The content of Season 2: Character Development is really part two of my childhood and adolescence. These are the first results of taking that kid and all his influencing factors (environment, upbringing, people, etc) from Season 1 and letting him be on his own for the first time.
“Human”
In the Character Development chronology of my life, the story of “Human” didn’t happen before some of the other stories here, but I knew it needed to be the first track people hear on this EP because it marked the beginning of a new era of Kyd The Band, and its meaning has had the most profound impact on me.
I wrote it with Jake Hawkes and Sawyr, with Aaron Chafin producing, and it was also the first song in a long time that I had written that really got to me at my core. It’s a song that I wanted to set the tone of this project with.
“Easy”
I wrote the chorus of this in the first ever session of my publishing deal, with Elley Duhé, Jimmy Robbins, and Aaron Chafin co-writing the rest of the song with me. It was my first day as a “professional” getting paid to do music. It took me 6 years to achieve that.
So this song is the story of my journey of pursuing music, and some of the sacrifices that have come along with that. The more that goes on professionally for me, the more this song means to me and continues to write more of itself. It’s also a reminder of some things I hope I don’t forget.
“This Time Last Year”
In my mind there’s an alternative title for this song and it’s “2017-2019”. A lot changed for me in the course of those 12-18 months, and thankfully mostly from bad to good. It was the first time I saw how different life can become in a short amount of time.
I had always heard people say that, you know, “what a difference a year can make“. Now I know it’s true. On a nerd musician note, there is a modulation in the verses that I’m super proud of pulling off. I don’t think you really ever hear that in pop music.
“Dark Thoughts”
This is about my overdose, which I shared in an Instagram post when I announced the song. First time I’ve ever done that, normally I don’t like to come out and tell the specific story of a song. However, because of my experience I felt it was important to share.
The response and love I received from my following was overwhelmingly gracious and kind, and more importantly, I saw it encourage some people to open up the conversation about their struggles in this area.
“Heartbreak Anthem”
In Season 1: The Intro, there is a song called “Sad Songs” where I say “I only like sad songs“. That’s always been true. Maybe that is because those are the songs that truly make me feel something, or maybe it’s because those songs have always been there for me when I’ve dealt with heartbreak and pain.
Either way, this song continues my adoration for heavy music. It’s also got my friend gnash on it. He knows a couple things about sad songs. We also collaborated with Jimmy Robbins, Jonas Jeberg, Sam Sumser and Sean Small on this one.
“Hard Feelings”
I’m still trying to resolve some things internally from certain relationships and experiences I had as a teenager with people from that time in my life. And some things from a couple recent experiences too.
I think I’m getting there and making progress, but some times there are days where something gets triggered and it’s like I haven’t moved a single inch forward from those things. In light of that this felt like how Season 2 was supposed to end. “Human” starts it and this wraps it up.
Listen to the full Season 2: Character Development project below
