12/25/2020
1 Year...12 EPs...50 Songs
That was my goal on January 1st 2020 & I’m happy to be able to say that I did it with the release of my 12th & final EP today: “THIS IS not THE END.” (links below)
In what I can definitely say was the worst year of my life, by FAR, from a global pandemic, to racial tension, to political chaos, financial hardships, and more family health issues in 1 year than many previous years combined, I had more than enough subject matter to write about.
In the past I rarely wrote songs about myself. I wrote in very broad terms. But this year, these songs were very personal to me. They were my creative outlet & in many ways became therapeutic as my thoughts & emotions turned into chords & lyrics.
Sure, the production could always be better but I literally never knew what I was gonna write about until I sat down in my studio chair & began to write. Many months I wrote, recorded, mixed & mastered all the songs in 4 or 5 consecutive days.
If you haven’t had the chance to listen to the rest of the EPs they’re all available on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube & every other streaming site from January to today... the final one, appropriately titled... “THIS IS not THE END.”I’m proud of all the songs I’ve written & they all have special meanings to me for different reasons, but this last EP definitely stands out among the rest because it’s the final one.
So when it came time to write the last song, I thought to myself, “how do you wrap up an entire year’s worth of music in 1 final song?” Should it be fast, should it be slow? What sounds should I use? What type of lyrics should I write? And out of everything I’ve written this year, of course I have my own personal favorites. But if any of them stand out as one of the ones I’m most proud of, it’s the 50th song, simply titled “This Year.”
I’ve done some mild vocal tuning on songs throughout the year (though not much) but this last song I wanted to be as raw and real as possible. So I sang the lead vocal in 1 take, all the way through without stopping & there is no vocal tuning on any of the vocals in that song.
It perfectly sums up how I feel about this year and chances are it might do the same for you. So with that being said, I want to thank all of you who may have supported me this year in accomplishing my goal. Whether it be something you’ve said to me in person or on social media, every little encouraging word means more than you know!
And now, as this year is finally coming to a close, (thank God) I am going to choose to go into next year as optimistic as possible, trusting God for better days ahead. They say life is 10% what happens to us & 90% how we react to it. So as we look back at this horrible year and approach 2021 head on, I can assure you, as far as my journey in creating music goes... “THIS IS not THE END.”
YouTube: https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mGPDzBL15DqDsCkq9p2m8zvkwco_Zf9WQ
Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/album/this-is-not-the-end-ep/1546113614
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/33Gr3cbGjqKqNfQxgpCp4v?si=108i1DzTTx-AIkwhVRUAmA
