Story behind "The Stranger" (music video)

 

The Stranger is the first time I've written something about the battles I've fought over the years with loss, trauma, social anxiety, depression, addiction and suicide and to forgive and love my younger self.

 

As a child I always felt somehow advanced in the sense of spirituality and my comprehension that this world just didn't feel quite right. I felt like I was born with a deep understanding that I couldn't live the way I was being told. That I had to forge my own way to inner peace. To have an appreciation of life that only I could imagine. The music video shows my (now) self meeting my younger self carrying the burden of anxiety and depression through dark clothing and an anxiety monster that I always felt was on my shoulder and draining my energy. Creatively and Spiritually. Making me feel like I was a Stranger and that I had to build this tough skin.

 

Years later as an adult I found I had to fight to process all of this and I realized during my time in LA developing myself I masked so much that the real me never truly came out. When the pandemic hit I was forced to deal with all that I had hidden in the depths. So, this video represents me making amends with my younger self and renewing my soul (representing suicide) and coming back pure, forgiven and knowing that I am deserving of love. My younger self was so full of potential and I dealt with that the best I could, even through the difficulty of acknowledging how I felt I wanted to live my life, and who I wanted to love. Then to let it go and step into a life with my head held high and being grateful for who I am. To others, to the world and myself.

 

I hope the listener can relate to the vulnerability in the song. To be able to connect to the message behind the song and gain some healing in some way.

 

I recorded this track with EBON SLEEPS at his home studio in my home town in Kent, UK called Herne Bay. South East England. I was present for all of the recording process and EBON SLEEPS helped me compose the music from the guitar to the desk. It was a very fun and eye opening experience which, in a way, was new to me as I’d never been so authentic in a song where I mention my struggles with addiction and mental health. Personally.

 

I’ve released music before specifically about mental health but it was under a different name called ELRAES which is my surname backwards. It was a time when I’d come back from the states and was unsure about who I was to the world, musically. You can find ALL MEN CRY here and on Spotify, including his hit song for the NHS during the pandemic called "I'll Be There" (released under Ditto Music)