The Mental

For my first real entry, I'm going to dissect my recently released song "The Mental."  To provide some background...like every other song on this page, the track was produced by my brother - The Therapist. And that's blood brother for those who don't know. To me, this song is undoubtedly the most introspective of any I've ever written. The subject matter is deep, emotional, and complex and it really reflects my current outlook on life and some of my recent experiences.

It's told from the perspective of an individual who's lost in many ways. His thought process is almost schizophrenic in the way that he jumps from thought to thought and emotion to emotion. The subject matter is meant to be complex and difficult to navigate through as it's a representation of the pain and confusion that I feel sometimes. However, the listener is rewarded for his/her sticking around through the frustration by the breakthrough I have at the end in which I finally shed the shackles.

What this song is ultimately about is the constant conflict we experience as humans, and the ways in which that conflict intensifies as we become more successful. I then attempt to weave in some of the associated sacrifices we are forced to make on a continuous basis. There are underlying tones of greed, love, lust, pain, uncertainty, and ambition, among others.

I think my brother did a phenomenal job in creating this track and it really plays off of my concept in its repeating, harmonious chords that really surround the listener and make him/her feel confused and almost disoriented, with lack of direction. One of the influences for the concept was the movie "Inception." I've always felt like I've been my own worst enemy in over-analyzing situations and becoming so aware of my surroundings that it's become a fault. And so, the movie really hit home with me, because it was a perfect communication of the very real principal that perception is reality. This is one place where I've integrated some of my inspiration drawn from business as an MBA candidate in my increasing awareness of what distinguishes perception from reality through my marketing studies. But, you know, it's human nature to believe our perceptions, and that's where we run into the self-destructive behavior that keeps us from being our best selves.

And so, this song is told from my perspective as someone who, as I get older and understand more complexity, is only becoming more jaded about how fucked up the world and the people in it really are. But, a positive to having that understanding is that it's proven to be unbelievably motivating in wanting to be unlike what I've seen, and to be a genuinely good and selfless person. And that's what I really want to shine through in the story is that we have this man who's dealing with all of these things and, admittedly, isn't perfect, but has a pure heart and wants to do good. So, at the end, I ultimately deal with the pressures in my own way. But really, it's a never-ending battle with ourselves that we can lead, but never win.