Jack White: Referring to myself in a song is too egotistical
Jack White has admitted he finds it virtually impossible to refer to himself or real people in his songs.
Jack White "fantasises" about being able to pen autobiographical songs.
The 47-year-old musician admits he "could never" be "literal" about precise moments in his life or share songs about himself because that's "too egotistical".
In an interview with The Sun newspaper, Jack said: “I wish I could get to a point one day where I am referring to myself in a song. I actually fantasise about that.
“We see it so often now on social media. Someone will say, ‘I wrote this break-up song’ and perform it on TikTok or Instagram.
“I could never be that literal about an exact moment in my life. It’s too egotistical for me to feed off.
"Maybe one day I’ll tire of other concepts and get into that.”
Of his new album, 'Entering Heaven Alive', he added: “This record is me either exploring fictional characters or people who exist that I haven’t met.”
The former White Stripes star didn't intend to release two albums in 2022, having already released 'Fear Of The Dawn' in April.
However, he found himself writing songs that were heavier and lighter and placed them into two playlists.
He explained: “I had no intention of doing two albums.
“I was just writing songs and they were coming out in different ways.
“I was putting the quieter songs in one playlist on my computer and the heavier songs in another, trying to see which went together and which made sense.”
The COVID-19 pandemic also afforded the 'Icky Thump' hitmaker the time to be prolific with his songwriting and he admits he put "pressure" on himself to make it exceptional.
He said: “For me, having that much time to work, I put pressure on myself to come up with something interesting.
“It’s like the movie 'Titanic' having a $300 million budget — it makes you think, ‘Well, it had better be good’.”
'Entering Heaven Alive' is out now.
