Glass Animals’ front man says maybe when he’s “older,” he’ll be “able to digest” the impact of “Heat Waves”

Glass Animals‘ “Heat Waves” is number one on the Billboard Hot 100 for a third week in a row. One reason for the song’s popularity may be that even though front man Dave Bayley specifically wrote it about a friend’s death, it’s general enough that any one who misses someone can relate to it — which Dave says is exactly the point.

“That’s always a goal,” Dave tells ABC Audio about giving “Heat Waves” a universal message. “I think a lot of my favorite songs that have kind of helped me get through things…all best songs in the world do that…they give you a way in.”

“I feel like they’re not so specific that you can’t fit part of your own life into them,” he notes. “You relate to them and you feel like that whoever’s written it is, like, on a similar page to you. And that’s always the goal.”

But Dave says that when fans reach out to him to tell them that “Heat Waves” has helped them get through their own hard times, or even saved their life, he’s quite overwhelmed by the idea of it.

“It really means so much. All of my favorite songs, the songs that really like saved me, I think about those when people say that to me,” Dave says.

He adds, “I think it’s so strange that I’ve maybe written something that did that for someone else. It’s hard to wrap your head around sometimes…maybe when I’m older, I’ll be able to digest all of it.”