M83 Explains Its John Hughes Love

B-Sides: Most every critical take I've seen on your lastest release, Saturdays=Youth, has called it out as perfect material for a John Hughes film soundtrack—which is pretty spot-on by my account too. How do you feel about that comparison?

Anthony Gonzalez: I like it. The John Hughes movies have been a great influence on this album—like The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles and Pretty in Pink. I feel very close to those movies, and I just think that the way he talks about teenagers in his movies is very beautiful and very touching, and I love that a lot.

So that was a specific goal, then? That's what you were going for?

AG: Yeah, exactly. I just wanted to see if I could make that sound, but also to keep it my own and make it like my own songs mixed with those '80s songs.

Got a particular favorite in the John Hughes catalog?

AG: I love Pretty in Pink a lot—but I like all of them.

Why do you think those movies still have such a powerful impact on you and your music all these years later?

AG: I just think that, when I was a teenager, I went through those same kinds of things, those same kinds of experiences. That's just a part of myself. My music is very melancholic, y'know? And also very romantic. When I'm doing my music, it's always very lifelike—sometimes very sad and very melancholic. That's just the way I do my music. I can't do it any other way, you know? I'm not very talkative, and I'm kind of shy. Music is how I express myself and how I express my feelings.

Was it difficult at all, getting back into the mindset of your younger self as you were writing these songs?

AG: [Laughs.] Not really. I'm still behaving like I'm a teenager. I'm 28 now, but I don't feel like it. I feel like I'm still a teenager, always and always. I'm still doing the same things.