After a making a name for himself with outwardly political music, grandson is looking inward with his sophomore album, I Love You, I'm Trying.
While it certainly isn't an apolitical work — you can take grandson out of politics but you can't take politics out of grandson — it shifts the "Blood//Water" rocker's focus from external forces to internal ones.
"It feels more rewarding to be as honest and vulnerable as I can with [listeners] than it would be to continue to let these kind of vague, antagonistic songs take shape," grandson tells ABC Audio.
After a run of shorter, punchier songs, I Love You, I'm Trying starts to open up later in the record, particularly with the song "Murderer," which grandson describes as a "fantasy" he had at a "really low anxiety point" and reflects an "exaggerated expression" of a true feeling. One of the lyrics goes, "Yungblud and MGK they better give me a feature/ Or they'll be coming with me to the reaper."
"I have felt this sense of, 'If he has something, why can't I have it?'" grandson shares. "Those are embarrassing topics to admit out loud ... I was just trying to dig deep, and I wanted to feel that unease playing people the album, I wanted to paint myself in as honest a light as I could, warts and all."
grandson feels that the album "crests" with "Murderer."
"That's when I kinda realized I needed help and that I needed to change my attitude and work on this acceptance through talk therapy and through leaning on these relationships in my life," he says. "It's ultimately an album about acceptance, I think."
I Love You, I'm Trying is out now. grandson will launch a U.S. tour May 12 in San Diego.
If you are in crisis or know someone in crisis, contact the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by dialing 988, by calling 1-800-273-TALK (8255), or by visiting 988lifeline.org. You can also contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741.