As ongoing favorite mehro continues to stun fans with his music, he chatted recently with Variance about his inspiration and what he's working on next.

mehro was performing at SXSW in Austin, which was making an in-person return after two years off due to the pandemic. He talked about the experience of the wildfires in California and how it influenced his sky on fire project, which he released last summer. He also talked about the importance of tackling difficult themes in his writing as well as his visuals.

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"When I'm really nervous to put something out, when I'm not sure how people are going to react to it, it means that I need to put it out," says mehro, who previously described the accompanying visuals as a "battle between innocence and toxic masculinity."

On Friday, mehro released his new song "parasite," the latest in his alchemy series, which he also talked about in our interview.

"'parasite' is the story of how something so grotesque can appear to be so beautiful," says mehro of the new track. "A toxic relationship that feeds off the hope of the unsuspecting heart. I wanted to create a sonic world that embodied the illusion of that deceptive beauty, and to tell that story uncompromised. To me this is alchemy."

Hear "parasite" now and check out the interview below.