Artist Friendly with Joel Madden - Jax

Episode Date: September 18, 2024

On this week's episode of Artist Friendly, Joel Madden is joined by Jax. Whether she’s critiquing Victoria’s Secret in hit pop songs, crafting TikTok clips with Paris Hilton, or posting viral parodies of “Stacy’s Mom,” Jax imbues comedy into everything she touches. Brought up by musical theater, Jax has parlayed her time onstage into countless funny songs (and even some famous covers) that generate thousands of views. In a full-circle moment, Jax gets into a proper conversation with Madden after meeting him as a teenager at a Good Charlotte show, where one of her early bands opened a couple of dates during their 2011 tour with Forever the Sickest Kids. ------- Listen to their Artist Friendly conversation on ⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify.⁠⁠⁠ ------- Follow Artist Friendly! IG: @artist.friendly TikTok: @artist.friendly YouTube: youtube.com/@artist.friendly ------- Host: Joel Madden, @joelmadden Executive Producers: Joel Madden, Benji Madden, Jillian King Producers: Josh Madden, Joey Simmrin, Janice Leary Visual Producer/Editor: Ryan Schaefer Audio Producer/Composer: Nick Gray Music/Theme Composer: Nick Gray Cover Art/Design: Ryan Schaefer Additional Contributors: Anna Zanes, Neville Hardman Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey, what's up? I'm Joel Madden, and this is artist-friendly. On this episode, I'll be talking to singer-songwriter and all-around emo queen, Jacks. Let's go. I'm smoking out if that's my kind. I don't want to bad times. I don't want to have bad. Yes. That's cool. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you. Even though I'm not going to lie, I met you when I was a small child. You did? Where? I think it was in like, it was either in, Pennsylvania or I at a show yeah oh wow the good Charlotte concert okay well like as in my kid band we had opened we like did a couple of shows on the leg of a forever the sickest kids good Charlotte oh yeah yeah oh wow yeah yeah what was your band oh god see is this the thing you cut out can we bleep it so no no please don't we need to know the origin story is very important it's it was a

band called Meadowland. We were a kid band. Okay. Yeah. Did you guys have fun? I was so much fun. We geeked out. I was a huge fan of both bands. So like I loved for him sick as kids too. How old were you? I think probably 13 or 14. Okay. Yeah. Like a vigilion years ago. That's crazy. It is crazy. How long were you in that band for? We went through like total evolution, but probably I don't know, four or five years. Change names, change players. Eventually went on my own way. What a great. development process. Yeah, yeah. I mean, we were warped to our kids and

we just loved it as fans and then ended up forming a band covering songs and then writing the songs and, you know. I feel like that music doesn't get as much credit as it deserves for the like formative years of like musicians

who are learning how to play instruments, write songs, make bands, tour all the stuff that DIY of it all that you actually have to have if you have a career. You have to have some amount of DIY always. Yeah, there was a spirit to that for sure. And I think you could see it in kids that grew up in that world. People don't even realize that that DIY is still here. And I think like even the way pop songs are structured, there's so many kids that grew up in bands and emo bands and

they just like ended up being pop singers or pop songwriters out here and you'd never know it. But so much of it is inspired. Because that was pop. It was totally pop. It was just with guitars. And it still is. Yeah. Even Victoria's Secret was so inspired by that generation. I love playing that kind of music. I love writing it. It's like I just love the anthem because that's so goofy to say that to you. No. Not at all. Not goofy at all. I love that song. I love that song too. But like Simple Plan and Green Day and all of that. Yeah. I don't dismiss our music ever. I put my whole life into it. So I could tell. It was a part of my, it still is, but like that was a part of me on the like journey of like

becoming the person that I am. And it was all encompassing, you know, at the time. Like I had never left. We were from a little small town in Maryland. And I love that place, but I had never been out in the world. Yeah. And then I discovered music at like 15. So I was a little late, I think, to the party.

Like my mom was very like protective and. Yeah. Like religious. Were you not allowed to listen to something? I'm not allowed to listen to music. Whoa. And like we had to sneak it in. Whoa.

That's somewhat even cooler in a way. Yeah. And then we were just like this whole world, this whole world opened up to us from the radio. Like the alternative radio back then was like in the 90s was such a thing. Mm-hmm. And I feel like a lot of the emotional development that we didn't get to do at home because we did not talk about anything. Whoa.

Everything was like, God's. going to fix it. And just shut up. Okay. You know, I'll give you something to cry about. So you had a lot of angst. So there's a lot of paint up like making sense of life, making sense of like growing up teenage.

So I felt like I was really stunted in my growth. Wasn't really allowed to date people. Okay. When I was a teenager. So like we left home 17, 18. We had started Good Charlotte and we like went into the world and like everything was new. Yeah. So we were just psyched.

You guys were like children. kids in a candy story. Yeah. Every place was amazing. Yeah. This is amazing. That's the best way to do it. Yeah. I mean like and that's, I feel like that's such a birth of misunderstood emo music too.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So also though, like probably like the sadder part about it, but the reality. So it's like. Yeah. Very low self-esteem. Very underdeveloped self.

Emotional intelligence and security and like confidence. Yeah. And like confidence. and when everybody knows more than you, you're never catching up in any situation. I mean, that just goes in life. I'm like even not just as a green teenager.

I just feel like even coming to Hollywood, it was that way too. I was like, oh God, there's like such a culture and I don't understand it and everybody seems like they know they're doing so much,

so scary. Well, that's the idea. Yeah. But it's not the truth. Because of what you've done. Yeah. So I'm just saying. It was the second I kind of retired.

that insecurity, I think. Isn't that funny? Yeah. It's like I stopped caring about what I was supposed to do. And then just it felt natural. Which is where you started? Yeah, pretty much. Yeah.

So we always reject our young selves like we don't know better. Yeah, your inner child. And we're like embarrassed by them because they were honest. Yep. And we're taught to be a little dishonest, I think. Yep. Always like look this way, present this way. Don't act like you like it too much.

Don't act like you're too impressed. Yeah. So we are always like, like, taught to be a little dishonest. Yeah. Like as we get older. Mm-hmm. Because the world doesn't want the truth.

Yeah. There's this like cringe culture too. Yeah. Yeah. Which is like, yeah. I don't subscribe to any of it. I don't know anybody that's like not cringe and not like doing their thing. I just feel like it's.

If we're being honest. Yeah. For being real. It's so true. You know? Yeah. Like what am I supposed to say? No.

I don't want to be successful. Yeah. Or I don't want you to like me? No. I mean, if I'm being honest, but then if I say, well, I'm going to protect my disappointment when someone's like mean to me. So I'm going to say, I don't fucking care. Fuck you.

And I'm like, well, if I'm being honest, it hurts my feelings. Yeah, then I'm up at 3 a.m. I'm like, oh, my God, the one comment. Yeah. Because that's how it works. Because I think that's like the honest truth. Dude, 100%. I actually like started wearing contacts recently.

Probably should have been doing that a lot earlier, especially when I drive. But I'm supposed to wear glasses when I drive. Honestly, that's safe. That's unsafe. You should wear them. My vision is getting worse as I get older. I think me too. And I'm staring out of phone so much in The Matrix.

But I figured I'd get started in this last tour. And I'm like, you know what? Screw it. Throw my contacts on on stage. Maybe I'll stop tripping on shit. And then I regretted it. I regretted it so quickly because I just, it's the same concept of, but I guess before I wasn't seen past row three

and I was just loving the first three rows and that was totally fine and then now that I could see I just see like that like that grumpy old guy in the back by the bar and I'm just honing in on him no matter what even though I have this like a wonderful audience of supportive people and then it's just that guy and I can't stop thinking about that guy

and then I start to project it like my performance is why isn't he for him smiling you know why am I performing for that guy like instead of these guys. Do you ever think like maybe he like just lost his job or maybe he's going through a divorce or maybe he ate some bad fish or maybe he like, I don't know, like, do you ever think like that? Always because when I'm a concert go or I'm hyper aware of how I, it feels like I worked part of in a concert when I go to a concert if they could see me, if the artist can see me from the stage, I'm like doing my best to make sure they feel seen and just smiling ear to

ear and going crazy just so I they don't feel like I'm some like LA douchebag that's judging them you know yeah and I and I'm like I'm having a really shitty day and they would never know that but if I wasn't trained to be that way and really you know hyper empathetic then and I was just there at a concert and I was having a really horrible day yeah I'd probably be that guy well that's very kind of you that's very conscious of you that's conscientiousness consciousness is a really really important quality and a lot of people have i'd say everyone has some of it yeah some people you could say are completely devoid of consciences of being conscientious and conscious of other people but then you have those really empathetic conscientious people who are hyper aware of it which i would say that's a

that's a sign that you are one of those um because i'm not from trauma i'm like that that deep feeling of of how you just don't want someone to feel yeah it's such a everything is so just just I don't. I realize it's funny, today of all days, we're talking about this. Yeah. I was driving in because we've recently relocated out of town. Okay, jealous. Which is great. Yeah.

But it's far. How far? Where are you at? Westlake Village. Okay. It's 50 minutes. Okay, got on with traffic. Yeah.

So I was driving in. And our best friend. me and my wife, our two best friends, him and his wife, were on this text chain and it's like always like joky and it's like if somebody needs something, but it's like a rolling text chain before of us and we joke around. And his wife passed me, I guess. I didn't see her. And she made a joke like turning left on Morpark.

You look like you wanted to kill someone. And I wasn't even, I was just driving. You just have resting murder face. And I realize, and I've gotten this from my kids, from my wife, but I've gotten this multiple times. But I realize like 90% of the time when I'm alone in the world doing anything, I have like a scowl on my face. You just have like resting serial killer. Resting scow, angry, I'll fucking kill you face. Yeah. It's like that's ideal as for a husband and a father to have that just around the girls.

It's why my kids, I think, don't want me to like come pick them up. Because I think they're like, you look like you're angry. And I'm like, I'm not. All the kids are afraid at school. I'm not. But I get it. I think the early years of my life. Yeah.

Let's call zero to 18. And maybe beyond because when we went out on our own, it wasn't like the easiest. And we lived in some tough places and all that. I think my disposition to the world is protect myself. Yeah. Yeah. And I think it's just like so deeply ingrained in me that if you see me alone in a living life situation, I probably look like angry. Yeah, it's just your natural guard. And I have to work on like trying to be like trying to check that and be a little more smiley or like a little bit softer. Nah.

But it was funny because we all laughed about it this morning. I was like, yeah, that's yeah. They were laughing. about it because they know me really well and they've already obviously they know that about me so it's like it's like a joke but um i think in general if i'm just going through the world i probably have a bit more of like a stance that's more protective yeah totally i mean it's hard not to especially in this business it's like it's tough business yeah it's tough business and i mean that probably probably saved you from a lot of situations that you don't you're not even aware of you know no one's fucking with you unlike me, I'm just like mirroring at all times. Yeah.

Just, he. There's some value to that, though. Yeah, it's exhausting. You can make your. I'm working on that on the other way. Probably a little bit of a survival thing. Totally. Going into the world trying to make it.

I'm a theater kid too. Just grew up on stage so much and grew up like thinking you had to just network all the time. You know, that was put on a smile all the time. And now I'm like, when I meet somebody, I'm not matching their energy, I'm panicking. I'm like, yeah. And then I come home and I was like, did I overdo it? And I probably did bouncing off the walls. I wouldn't overthink it too much.

Just be yourself. If that's part of like your experience and you know it, then I think that's like. I'm getting better at it, I think. There's never been another you. Yeah. That's lived the life you've lived. Unless it's like coming from a place of like self-love, self like growth how you feel that's what the motivation should always be like does that part of me

that's been naturally that's naturally grown that feels like I need to connect with everyone and I need to match their energy or whatever like does that part of me does it feel good does it serve me and then like measure how much of it you like right and I would say like always be focused on like how you feel about you. Right. And make sure that like anything that you're working on like from a growth perspective, that you're doing it because of how you feel. Yeah.

That's, I think like it's people pleasing is such a crazy issue for me because half of it is that. Half of it is like totally authentic. And the other half is just probably a matter of insecurity or panic or that like feeling of needing to project yourself. And it lands me in these situations. that are kind of just energy suckers, you know? Right, where you're like, why did I say yes to this? And it just took away from a really good, like I'd be out with friends and I really hadn't

seen them in a while. And all of a sudden, I took kind of one person out of bar to talk about, and I can't seem to just, you know, draw a boundary or even for me, a really big moment in my career was speaking to my younger self and younger girls, like, through music. And it was such a huge turning point because I was like, this is so full circle. I grew up struggling trying to make it in this business and with no noise and hustled and hustle and finally when I got to an age to do it and the timing was right. I'm speaking to a young girl.

So every time I would meet, you know, a girl who had struggled with an eating disorder or her parents, you know, or like all of these or see people's messages online, I felt like it was my responsibility all the time 24-7 to not let them down. And it still is. I do still feel that way. But at a certain point, I'm like, my mental health is so, it's so shaky right now because I'm burning out so hard. Is it shaky right now? No, I'm fine now. We went to Antarctica for honeymoon. We got for a little bit. Yeah, we just got married. Congratulations. Thank you. Thank you. We're, that's my husband right there. His name is Brave. We're actually. His name's Brave. His name's Brave. What a great name. Brave for marrying me. Fucking great name. That is a real name. His real name is Braveriah. That's fucking. sick name. It is the sickest name. His parents are like, hippies for Jesus. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, we're actually,

we were like, do I say this on this podcast? But we have always said since we started dating and knew we were going to end up together that we were, our daughter, we'd name our daughter after Good Charlotte and name her Charlotte Good. Really? Charlotte Good Greg, yeah. Oh, that's awesome. So our home on honeymoon in Antarctica, we have this GoPro because we're like, we'll document this. Yeah. Hey, if we made you Charlotte, like little Charlotte, Charlie, Charlie Good. That is so sweet. That is so sweet. But maybe on applications it would say good Charlotte if she, but then I don't think they'd do that with the middle name, but if it was like good comma Charlotte. Her middle name would be good. Yeah, Charlie Good. What a great, what a great middle name.

I think so. We said it from day one. We're like, that'd be so sick. That's so sick. Yeah. So you really like good Charlotte. We love you guys. Oh my God. You know, it's. That is really awesome. And then we're like, what if we have a son? We don't know what the name of them. It just wouldn't be as cool. That's awesome. That makes me feel like a million bucks. Oh, man.

That's awesome. We don't want to creep you out. We actually, we saw, it's not creepy at all. Okay, good. We saw you, we actually, oh my God, I sound like a stalker right now, but we saw you in passing at a friend's wedding. And you were, it felt like you and your wife were doing the same thing that we were

kind of doing at this wedding where we were just kind of isolating in a way and just taking a breath and like having your own moment. Yeah. And we were having our moment to kind of not talk to a bunch of, like, like industry folks. Right. I think I know what you're talking about. Yeah.

Okay. And then I was like, oh, should we go out to and just be like we're going to name our kids, Charlotte good. But then we were like, then we'd be doing the thing you were avoiding that we were avoiding. No, we would have been. The time will come where I tell you we were sitting in these lights on the podcast. We likely just didn't really, we likely just didn't really know anyone there.

Yeah. A few people, but like we're pretty low-key. So we were just like, ah, let's just find a corner and paying until the ceremony. Yeah. Yeah. That was a crazy wedding. Yeah. Yeah. Well, that's really awesome.

Yeah. How long have you guys been together? Almost seven years now? Oh, that's good. Seven years? Seven years. Yeah. We've been together for 18 years in November. Oh, my God. It'll be 18 years. Congratulations. Thank you. It's huge. It's the greatest. Yeah. Relationships and marriage, if people do choose to marry each other.

The first four years, we were like, do we need to get married? And then one day we were like, you know, we should get married. We just changed, you know. And we'll be married 14 years in December. But like relationships, they have seasons. I always know if we go through a tough time, which they, we're lucky enough that we don't have a ton of them. But when we do, on the other side of it is another level of great that we, that we haven't touched yet.

And I've learned it enough through the last almost two decades that like when we're not matching syncing up. Yeah. I know on the other side of that is like a even better sink up than we've ever had. And you start to trust that you start to get momentum. Yeah. You're almost excited for like the rocky time because you know there's just like. Yeah, you're like, it'll be like we're in like a funny spot. Yeah. This is good. We're going to be way cooler coming out of this than you're a lot calmer each time. And like you're less, you know, because for me I always struggled with the idea that I think it sounds sad, but it's it's just true. I always struggled with the idea like anyone could love me forever.

Like no one's really going to like once they find out about once all the tricks. Once they know me, they're going to like so many better options out there. Totally. And so the first, you know, probably decade, God bless my wife, I was always like, oh, this is it. This is the time. She's done with me. She's not. And then you start to learn to trust love.

Yeah. And then after, you know, year eight, nine. 9, 10, it starts to really just, you get this like momentum. Yeah. And you realize she's probably thinking the same thoughts. Maybe in a way. Like when think about when you first got together. But maybe.

Well, they're just, you're so different as partners and even just a year into and then it's the evolution of like how real it gets. That's the really special thing about marriage or just a long term relationship. Like, so cool. It's pretty great. And I think it like, if you guys. Since you're in a creative kind of industry where you're your own boss, there's not much routine. And so I always find that you have to really fight to live in the gray.

Like you have to really fight to not be at an extreme high or an extreme low depending on the season. And then how do you sync up with your partner? Like we work together, you know, and we enjoy working together probably because of that in a way. We are experiencing the same business highs and lows and we know we have each other's backs. there's a safety in it. There's just like, there's an inspiration in it. We're kind of hustling the system together when we're going rogue and that's fun. And when things are high, they're really, really high.

But when things are mundane, we start to crash and we don't know what to do with our hands and we're like, you know. Yeah. We've learned to detach work success with life success. Yeah. So it is an aspect of life success for sure. Well, I'll tell you, there isn't routine until you have kids. Then you have kids, then there's routine. Yeah.

And then that's kind of nice. Yeah. Because you start to really enjoy that. And it also is nice when you're obsessed with your art, you're obsessed with your work to come home to something that is more important. Just real. Yeah. It's just more important. Yep.

Like how your kids are what they're doing and what's important to them becomes the most important thing. And then it does give you some relief from what you thought. was the most important thing. Yeah. Or what you thought would be the most fulfilling thing is like, if I could just get one more platinum record. Yeah. Or if I could just get whatever.

That just detaches. And it becomes this other thing you show up for. Yep. And you do what you have to do. But you come home and you're almost like, you don't want it to get on your kids. Yeah. You want to protect them from the like industry. We're in certainly a fun place.

Yeah. It can be a lot of fun. there can be really great things about it. But then there's also like dirty things about it. Just dark. Just dark things about it. Yeah. And you don't want any of that.

Yeah. The good, the bad, the ugly. Right. You don't want any of it to get on your kids. Totally. As long as you can help it. Yeah. I think like that's why we fear even living here because then it's on us to detach from work

every day and that's really hard. There's like a dark chase to all of it. And I think we've kind of retired it anyway at this point just because once you start chasing and nothing is ever enough, right? It's like you have one platinum, two, platinum three, whatever, the followers of this, it just isn't as important as these tiny little moments back home. Oh, yeah, like you're kids. Yeah, well, I'm hoping, I'm hoping.

We're working on it. Yeah, it'll happen. Yeah. It all happens in some time. I didn't realize it was going to be work. Yeah. Yeah, it's worth it though. Yeah.

We wanted kids forever, so we're just like, we said right after we got married, we started trying. That's the other thing, though, is like, for me, I didn't, social media is a huge part of my life too. I never thought in a million years as a songwriter or singer that it would kind of be half where it's like a different world of new media. It's half influencer, half writer. And I wouldn't call myself an influencer.

I'm just kind of sitting there making the content, having fun with it. But then when you have kids, you're like, crap. I wouldn't call you an influencer. I call you a creator. Thank you. You could call it influencer. There's a lot of names. I like that better.

A influencer to me sounds very linear to like just social engagement. And I think that that's one aspect of what you do. If you look at social, if you look at TikTok, if you look at Instagram, YouTube, all that, they're just platform-based TV. It's cable TV for the now. Yeah. But it's democratized so anyone can be their own. channel and people are going to you know you see it evolving where people have gotten really good at

making content and they're they have like it's essentially it's like a tv show that people are tuning into every day in small bites you know totally so by the way it's half of everyone's life that's in any kind of entertainment marketing business so it's just marketing well it's just my fear is I don't these kids are kind of growing up like born into this age of technology I didn't have when I was born. So it's like to keep your kid, you don't even realize how smart babies are, right? And babies are smart.

They're smart. It's a, they're developmental phases from the very beginning or at rapid speed, right? Yeah. So if their brains are just picking up on technology, I mean, it's so crazy. My godson just knows how to use,

he calls us on an iPad. He's like a tiny kid. And he knows how to use these things. I would, it would be like a magic box to us, right? Yeah. And to keep my kids off. of social media, there's such a dark internet space when it comes to kids, you know. I'm so afraid

of making the wrong moves since we're always right now. So like, hey, documenting our life. Oh, hey, here we are doing this now. Oh, hey, this is just another Tuesday, 10 a.m. 11 a.m. 12. Now it's like, okay, how do we make sure that the kids aren't, it's not just naturally ingrained in their brain. That's probably our biggest fear when we have kids is how to make sure we manage keeping them away and letting them go out and touch grass and just making sure they breathe air. Yeah, we all have the same worry. Okay, good. From my experience, you can keep them off until they're about 13.

That's impressive. If you're lucky. Yeah. 12, 13. Yeah. Maybe 11. Yeah. But if you can do that, it's a success.

Yeah. I think ours were off of all the things until about 12, 13. Good job. That's great. And then you can't stop it. Yeah. They're in middle school. Right.

Well, they probably have, it's probably really cool for you to experience as a dad with what you were just saying earlier that you felt kind of sheltered to a certain age. And now that, you know, you have kids, they probably get to see the coolest shit and just are probably many adults. They're definitely like equity holders in the situation. You know what I mean? I love that. They're just crypto bros. Yeah. They're definitely like, well, they're.

They're owners of the company. Cool. So they're like, little CEOs. Their opinion matters. And then we'll talk about it. Like, I remember when my daughter wanted to YouTube. And she was like seven.

And I said, no. I said, you'll thank me later. Yeah. When you're a teenager, we'll have this conversation again. And it like happened. She thanked you? Remember when you wouldn't let me be a YouTuber? Yeah.

When I was seven, and I was like, yeah. And she was like, I'm glad you didn't. Yeah. Thank you so much for, giving me mental health. God bless. You know, these little kids who are YouTubers,

they're cute. They're so cute. But damn. Just unboxing things. Then they're 16 and they're like, stop looking at my old videos. Yeah. And you're like, so, you know.

Yeah. And there's so many creeps out there too. But that's what my, our message with our kids was like, like we never stopped them from pretty much from watching or listening to most things. Yeah. Because we are like in the arts. Right.

So it's all just art to us. But we did say like social media, it's not about you. It's about all the people that you don't know. Right. That are like, that are going to interact with you. Yeah. And you're honest and they're not. A lot of them.

And they know it. Like your innocence is so. Yeah. It's so obvious when you're a kid on the internet. Yeah, but building a family is a very worthwhile endeavor. Yeah. I'd say stay stay on the path. I don't think you guys will regret it.

Yeah, I saw that Pierre was on the show. Yeah. I love him so much. He's awesome. Oh my gosh. What a nice guy. We've had a crazy relationship with him and LaSelle in the last few years because it was really started on a pet.

I did a parody of a simple plan song on TikTok and then we just started talking to DMs. But they had us over for a couple days to hang out. Oh, in Ohio? Yeah, no idea to write and just chill and have dinner. And that was just our first moment where our panic about being industry parents just went out the door and we just were so excited to just watch those kids. Yeah, you were like, oh, they're chill. Dude. Like Lenin, she's just, they were like little adults, they're still kids, you know, they still just are green and excited about everything.

But their environment was just so inspiring. They were learning theater and math and horseback riding. And there was peace and quiet and there are animals around. And it's just it doesn't have to be all dark Hollywood city industry feeling all the time. You know, it is manageable. So. Yeah, I think that's too. Like building your parenting strategy. Yeah.

Comes through like taking pages from other parents that you like. Yeah. That you like their style. You like their vibe, how they're doing it. You take pages from places. But no one's going to be exactly the same. you're going to have your own way. You cannot be beholden to someone else's idea.

Yeah. You have to find your own. Totally. And take pages from other people's books, but like if you share everything, some parents share a lot. I'm jealous of that. Yeah, it's a lot. But some don't.

Yeah. It's just different for everyone. So we don't judge any, like as a couple, we don't judge any other parents style. Right. Because it's sacred ground. Yeah. However you do it, you do it. The best parents are the ones who are parents.

Yeah. Hey. Right? Right. Just be there. Hardest job ever. And I always tell like new parents, the first two years you really do spend almost like you're the first parents that have ever existed.

And you're like, this is the system we're doing. And you're like, this is how we're going to do it. And I always say like that we did that too. We were like, this is what. But then you realize like you're not the first parents that ever existed. babies have been being born for thousands of years. Yeah. And they're going to likely be all right, especially if you're there.

Yeah. And you'll figure it out as you go. You're going to screw up, but it's okay. Yeah. And is it like, is it even a screw up or is it like, you know what I mean? It's like you just like figure it out as you go. Yeah. But the number one thing you can do that you'll never regret is be there.

Yeah. And just like be connected to your kids. Totally. No one's perfect. I mean, I always tell my kids, like, I'm sure there's some shit you're going to have to go and, like, work out with someone other than me. Yeah. You have to go to therapy or something. Yeah.

And I'm all for it. Yeah. The fact that you are all for it is, I mean, pretty progressive, too. Like, there is, you'd be surprised how many parents are, like, they fear therapy so hard. I'm like. No, I, yeah, I'm like, listen, you are going to, at some point, hopefully go work out all the kinks. Yeah. Because I don't know if I got it right.

I just did my best. Yeah. I want you to make up your own mind on certain things. Yeah. And maybe that's good. Maybe that's bad. I don't know. Some parents would listen and go, you know, that's to this and some parents might agree with it.

Yeah. What can I say? No, look. I've gone to therapy myself and I've gone with my parents. And I would argue that we had a, I mean, they did their very best, like New York City firefighter, New York City teacher. Wow. They, yeah.

Like, and they took what they had and from different things. families situations and we had a great upbringing. I don't even think we'd ever know how poor we were at certain points in life. They made ways to like just and you're close with your parents. Super close. And still I and still, I mean, that's where so much of my inspiration and my music comes from at least right now because I'm really happy in my actual relationship and I find it harder to write songs when I'm happy in my relationship. But I find it easier to write from places of fear and pain and kind of the more emo stuff. And, you know, my relationship growing with my parents.

I've experienced so many new chapters in the last few years. I'm hitting that age where I'm starting to watch them get older and a little slower. You kind of see like, oh, they're like just like me. Just the adult babies figuring it out. And same with his parents. And I think we're both really lucky that we were close with both of our parents. And they kind of like fill weird gaps in both like the things that my parents didn't have his did and vice versa.

Yeah, in-laws do that. Yeah. It just filled the puzzle pieces in a cool way, and then it's just exciting to think that our kids will probably feel the same about us, you know? Yeah. And whoever they end up with, it's such a weird, cute little evolution. Why do you feel like your music, why you struggle to write from any other place, but like an emo place? I feel like I'm a little redundant when I'm writing about super happy moments. I feel like I'm recycling ideas.

I don't know what it is. I just find that I have a lot more to write when it. it's coming from places of pain. Maybe because when I'm happy, I'm just pretty vocal about it and I get it all out of my system. And when I'm scared of something, like I'm always super scared

that my dad is going to get sick. You know, he's the kind of guy that was just the ultimate hero that I put on a pet of side. Yeah, I mean, but teddy bear. Right. And he was a first responder during 9-11. Oh, wow.

All of his friends, like, even years later, were dropping like flies and getting lung cancer and all this. all that stuff. Yeah. And even my dad was the kind of guy that just an acquaintance of ours who are now close friends just was like, yeah, I'm looking for a kidney. I'm really down on the bottom of the list because I'm older. My dad was like, oh, just take mine. Just gave a kidney to a friend,

you know? He's one of those guys. But now I'm like, dad, now you only have one kidney. I'm like, what happens if your other kidney gets fucked up? But anyway, it's just not something I talk about with him because he is the like man. And when you say, hey, dad, you know, like a, you're kind of, that was a sliffing thing to say. Like, he's like, oh, I'm fine, I'm fine. Yeah, yeah. I'm good. Yeah. So I'm like, okay, it's, you know, he doesn't really want to talk about this. No parent does. His either. When people get older, it's just, but I, that's what too young to be old came from was a place of just bottling it up and then panicking because, you know, we had gotten the fight that week and you start to have all those crazy thoughts of like, what if

something happened and we, and we ended on a fight, you know, or I'm waiting for that. call one day to be like, dad, oh yeah, he had, dad had a heart attack or this or that. I'm like, so I just poured it all out. And it was incredibly difficult to write, but not because I couldn't find the word, just because it was painful, you know? Same with even a song. That's really sweet, though. I mean, it's really nice. I'm such a daddy's girl. I could only hope that you had that relationship with your kid. Oh, my gosh. As scary as it is to love someone so much that you worry you'll lose them. Right. It's scary, but that's life. Like we're all scared of that losing the people we love.

I still kind of feel like a weird, weirdly indestructible in it in a sense that like I haven't fully accepted that, you know, your parents are just humans and that, you know, they get old. Yeah, it's hard. It's hard losing a parent even if you're not that close. Yeah. There's a lot of sadness around it either way. They're just a piece of you.

Yeah. What I found, you know, is if you can make the most of the time. time you have with them, however, whatever that means for everyone, because everyone has a different relationship. But if there's any reparations or resolutions you need to make, you should try if it's possible. Now, some people, it's not possible. Maybe they just can't find closure in it. Yeah, or maybe their parent was awful. Maybe they were an abuser. Maybe they, you know, so I can't say that everyone has that opportunity. But you're right. It does still feel. But you will feel pain when you lose them because even if it's just for the loss that you never had, like even for the people who

are estranged from their parent their whole life. Yeah. They're still going to feel the pain of the loss of what that actually meant to their life. Like that's why therapy's great because let's say you're a person who never knew your father ever, never had a relationship. Maybe you were adopted by another family. Who knows? When that person passes away, you are going to come to terms with the that you suffered never having that. I'ma and I'm gonna'amena. And,

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do you need more your business will a super-exititon Shopify. for a euro a month in Shopify.es bar records. Yeah. Because I do think that there's a natural like want and need.

On the other token, if you did find a caretaker or a parent if someone adopted you, I think there's a beautiful love there that fills that for sure. But you have to work through your own loss if you suffered that kind of loss where you just never had it.

or if you're close to someone, you lose them. It's a, maybe it's an even greater loss. I don't know. It's all loss. It's all loss is really complex. Like it is just like depends on exactly any resolution that you're, it's a lot of it. And you notice that like even funerals and weddings are not even necessarily for. But you feel.

You do feel it. Because it's the truth of life that we all try to escape all the time. Like we want, we have these kind of fantasies that will, that, if we could just get this. Yeah. Or we could, if I hit the lottery. Right. Or if I get a platinum record and I get famous or whatever.

Yeah. That will escape life. Mm-hmm. And life is a guaranteed suffering. You're guaranteed to suffer. Yeah. You're guaranteed to lose someone that you love. Yeah.

It's a guarantee. Well, not me. And then, you know, so like I think about that all the time because there is some value. Yeah. To accepting that. Right. And like bringing it with you into life. It's not to say dwell on it, like around the idea of death.

That's not what I'm saying. But like the idea that life is partly it is suffering. Yeah. The other part of it is joy. Yeah. Bonding with your kid and having a relationship with this little person. Yeah. And being in love and getting married and building a family.

Right. There's these things in life you can do if you allow yourself to go to the depths of the pain and suffering. Of the loss. Yeah. You can go to the heights. there are people who exist in the middle that don't want to feel the pain. Yeah. And they also don't want to feel the heights.

And like that's where I think some people get stuck in this like existence of not feeling much, except for maybe like a sadness or a very like palatable sadness. It's like I'm always a little depressed. Yeah. And I think actually like my 20s I spent somewhere in there where I was like, I was like, oh, if I could just get all the success I ever wanted with music, everything will be good. Then I realized, like, nah, you still don't get away from suffering. Being a human being.

And the pain of the suffering of life, the pain of life. But if you can actually dive into all the pain you ever suffered as a kid from all the, you know, broken family or whatever you went through, if you can deal with that, you can actually come back to your real life right now and see it for what it is, which. most of the time, it's pretty good. Yeah. And that's a good life. If life is pretty good most of the time, and you're like, you know what? It's nice.

Yeah. Nice. I had coffee with my wife this morning. That was really nice. You can actually enjoy those moments a whole lot more. Like it's a richer experience if you allow yourself to feel the depths and the extremes and the highs. So I don't know. I don't know how we got on this, but I don't know either.

But it's really creepy actually in a way that it's like, you don't understand. On the ride here. I almost verbatim had this conversation with my mother-in-law. That's a nice conversation with a mother-in-law. It's pretty crazy, though, because, like, I was having, I'm going through something, and I was like, you know, Brian, I'm... You love your mother-in-law? I love mine, too.

We're lucky. We're lucky. She's amazing. She's amazing. She is just such a, the epitome of a strong woman to me. That's how I feel about my mother-in-law. It's so badass. We talk all the time. Yeah, me too. She loves me to death, and I can feel it.

I love it. And everyone needs that. Yeah. It's true. And that's what's kind of like where we fill the holes are filled in different ways. Like, you know, even for him, my mom serves as a different type of where we call them mom, you know? Yeah. Well, I think they can express themselves differently when someone's not their biological kid.

There's a whole suitcase we got to kind of unpack with our biological parents over time. Yeah. But with our in-laws, it's an opportunity to have a parental relationship with someone who's not hung up on any. It's a clean slate. You know, you didn't hurt them. They didn't hurt you. That's so true. And it actually helps the other relationship.

Totally. I think. It's absolutely, you're absolutely correct. Like, we've grown so much just because of our relationships with our in-laws. But yeah, it's just so crazy,

bizarre. She's literally said the same thing as you. It was just, and we just kind of came to terms with the idea that, you know, you never really know when you're kind of in a really vulnerable place and a dark place and you're just kind of praying for like, yeah.

Give me something. Like, you don't really know what the plan is, right? Yeah, we've all been there. But I do know one thing that's been so clear to me, especially the last three or four months of my life and a weird phase. I do know that I'm grateful to not be apathetic. Yeah. Because that place, like you said, it can be really dangerous.

Dangerous, yeah. It's dangerous to just dodge pain. And I mean, and it's dangerous because when those good moments do really come, you're not feeling them. And it's, that's why it's so cool to have kids, because your priorities just totally shift underneath your feet, right? But you have to dig in to the painful stuff and everybody's different. Yeah.

For a very long time, I didn't take care of myself. I wasn't working out. I wasn't being healthy. Yeah. For whatever reason. But I wasn't loving myself. Right. That's what it comes down to.

And it was like painful to start. I don't know why. It was fucking painful. Maybe people would look at me and go, that's not how we, like, maybe they wouldn't assume that. But like for me, it was like mentally, like I really struggled to like love myself every day, encourage myself every day. The last 10 years, I've just been attacking every area of my life through therapy and through

my own like growth, like attacking the places that I've historically just rejected and not wanted to look at. Like I don't want to look at that mess. Yeah. That's like the messy room. I close the door. No, look at it. You know?

No, but it's like a room in your house that's piled full of junk. and you close the door so no one sees it. It's still there though. But it's there. You know it's behind that to work. And you're like, no, I need to go in every day. I need to chip away. Yep.

I need to work on it. Totally. And it's funny. You know, with my dad, I was estranged with him for so long. Oh, yeah. Since I was young. And my father-in-law was one of the people who was like, you need to make that right. Wow.

And I was like, what do you mean? You don't understand. And he's like, no, I understand. Trust me, when you're my age, you'll understand too. you'll get it. You need to understand like that he isn't going to be here forever. Right. You need to go and make that right.

Totally. And you need to figure that out. Yeah. And I did. And it was an amazing experience. And I had a really nice like 10 years of like a friendship. Wow. But it was funny because it was my in-law that was like being a father.

Yeah. He was like seeing from a higher view than me. Right. And he was further down the road. And he was like, this is what I know. Totally. He shared his experience. I lost, when he lost his dad.

and he was, you know what I mean? He had these regrets. He had wisdom. Yeah. And it's funny how in-laws can do that. Yeah. It's funny how they, they've, you know, like you said earlier, that they're just all adult babies too.

Yeah, adult babies. Yeah. And they're just like, you know, you realize, you look at your parents your whole life, you're like, they're so wise, you know, they just know everything. No, they're just kids. They're still figuring it out because I'm like, oh my gosh, I knew my parents around the age we were now. You know, I'm like, what?

Yeah, it's wild. Me? I'm like such an idiot, you know. I'm like, I'm about to be 30 and I'm like, I remember looking at somebody who was like 30 of growing up and I was like, they're just, I'm 45. You don't look a day over 30. That's not true. I wear 45, all right. But I'm definitely 45. That's, you look fantastic. I'm glad that you got your, you're dedicating like this era though to just being better. feel like you can see it. Yeah. Like, whatever that means. It means something different for everyone. Everybody has their own version of well-being. They have their own version of some kind of like addiction. Yeah. They have their own version of like the worst. Like what's the what is rock bottom?

What's like the wretched part of you? Yeah. Or that you feel is and you don't want anyone to know or see. Like I've like been digging in on trying to like come to terms with all of it. I don't even know why. It's a lot of pressure. Maybe it's like parent. Maybe it's like watching my kids grow up. Maybe it's like being in a secure relationship for long enough where I felt safe. Yeah. And then I was like maybe, you know, and then it kind of flipped my whole idea on its head.

Yeah. Of like what life. You know, I always joke with my friend. This was not supposed to be the version of my life when I was 45. Like I never thought I'd have that like solid, safe. Just stable. And I buck against it sometimes. Every now and then, you know, you wig out.

Yeah, you just start to self-destruct. I do, I do too. I do, too. I'm like, what happened here? This is too good to be true. Nicole's very, like, calm and supportive. And, like, in those moments especially, she doesn't freak out. She's like, you're dealing with something.

You need to, like. Yeah, she's a rock. You look at it, go talk to someone. She's cool like that. I mean, that's what you were talking about earlier. There was never a moment where she was going to, there was going to be a, this is going to wear off. Like, she's in it for the long haul. So you might as well.

It's amazing when you have that. Yeah, I do. He's over there. Brave. Yeah, you would. What a great name. I know. I'm still tripping on his name.

He's got so much soul despite the red hair. Yeah. The red hair suits it, though. I really hope we got little ginger babies coming. Yeah. Red hair is cool. You imagine a little Charlie Good? Every time we're through an airport and we see a little girl with red hair.

We're like, oh, look, that's a little Charlotte Good. That's really sweet. I think that's what's going to look like. What do you feel like the ultimate success for you would be with music? Oh my gosh. What's your dream? We also just had this camera. It's already done.

Like I really genuinely feel that I have like parent issues with that where, you know, my parents always wanted to, that they were hyper, hyper supportive, you know? There was always like a fine line between stage parent and not, but they really never, they didn't cross it. Are you a only child? No, I have a brother. He's a Marine. Oh, wow.

Just, yeah, he's a badass. Six. three, six, four. Like his dad. Literally. Just serving. Yeah. I just have a very impressive group of men.

Amazing. Around me and they're girls, girls. You know, they're like girl dad. And even for that, you know, I have this insecurity that I'm going to let my parents down. If I don't keep, you know, pushing as, you know, I got this. Everything feels lucky when you get a break in music. So like when it happened with TikTok, people have no idea that, you know, I feel like I feel like I'm going to pass over. where I've lived nine lives of trying to grind, you know, and write songs and just

at least make a living doing it. Then all of a sudden, I don't believe in luck. I know it's probably like, it is a matter to do with hard work. The luckier you get. But it's hard not to feel that way when you go so long. I was so broke when I came out of here. I cut all the bills really early because I started to get super insecure. I had gone through bands, reality shows, just trying to do.

I did American Idol, which was crazy. It was, and I was. you know, crazy weird relationships I was probably too young for, you know, all the darkness and then I got what shifted was I got really sick and I got thyroid cancer which is right by my vocal

chord so that they I had a close friend who had that. It's by the way, it's the best, I look at it like it's the best cancer. You could have just like a huge survival rate. I understand you saying that especially going through it. We have to kind of keep saying that. But it's cancer.

Yeah, it was cancer. And so it's scary as hell. And that's when things kind of shifted for me where it's like different type of responsibility. I'm like, if I don't figure this out now and I'm kind of on the nipple forever, I'm going to start to get depressed and insecure that I can't live on my own. So when we came out here,

the grime was so real, it got really, really dark. And I got really, really broke. And when I got that gold mine of like, woke up with, I literally posted a stupid video, woke up and it was millions of people. And all of a sudden,

and it was like everything you ever prayed for, right? And then it just kind of started growing and growing. And I was having a blast with it. Which video was that? It was Stacy's mom from Stacy's mom's point of view. Oh, wow. Like a goofy parody. And I was doing it as my Long Island, like Jewish mother.

And it was fun because I also realized something I had learned growing up was there's a lot of power and consistency. So when I did that, I was like, I can do that more. There's a lot of fun perspectives and songs from different people. in the songs you wouldn't imagine, that it was creative and it was fun. We were having a good time doing it. And then started posting originals and got even luckier that, you know, people cared about more than just the parodies and transitioning and learning TikTok and new media and how that

growth works and how to not lose them, but like also keep it authentic. When we started going out and doing shows and I realized, like, people were showing up to these shows and paying money to come to see it. And it wasn't as much of a, you know, begging outside of a Justin. Bieber concert passing out your postcards and stuff like that and your and your merch to try to get people to listen to your music. And it was, it really was there and it all, and then it felt so full and it still feels so full. So now like everything, now I want kids. I want to keep doing music, but I'm at that point where, you know, when we started doing arenas and I had no contacts in,

and I'm kind of just seeing a sea of light, it started to feel a little, I started to get to that apathetic place, you know? And it was those moments backstage talking to the kids, meeting the kids, like, looking out in front of me and seeing that somebody was singing words back and I had done something for them out of thin air and that's all I could do is just write songs from what I feel and what I know and hope that it helps somebody else. I feel like I got, I've struggled every day. Like, and I am, if I retired today, it would be like I got way more than I could have imagined. So at this point, I'm just, I just don't want to screw up being a mother. I want to focus really, I want to dial it on raising a good family and still being able to put food on the table,

like, and work. But I swear, I know it sounds a little cheesy, but I really, really, no, I actually think it, and maybe this is just like 15 years on you. Mommy, please. So I think that we have to build lives we want to actually live in. So that's always got to be the math. master plan. Yeah. Right. Like that's as we draw the house up before we build it, like we have to build the one we want to live in. Right. And so every detail matters. Totally. If you, so it's worth taking the time. Yeah. I don't believe in luck. I believe in opportunities we meet on the road because we were going forward and we were showing up and we were trying our best. Yeah. And we tried our best with the 50 other

opportunities. But the one that materialized to something that we could actually feel, I do believe in like serendipity. Yeah. But we have to be there for it. We have to show up for it and have our eyes open. Well, yeah. So we can't be afraid. But talent is real.

Yeah. So if someone's like, I'm working and I'm doing everything. But if I was being like a scientist about it and I listen to their music and I'd say, yeah, something's not. Something's off. Yeah. You might have a talent for something here, but you may not have the talent you think you have for this.

Yeah. So we have to listen to the yeses. And like a, person, I'll never forget it. This guy, a friend of mine, he's an author. His name's Jedediah Jenkins. What a name. He said, love the things that love you back.

And it stuck with me because it's another way of saying like the yeses are a real thing. Yeah. The confirmation that you're talented and that something is working, if you have a brand, if you're a chef, you will get yeses, right? You'll get some nos, but you'll get enough yeses that keep you going. Right. And then the yeses should happen more, not less. That's a meter to look at.

Yeah, it's a huge. When something's working and when it's not. If it's not working, you have to actually be a little bit more pragmatic and go back to the play, to the huddle and go like, none of this is working. Where was I getting my yes? So which play did we run that worked? Let's run that one again and let's try this one. Yeah.

And then start stacking in the plays, which is what you did naturally or like that video worked, they'll do another one. Yeah. Yeah. definitely what's the next like big mission for you like what's the next like thing that you're super focused on the album uh the album yeah i it's just like so it's so new so i'm really excited enjoying it i'm enjoying it and everybody i love the song about your dad thank you thank you i'm like so does everyone else apparently because it's got a lot of streams it is really mind-blowing to me

because it's one of those things again where they were it was a very very personal yeah it's great and it was almost not put out because of how personal it was. I was like, I didn't want to make my dad feel weird. Because it's really a metaphor for all the, like, older relationships in your life where you're watching people get older. And thank you. I appreciate that. Even I choose violence, you know, was an important one to me because it's about something I felt uncomfortable writing about.

And I challenged myself to write about it and just an inappropriate relationship I was in. And it took me many, many years, like a decade to actually get it on paper and be able to sing it. and there's those just a lot of goofiness in the album it's a lot of dad jokes and tongue and cheek things that I enjoy writing yeah but like what you just said there's there's goofiness but there's also like I can feel it in those songs there's also like some depth up to like shit that I can tell you really like you're working it out it's I mean my therapist is a big part of that too but it's amazing it was homework for me I was like I'm you know I'm I mean so hard on humor and in life just when someone's traumatic

you know any like thyroid cancer jokes we told to just get through that year you know my brother was like I told you the music business was cut throat like the second I came out of that surgery but no way I've said this time around I wanted to combine the even there's an interlude for every song which was a weird

decision but I really wanted that to happen just to kind of sprinkle in the journey that everyone had gone on with me from short form content on TikTok and little snippets of crap that is part of who I am. It's not just a side thing. It is who I am. And when I retired that idea that I needed to be cool and mysterious, and I just started embracing those cringy things that made me me. Maybe you think they're cringy. And it's likely why people come up to you, right?

There's a, there's a likeable, fun. Like, it's nice when someone makes you feel like it's okay to, like be yourself. Yeah. And it wasn't ever people that weren't really, honestly, it was just industry. It wasn't like I was fans growing up of my music, the small fan base. It wasn't like they were like, yo, you got to be cooler. It was always like how you felt looking at. Going into a record label's office and just like trying to play your stuff and they're just not looking at. I'm like, oh no. And their advice is like, yeah, it's just too written. I'm thinking, what the fuck does that mean? It's a joke. I just can't even. figure it out because I love to write.

It's a joke. The label guy sitting in the office he doesn't pay for? No. I always tell kids that, remember this. That big office with all those records. That guy didn't pay for any of that. Yeah. He's spending someone else's money.

And someone else's system. And maybe he has some talent. I'm not taking away. Yeah. Whatever he contributed to whoever's career. But you've got these impressionable kids who just come into the business and you're going to sit in your office and you're going to tell them what record, what song should put on their record.

Yeah. Now as an adult, I see these guys. Some of them are good. I'm friends with a bunch of guys that work at labels that are very good. And a lot of them have risen to become the heads of labels and they deserve to run that company because they're good at what they do. Yeah. Those guys actually understand artists and music.

But then there's also guys who I think if you're an artist and someone's telling you what art you should put on the body of work that you just made, you should look at the fucking shoes they're wearing. And if you would let them pick your shoes, maybe you'll take a comment on what else you, you know, how you should dress and how you should look and how the video should look. But if that guy isn't cooler than me, or I don't want to be like him, I don't think he's, and you got to take money and put it out. Yeah. Take fame and put it out. And you got to remember that the kid who started the band in the garage was the coolest version. And the kid who said, I think I can do that when there was no other evidence that they could, except for how they felt.

Yeah, that was supernatural. That was the bad motherfucker. Totally. The kid who got dressed up by the stylist and progressively got cooler and how they looked because they can afford expensive brands, whatever, whatever. Yeah. Not hating on it. It's just not the coolest version of that person. But that's not the coolest version of me. Yeah. I'm telling you, the version of me today is not the coolest one. I'm 45. I think I have good taste, but that's how I feel. Someone can disagree with me. The coolest version of me didn't know shit about brands, didn't know shit about platinum records, didn't know shit about money, didn't know shit about real estate. Just stoked to hear music. Just wanted to be in a band

and wanted to make something that I thought was special. And then I thought people would like. And I wanted them to like it. Yeah. The less cool of me version said, I don't fuck care if you like it. The cool version of me was like, man, I hope you like this. I say all that to say, we have to always like in life, even someone listening to this that doesn't do music if they're doing like whatever their dream is, you got to remember that that, like, child version of you actually is the most important and you got to protect them and try to bring them along and like... Take care of them. Like, but let them... Don't be mean to them.

Yeah, don't be mean to them. That's what I'm saying. Don't be mean to the young version. Absolutely. You're so right. Because I spent a long time being mean to my... Me too. I still am. I still am and I still got to like put myself in check, you know? And it's, it comes out all the time, probably a couple times a day, right? Yeah. especially when you're putting yourself out there and taking risks, right? And then you feel that stupid when they don't hit the way you thought. You know, I had somebody tell me one of my most successful songs right now that somebody

really looks up to that he wouldn't share it with his friends on Facebook, you know? And I was like, first of all, like, still sharing stuff on Facebook? Because I was like, that's not exactly my, like, demographic. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was like, I kind of had this green light moment of like, I mean, I think that's a good thing that he doesn't like it because that means, that, you know, my demographic's probably gonna like it, you know. I hope that he wouldn't share it to his friends on Facebook, you know? And then also it ended up, I ended up kind of just sticking with that.

I mean, like, you know what? I might look like, I might have some bag on my face and just look stupid, but I'm just going to not take the advice this time around and I'm not going to change the lyrics. I'm just going to put out what felt right, because I felt this, you know that feeling when you're in studio and you write the song. Feels special. It's, I swear it's out of body. Like, it's not even something you could ever put into Who cares how it does? Who cares? I just want to share it. And I would rather put out that body of work and that piece of work that made me feel goosebumps and that had that Godlike feeling of somebody.

It didn't even come from me. It came from another place, right? It was so natural. And I put it out and it's like the amount of lives it's touched like a song about my dad again, like prior to this one called Like My Father. Oh, that's like one of my favorite songs of yours. Thank you. Oh man. You make me cry right now because you don't even know how cool you are me. When you hear it, it makes you think about how you're doing, like, about as a dad. Like, if you're a dad and you hear that song, you like, it's a really great song. It makes me go, I hope I'm doing that. And you, like, think about it.

I think if you're thinking about it, you probably are. You know, you can only hope. You definitely are. Like, I, yeah. Even my dad said, actually, that's funny. That was his kind of response. And he went, he cried and he heard it. And then he goes, I just want to talk to you about this because, I mean, I

I just realized that you saw those things. I never realized that you were paying attention like that. And that, like, you caught those moments in our relationship of the stupid little things, you know, that kept romance alive through hard times, you know. And we noticed, and it's a, it's now I have high standards. It's really sweet. You could only hope that your daughter feels that way. You could only hope.

Well, I've loved having you. You don't even realize for me, as we're talking about existentially, other fans. and I'm such a fan and like my husband's such a fan. Oh, thank you. That means a lot. This means a lot hearing your take. It's great. I mean, this is awesome.

This is one of the coolest days ever. That's awesome. Well, you should absolutely feel really great and accomplished of what you've done. And it's nice to meet you. You too. Thanks for coming. And one day we'll show the only thing that will matter would be Charlotte Good. And we'll see this podcast and be like, what?

That ass name. It's crazy. It is a badass name. It's sick. Little Charlie, you don't even know. You don't even know how cool this is. And it's on record. It's on record. She can listen to it.

You guys are going to be cool parents. Thanks, thanks. Hopefully. God's speak. Thank you. Thank you. I hope you enjoyed today's episode of artist friendly. If you really liked it, you can follow, like, subscribe to the show,

anywhere you listen to podcasts, Spotify, Apple, Amazon. We appreciate your support. And we'll see you next time. At times I don't