wedding singer, which came about by chance after fans took his 2004 song ‘If You Ever Need a Stranger (To Sing at Your Wedding)’ literally and invited him to perform at their nuptials. The ‘Candy From A Stranger’ video (edited by Rena Johnson) is a charming window into this part of Lekman’s life, collaging together clips from various weddings he has performed at. The album is now available to pre-order.
Songs For Other People’s Weddings is a work of fiction about J, an unlucky-in-love musician who moonlights as a wedding singer. J gathers with couples before their big day to learn more about the intimate, strange things that brought them together, in order to write an original song to perform for them at their wedding. But despite J’s penchant for finding the perfect words for others, he can’t seem to do the same for his own love with his girlfriend, V. “‘Candy From a Stranger’ is the point in the story where the lovers meet for the first time, or do they?” Lekman notes.
He continues: “The idea to make a narrative concept album (a rock opera?) felt forbidden. Which, for me, is usually a sign that I’m on the right path. While investigating the genre of narrative concept albums, I realized that one of my all-time favorite albums, Frank Sinatra’s Watertown, was in fact just that– a record that told a chronological story over the length of an LP. Having never been a fan of musicals or rock operas, this album served as inspiration.
I wrote the album while the book was still being written and, at some points, I started imagining what happened between the book’s chapters. The book and the album eventually became intertwined but also found their own paths. The book provided the structure of the story, but the album sometimes snuck behind the scenes. Stories from the songs made their way into the book and vice versa.”
Narratively, Songs For Other People’s Weddings follows J and V’s relationship, changing musically as the couple navigates the ups and downs of love–with each new wedding providing its own sonic background. An orchestral, romantic collection, the album traverses through pastoral strings, dreamy pop, soft jazzy saxophone, and sad house beats. “The character of J cannot keep his own emotions out of his songs, and Jens underscores this in ways that will constantly surprise the listener,” says Levithan. “He is often joined by Matilda Sargren giving voice to V’s feelings and thoughts. Initially she was only meant to sing on the demos, but once she started vocalizing V, there was no question that she would be on the final album. If Jens and I have done our jobs, the novel and the album tell both sides of J and V’s story – and the tension comes from how these sides fit together.”
Lekman adds: “While this story is very much about a relationship and how it’s reflected through the relationships and weddings of others, most of all I think it’s a love story about music and its value in a time when it’s been devalued and turned into content by tech companies. Its ability to soothe and connect and its role in the transitional moments of our lives such as weddings. It’s a love song to love songs.”
Read the full album bio, written by David Levithan, HERE.
Songs For Other People’s Weddings LP Cover Art (Credit Alexander Palmestål):
Tracklist:
- The First Lovesong
- A Tuxedo Sewn For Two
- Candy From a Stranger
- Two Little Pigs
- Speak To Me In Music
- With You I Can Hear My Own Voice
- I Want To Want You Again
- GOT-JFK
- Wedding In Brooklyn
- For Skye
- Increasingly Obsolete
- On a Pier, On the Hudson
- Wedding In Leipzig
- LEJ-GOT
- You Have One New Message
- Just For One Moment
- The Last Lovesong
Jens Lekman Links:
