Ezra Koenig is a smartly dressed, culturally savvy rock musician living in the age of hip-hop. His band, Vampire Weekend, has released three widely successful albums (a trilogy, as he thinks of them) since 2008, when they rose out of the golden age of innovative Brooklyn bands. Unlike many of their contemporaries—Dirty Projectors, Animal Collective, Grizzly Bear—who gained audiences primarily through the independent-music community, VW attracted mainstream attention and were quickly received by the broader pop music world. This could be attributed to their songwriting—a lot of old-fashioned, three-minute foot-tappers—but also to their media-friendly aesthetic, which can be described as preppy and worldly and is expressed equally in their fashion (cardigans, popped collars), musical style, and song titles, such as “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa.”

The band’s sound is a nimble and clean variety of pop rock that has grown in subtlety and richness over the last eight years. For his part, Koenig plays guitar, often like a South African from the ’80s, and sings like a talky choirboy with an Ivy League English degree, which he has. His musical persona is more like an observational journalist than a confessional songwriter, and he frequently diagrams his life experiences through the media around him. His songs, often lyrically led, are erudite, poetic collages of cultural references to designer brands, ethnic foods, cars, technology, ’70s films, and international news tidbits.

Koenig is a connoisseur of pop culture. He sees himself as breaking from the archetype of the rebellious, reluctant rock star and embracing pop as a fertile ground for creativity. He isn’t an outsider dragged into the mainstream, conflicted about selling out. For him, the outsider is an anachronistic role and rock and roll is a cold corpse in the ground.

I met Koenig twice for breakfast at the Noho Star, in downtown Manhattan. The first time we discussed summer singles, Kanye West, and Taylor Swift. Because of this interview’s delay in publication, Koenig found his cultural references too dated and asked to meet again to discuss the current pop climate. Further delays ensued.

—Ross Simonini

I. “ALMOST ANY GOOD MUSIC IS POP MUSIC”

EZRA KOENIG: What were you saying?

THE BELIEVER: I’d asked if you enjoyed touring.

EK: Sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t. For me right now, it feels like the end of an era. Just finished three albums, just turned thirty, you know? I associate a lot of the past touring with stress and existential fear, like: will the band continue to exist? Will people like it? Am I a worthwhile person and artist? I have a feeling that as this era comes to an end, the next one will be a little less fraught,...