Anthony De La Torre Opens Up About Working with Girlfriend Lana Condor on Their First-Ever Duet, 'Raining in London'
Get ready to meet Lana Condor‘s real-life boyfriend: Anthony De La Torre.
The To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before (and To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You) actress and musician’s love story began four years ago, and now they’re taking things to the next level with the release of their first-ever duet, a breakup song titled “Raining in London,” which also marks Condor’s music debut.
“Originally Lana and I had another song that we had written and recorded called, ‘See You,'” De La Torre, 26, tells PEOPLE. “We were really close to finishing the recording process and then Johnny, my producer, sent [‘Raining in London’] over and Lana and I just fell in love with the story and the production. We were like, ‘Okay, this needs to be the song that we do together.’ So last-minute we changed it to ‘Raining in London.’ I just think it’s a really, really beautiful story. It’s a sad story. I think it’s always good to know what you don’t want to have happen in life so you can kind of steer clear from that. Lana and I would say ‘Raining in London’ is our worst fear for ourselves. I think it’s cool because it’s a great contrast to how our relationship actually is in real life.”
“So two people who are madly in love are singing about breaking up,” he adds with a laugh. “We’re both actors so we just love a good story.”
In the music video for the single, which was released simultaneously with De La Torre’s debut EP Find Me on Friday, the couple’s relationship is put on full display.
“I, personally, am so happy with this video because I feel like it really captures our love for each other and our actual relationship,” De La Torre says. “It’s hard to do that, it’s hard to be comfortable enough to show that in front of a camera. I’m really happy with it. I think it’s a really pretty story, and I think it captures our essence and our relationship.”
As to his favorite part of working with Condor, 22, on the song, De La Torre says it was watching her go through all the stages a recording artist typically goes through.
“I remember when I started really trying to pursue this career about eight years ago and when I first started recording with a producer, I thought I had the worst voice in the world,” he says. “You hear yourself back, and you hate your own voice. You go through that process and then you understand your voice and you appreciate it and understand what you can and can’t do. It was really cool to guide her through that process and see her go from being frustrated with herself to eventually just absolutely killing it. I think she sounds fantastic on the song. It was cool to see her go through that quick evolution.”
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Though Condor technically only sings on one track on the pop and R&B-influenced EP, De La Torre says her influence ran throughout the entire project.
“I don’t think I would be doing this EP if it wasn’t for her,” he says. “She played a major part in my inspiration for the entire EP.”
“Lana is just amazing,” he continues. “She is so ridiculously talented. She is a powerhouse. Honestly, I look up to her in so many ways. She has really inspired me to grow in my music and grow in how I view myself.”
Along with “Raining in London,” the other tracks on the EP include “Halloween,” “Nervous,” “Your Body,” “Fake” and the previously released single, “Know Me.” In the future, De La Torre says “it’s definitely possible” that he and Condor will release more music together.
“Listen, Lana is a phenomenal singer,” he says. “So I’m trying to get her voice out there. It is a hidden gem, and I hope that she’d be down to release [‘See You’] in the future because I would love to.”
One thing that’s certain, De La Torre says, is that he’s “just starting to scratch the surface” when it comes to his music.
“It’s so funny with artists, you spend years making something and by the time it’s coming out, you already feel like you’ve evolved past that,” he says. “I’m Cuban-American, so I’m really excited to start exploring my latin roots and bringing those elements into the next EP I’m working on right now. I’m definitely going to keep evolving though because I don’t have anything figured out.”
Something De La Torre has figured out, though, is how much his definition of success has changed over the last few years.
“Success now is getting to do what you want but getting to have peace and happiness in what you’re doing,” he says. “That’s the key. I want to keep working with people that I love and on music that I love.”
RELATED: Lana Condor and Noah Centineo Reveal There’s a Third To All the Boys Movie in the Works!
Outside of music, De La Torre says he and Condor have been enjoying their life in Seattle, where they moved into a new house a few months ago.
“It has been a great space for us to unwind and disconnect a little bit,” he says. “The beautiful thing about music is I can work on it anywhere. We did all the vocals in my closet. It has been really cool.”
It’s also a stark contrast from where the couple started out in the early days of their relationship, before the instant fame the To All the Boys franchise brought.
“I am forever grateful To All the Boys, to the fans of To All the Boys, to Lana, to Jenny Han,” De La Torre says. “It’s thanks to that franchise that Lana’s dreams have come true. We started off on a mattress in a studio apartment in Torrance, [California,] and now we’re here. We’ve gone through so much together, and we’re just so grateful to that whole franchise.”
While To All the Boys has brought many positive changes to his and Condor’s life, De La Torre says it was definitely an adjustment seeing how fans wanted Condor to date her onscreen love interest Noah Centineo in real life at first.
“I just didn’t see it coming,” De La Torre says. “I was like, ‘This is so cool, babe! You’re blowing up. This is awesome!’ Then I started seeing my notifications like, ‘Wait, what?’ It was a little jarring at first, but I grew to accept it and somewhat appreciate it because it’s just a testament to how intense the fan base is and how much people care about Lara Jean and Peter Kavinsky and this franchise. It’s amazing. If Lana’s dreams coming true means that I’m going to take a little bit of heat online, I’m totally on board with that.”
Plus, De La Torre says it helps that both of Condor’s onscreen love interests — Centineo and Jordan Fisher (who stars in the sequel as John Ambrose McClaren) — are “so sweet.”
“They are genuinely good guys,” he says. “It was funny because I think that we were all a little anxious to meet each other, but the moment we met each other we all got along so well. I think that they’re both great guys and super talented. I’m happy for both of them.”
