7 Things To Know About The Artist Behind The Best Song In "Paper Towns"

Admit it, you've been listening "To The Top" on repeat for weeks.

This is George Lewis Jr., aka Twin Shadow.

Milan Zrnic / Warner Bros.

AKA the artist behind "To The Top," the best song on the Paper Towns soundtrack.

Atlantic Records / 20th Century FOX

Warner Bros. Records

The feels-heavy anthem plays during the movie's end credits and, let's be real, you've probably been playing it on loop since you left the theater. While the Florida native isn't having a "Boom Clap"-sized moment, "To The Top" is the same kind of song — big, euphoric, and grounded by an undercurrent of melancholy.

If you're not familiar with the 32-year-old singer-songwriter, here's a quick primer:

1. George Lewis Jr. was born in the Dominican Republic and was raised in Florida.

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Lewis' Floridian childhood is a big part of the reason he related to Paper Towns. "I read the book," he told BuzzFeed Music. "A lot of it's kind of about growing up in Florida, which is an underlying theme in all of my music."

2. He respects John Green's "rockstar" following.

Rookie / Via youtube.com

"I remember The Fault In Our Stars being everywhere," Lewis said. "And I knew he had an insane group of followers. His following is truly like the following of a band."

3. And he's got a Hollywood-ready backstory of his own.

Twin Shadow / Via youtube.com

Lewis' second album, Confess, was inspired by a motorcycle accident he was involved in when he was younger. He was in Boston, riding with a friend, when the front brake locked up and he lost control of the bike. Lewis' helmet fell off and both he and his friend ended up on the ground. It was another eight or so years before he got back on a bike and the experience of riding for the first time after the accident is what motivated Confess.

4. Twin Shadow was making '80s-inspired music before it was cool.

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The '80s are in at the moment, but for years Twin Shadow and his peers mined the decade of decadence while mainstream artists focused on other sounds. Lewis says he doesn't really think about it too much, but he's amused by the way it "all bubbles up" to the pop scene. "The mainstream always kind of gets the thing that the underground was experimenting with like five years later."

5. The latest Twin Shadow record, Eclipse, is a departure from Lewis' previous work — and not because he's now signed to a major label.

Terrible Records

4AD

"There's this real art-school mentality you can get stuck in," Lewis told BuzzFeed Music. "When you make music that's challenging or very cerebral you can get stuck in your own patterns of cleverness — making things weird on purpose rather than using weird as a tool to affect someone." Those patterns and shortcuts were something he wanted to avoid going into his third album. Where they were once a genuine expression, Lewis was worried they'd become defensive. The vulnerability of being straight forward and accessible appealed to him. "I feel excited about communicating in a simple way," he explained. "That's really it."

6. Lewis started writing "To The Top" in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery.

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The irony that he wrote such a hopeful, life-affirming song surrounded by death is not lost on him.

7. If you like "To The Top," you'll love "I'm Ready."

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Also: "Old Love / New Love." And "When The Lights Turn Out." The whole Eclipse album, really.