UNDERSTANDING THE CREATIVE PROCESS — JACOB LEE UNCOVERS LAYERS OF HIS ARTISTRY (2017)
Since Jacob Lee released “Demons” a few months ago, we have been waiting, a bit impatiently, for his next step. After all, you can’t just release a song like that and expect us to not want more, right? Yesterday he finally opened up the flood gates and let the lyrics flow in a video to his new single “Oceans”. It describes the singer’s tumultuous creative process full of self-doubt, questions and frustration. Phonically, vocally and lyrically he tells a story of venturing far into the ocean of mixed feelings and internal conflicts. I am happy to announce that there are even more layers to uncover in “Oceans” than in any of Jacob’s previous releases.
Layer number one: writer’s block. When the words are trapped below (…) I wonder if my airway is clogged with all the quotes that I wrote. In the lyric video for the single, Jacob goes to the beach and digs up an old journal filled with his poetry. That’s just one of the ways the story goes: you create something, it brings you pain so you toss it aside, time passes and you’re drawn back to what you once created only to find out you are not that person anymore. What once served as a source of inspiration is now gone because it was too painful to live with. And what are you supposed to do now…? Dig up your old heartache to be able to compose music again?
Layer number two: rejection. You refuse to suffer. What’s the point anyway? So far, you’ve only coughed up water but it’s not like the world has ever appreciated artists for how much they hurt for their craft. I’d change the world’s opinion if they would just listen up but they won’t. All that anxiety is just not worth it. I don’t want love no more, though it’s the one thing I’ve been searching for, though it’s the one think that I miss the most… Yet how are you supposed to go on without a purpose? Have you forgotten you promised to love your craft enough not to turn away?
Layer number three: redefining yourself. I feel worthless, maybe I should open the drawer, burn the pages, write poems with the ash on the floor. You make a final decision to fight once more — against all odds and your own self. You gather up all your courage to look in the mirror and metamorphose into a winner of this battle. Maybe I will find myself tonight, I ask for a better mind, then tap into the site with my third eye, I had never realized, I thought I had chosen my design, I thought I was broken all this time. For all that, you were not. It was just a moment of weakness.
“Oceans” is a beautiful result of a passionate attitude towards art. Almost speechless, we are left wanting more again but there’s still a whole album in the making that has been promised to us. The release date: ASAP please!
