Category: News

Kehlani’s latest single “Folded” has proven to be one of those fan-favorite viral hits that folks just can’t seem to get enough of, even after the singer released the “(Un)folded Remix.” Singers both professional and amateur keep covering it on social media, and fans have clamored for some of these covers and remixes to be released as an official collection.

As it turns out, Kehlani is nothing if not magnanimous; the Bay Area singer has announced the features for their upcoming “Homage Pack” of “Folded” remixes, including features from fellow R&B mainstays Brandy, JoJo, Mario, Ne-Yo, Tank, and Toni Braxton. Here’s the flyer Kehlani shared:

“Folded” has been part of an ongoing R&B resurgence that has seen stars of the genre taking over increasingly bigger venues and share of airplay, just a few years after some in the industry lamented the genre’s untimely demise. Kehlani, meanwhile, hasn’t gone anywhere, landing at least one “Folded”-style hit from each of their previous albums; her last album, Crash, spawned TikTok favorite “After Hours.”

Kehlani also maintained the spotlight as an in-demand features artist; most recently, she teamed up with Cardi B on the Bronx rapper’s Am I The Drama? standout, “Safe.”

The Folded Homage Pack is out 10/24 via Atlantic.

In case you missed it, Vampire Weekend have their own vinyl club, called Frog On The Bass Drum. Previously, the first volume, Live In Minneapolis, included a ten-minute cover of Bob Dylan’s “Jokerman,” and the second volume, Una Notte A Milano, had a double version of “Bambina.” Now, a third volume is on the way, Weekend At The Garden.

The 2LP release was recorded during the band’s two performances at NYC’s Madison Square Garden in October 2024. The first disc contains songs recorded during the Saturday show, while the second is sourced from the Sunday concert.

The release is pressed by Third Man Records and will be limited to 3,000 copies. Frog On The Bass Drum subscribers also get a limited-edition pennant flag and a new issue of “The Quarterly Report,” which is written by the band.

Check out the art and tracklist below.

Vampire Weekend’s Weekend At The Garden Album Cover Artwork

Vampire Weekend’s Weekend At The Garden Tracklist

LP1
1. “Ice Cream Piano”
2. “Sympathy/New Dorp, New York”
3. “White Sky”
4. “Scenes From An Italian Restaurant”
5. “Walcott/Flower Moon (Saturday Night Version)”

LP2
1. “Bryn”
2. “Connect”
3. “Pravda”
4. “Diplomat’s Son”
5. “Mary Boone”
6. “Request Zone: Seinfeld Theme, Monster Mash Theme From New York, New York”
7. “Worship You/Ya Hey”

Weekend At The Garden is out now via Frog On The Bass Drum. Find more information here.

Megan Thee Stallion last released a new song, “Whenever” back in April, but it looks like she’s ready to restart the rollout for Act III. After informing her fans via Instagram the release date and title of her next single, “Lover Girl,” she gave them a sweet teaser of what they’ll be hearing on Friday (October 24).

In the teaser, Meg’s silhouette can be seen through frosted glass as she leans back toward the camera. This offers an unmistakable view of her most recognizable asset, as part of “Lover Girl” plays. It sounds like it’ll be a blend of ’90s R&B and New Orleans bounce, with a sample of Total’s 1996 hit “Kissin’ You” combined with a signature New Orleans scat from what sounds like Big Freedia.

The title also gives us all a hint about what’s been on Meg’s mind of late. After spending the last five years dealing with trauma and loss, she’s finally found something — or rather, someone — in the form of NBA shooting guard Klay Thompson. Her companionship already seems to have him back to championship form on the court, and it sounds like the relationship is adding new dimensions to Meg’s rap game, as well.

With that in mind, and a collaborator wishlist that includes Doechii and Ariana Grande, Meg’s next act seems like it’ll be worth the wait.

“Lover Girl” is out on Friday, 10/24.

After Uproxx’s own Elliott Wilson included Tennessee rapper Samara Cyn in his 20 Best Female Rappers Right Now list, Cyn drops off her latest single, “Vitamins N Minerals.” Coming four months after the release of her summer Crossroads EP, “Vitamins N Minerals” continues her stellar 2025 run of new music and career highs.

A display of Samara’s lyrical virtuoso, “Vitamins N Minerals” is produced by Ovrkast, with a menacing but laid-back beat and free-form lyrics delving into her well-earned self-confidence. “I been feeling tippy top, ever since the teeter tot / Play to earn the spot ain’t for the weak, nobody pity bops.”

Cyn’s braggadocio and skill at stringing complex, abstract rhymes together has earned her a flourishing groundswell of support among hip-hop fans, along with placement on XXL‘s 2025 Freshman list. She spent much of the early part of the year on tour with Smino, teaming up with him on the Denzel Washington-approved “Brand New Teeth.” More recently, she collaborated with a fellow viral fave, Armani White, on “Ghost,” just after making her late-night television debut on The Daily Show. With her performance at Tyler The Creator’s Camp Flog Gnaw coming up in November, and this weekend’s Digital Detox event in Los Angeles, she’s not only building up her careeer but also building up her community in preparation for the follow-up to her standout 2024 project, The Drive Home.

You can listen to Samara Cyn’s “Vitamins N Minerals” above.

How good is your palate, really? Rising country music star Adrien Nunez swears his is elite, so naturally, we had to put that confidence to the test. Before hitting the stage for his one-night-only Sparkling Sessions 2.0 Tour performance during Austin City Limits, the “Low Road” singer took on UPROXX’s ultimate pre-show challenge: a Sparkling Ice Blind Taste Test. No labels, no hints, just great flavor (and some revealing answers to questions his biggest fans have been asking).

What started as a quick flavor game turned into a full-on, scroll-stopping moment that almost ended with the country crooner second-guessing his own taste buds. Nunez came out swinging with Sparkling Ice’s Strawberry Kiwi option, stumbled on Coconut Pineapple (our bad for the curveball), and dropped gems in between — from how he hypes himself up before performing on stage to the first time a crowd sang his lyrics back to him. Oh, and he might’ve also teased an EDM remix of his latest hit, “Don’t Wanna Go Home.”

Between his competitive streak, quick-fire guesses, and unshakable charm, Nunez proved that whether it’s music, sports, or Sparkling Ice sips, he’s always here to win.

Watch the full taste test to see how he fared (and if he can ever trust his gut again).

Whenever stars do press, there’s always a chance of things going off the rails, and from there, it’s up to the fans to decide if it’s delightful or a disaster. For instance: Dakota Johnson‘s promo cycle for Madame Web, which plenty of folks enjoyed more than the movie itself.

The latest example came this week, as Janelle Monáe joined a slate of celebrities for Rolling Stone‘s annual Musicians on Musicians series. Monáe was paired with alt-rocker Lucy Dacus for discussion, and at some point, she decided to get all the way weird with it, telling the guitarist that she “traveled back into the 1970s” to watch David Bowie perform The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, calling it “incredible.”

Like Dacus, fans online have been thrown by the deadpan delivery of the mischievous Monáe, not sure whether to believe her or not. This is, after all, the same artist who released a long-running epic series of albums using androids as a metaphor for race and sex in America. Likewise, Monáe’s Bowie quote was also a metaphor for being inspired by her musical hero; she followed up with “[I realized] this is what I want to do. So I jetted back to the 2000s. And I was like, ‘I can have the musical, make the music, create the lyrics, and create community around transformation and being queer.’ And not even just in sexuality, but in how we see the world.”

Of course, the quote’s been taken out of context as such things are wont to be (sorry to be the Fun Police over here, but we live in some dark, dangerous times), and fans are having a field day online with the clipped conversation. Many viewers sympathized with Dacus, who appeared to be caught in a time warp herself trying to parse the confusing quote. Others went with the logical extremes of Janelle’s supposed temporal sliding powers. Meanwhile, I’m just hoping someone at Marvel, DC, or Image (preferably Image) has an editor who’s really into music interviews, because this will make one hell of a comic book.

You can watch the full interview above.

Cass McCombs released his well-received new album Interior Live Oak earlier this year, and soon, he’ll embark on a new set of tour dates in support of the project, as he announced today.

The new shows, dubbed Interior Live Oak Live, run from next February to April, and they include a North American stretch in March and April.

McCombs also shared a new video for “Missionary Bell” today. Director Andy Madeleine explains how the video came to be, saying:

​​”When we were coming up with ideas for this video, we kept thinking about the question that the lyrics asks, ‘What else is as heavy as a missionary bell?’

So we made a long list:

A washing machine.
A hippopotamus.
A tank.
A cement trunk.
A wet mattress.
A blue whale’s tongue.
A pizza oven, and so on…

Next, we consulted Google on what were the world’s heaviest monastery bells. […] 77,000 pounds! We were way off base. We concluded a fully loaded big rig, depending on the cargo, weighs 80,000 pounds, slightly over that of a missionary bell. We started to itemize the hypothetical cargo on our hypothetical big rig, and that’s when the in-fighting began. So we ended up just scrapping that idea, and we made this video instead.”

Watch the “Missionary Bell” video above and check out the full list of tour dates below.

Cass McCombs’ 2026 Tour Dates

02/16/2026 — Winterthur, CH @ Salzhaus
02/18/2026 — Istanbul, TR @ Blind
02/20/2026 — London, UK @ Union Chapel
02/22/2026 — Dublin, IE @ Worksmans Club
03/17/2026 — Los Angeles, CA @ Zebulon #
03/19/2026 — New York, NY @ LPR #
03/20/2026 — Hamden, CT @ Space Ballroom #
03/21/2026 — Boston, MA @ Brighton #
03/22/2026 — Northampton, MA @ Iron Horse #
03/24/2026 — Montreal, QC @ Le Ritz #
03/25/2026 — Toronto, ON @ Horseshoe Tavern #
03/27/2026 — Ann Arbor, MI @ Blind Pig #
03/28/2026 — Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall #
03/29/2026 — Milwaukee, WI @ Vivarium #
03/30/2026 — St. Paul, MN @ Turf Club #
04/01/2026 — Denver, CO @ Bluebird #
04/04/2026 — Seattle, WA @ Tractor *
04/05/2026 — Portland, OR @ Aladdin *
04/07/2026 — Petaluma, CA @ Mystic Theater *
04/09/2026 — San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall *
04/10/2026 — Los Angeles, CA @ Lodge Room *
04/11/2026 — Los Angeles, CA @ Troubadour *

# with Chris Cohen
* with Hand Habits (solo)

Interior Live Oak is out now via Domino. Find more information here.

The only feature on Sasami’s album from earlier this year, Blood On The Silver Screen, was Clairo on “In Love With A Memory.” The album arrived back in March, but now, Sasami has offered an addendum via a new version of “Just Be Friends” featuring Soccer Mommy.

In a statement, Sasami explains she wanted the song to have more of a country flair this time, saying:

“When I was working on Blood On The Silver Screen, I found myself returning to country often. I listened to Dolly, Johnny, Patsy, Merle and even a lot of the modern country that I had previously dismissed. Country songs have to be some of the most effective and cutting examples of peak pop songwriting — wit, drama, humor, sadness, and the most human of all — horniness. My song ‘Just Be Friends,’ was definitely inspired by modern country, but I knew if I wanted it to be truly authentic I would need to enlist an actual southern princess. This new version featuring Soccer Mommy, pedal steel and all, delivers on the country magic that I had always wished could be in that song. That’s the best part about collaboration, all hat all cattle.”

Soccer Mommy adds, “Sasami is such an amazing artist — and person — and I’m so glad she asked me to be on this remix.”

Listen to “Just Be Friends (Soccer Mommy Version)” above and find Sasami’s upcoming tour dates below.

Sasami’s 2025 Tour Dates

10/25 — Nashville, TN @ Marathon Music Works ^
10/26 — Atlanta, GA @ Buckhead Theatre ^
10/28 — Richmond, VA @ The National ^
10/29 — Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Paramount ^
10/31 — Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club ^
11/01 — Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer ^
11/02 — Boston, MA @ House of Blues ^
11/04 — Toronto, ON @ HISTORY ^
11/05 — Detroit, MI @ Royal Oak Music Theatre ^
11/07 — Chicago, IL @ The Salt Shed ^
11/08 — Minneapolis, MN @ Uptown Theater ^

^ supporting King Princess

Blood On The Silver Screen is out now via Domino. Find more information here.

About two-thirds into last Saturday’s sold-out Geese concert in St. Paul, one member of the Brooklyn indie band’s intensely locked-in audience exclaimed, “Cameron fucking Winter!” It was during a break between songs, so everybody heard it. Some laughed, but at least one person protested. With perfect timing, they shouted, “There’s other people, too!”

The exchange echoed a familiar refrain — one that I’ve made myself — amid the ecstatic response to Getting Killed, the third Geese LP that already feels like a lock for “album of the year” status in 2025, at least among indie listeners. The album’s reception had been primed for months in advance by lead singer Cameron Winter’s solo record Heavy Metal, which arrived last December with little fanfare before gradually (and then quickly) becoming a word-of-mouth sensation. Before then, Geese was adrift in terms of critical and popular esteem, despite putting out one of the more exhilarating rock records in recent memory with 2023’s 3D Country, But after Heavy Metal, they were suddenly a hot property, though in the minds of some in attendance they were, apparently, The Cameron Winter Band. (Or, I guess, The Cameron Fucking Winter Band.)

But they’re not that. Geese is… Geese, a real unit in the classic “I thought they didn’t make ’em like this anymore” sense. They are also the band right now. That’s clear from the combustive alchemy achieved on Getting Killed, but it’s doubly apparent if you’re lucky enough to catch one of their remarkable live gigs this fall.

Picking up on the interaction in the audience, Winter stepped to the microphone. “I don’t know if I’ve ever introduced the band before,” he said. He then turned to his right and motioned to Geese’s guitar player, Emily Green, who on Getting Killed manages to split the difference between the nuanced textures of Jonny Greenwood and the “brown” audaciousness of Jimmy Page. After a few hype man-type words on Emily’s behalf, the audience erupted into a hero’s cheer: “Emily! Emily! Emily!”

Such was the mood on this particular stop of the hottest indie tour of the year. There might be bands that make more money or play bigger venues or garner better (or at least equally good) reviews in 2025. But in terms of juice — that intangible but indisputable feeling that you are witnessing a show you’ll still be talking about in 10 or 20 or even more years — then it’s hard to think of any act in the indie space that can touch Geese at the moment.

This can, for instance, be quantified by the sorts of ticket prices that brokers (i.e. scalpers) are asking for on the secondary market. Nearly $1,200 per general admission ticket in Detroit. Between $900 and about $1,150 in Los Angeles. In Madison, the $250 ticket price must have seemed like a steal. In each case, it’s obvious that the rapid scaling up of Geese’s popularity has swiftly exceeded the venues they were booked into this season. And this has just as obviously created a sense of urgency that’s compelled some fans to consider sacrificing part of their monthly rental money to see this band right as they enter the peak of their powers. If you love Geese, seeing them now, in 2025, on the Getting Killed tour, is a top priority.

I wish I could somehow counteract all that hype and, in the spirit of fiscal responsibility, lower the temperature. But I’m afraid I can’t. I caught them in 2024 open for King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, but that was in an arena and a relatively short set. Seeing Geese headline a club packed with eager acolytes, meanwhile, was an entirely different ballgame. It has to be one of my very favorite live experiences of the past several years. If I hadn’t seen Oasis play an epic reunion concert at Wembley Stadium this summer, Geese would, hands down, be my top rock show of the year. But even with that Oasis gig, a concert I had looked forward to for literally years, Geese is awfully, awfully close. It’s one thing to see an old favorite make an unlikely comeback. It’s another to witness a group of extremely talented musicians in their early 20s who are creating a legacy in real time.

Now, to be clear, I recommend not going into debt just to buy a ticket to a rock concert. But seeing Geese last weekend in a club reminded me why I still care about seeing rock bands in clubs. Sometimes it’s fun and sometimes you wish you had stayed home. But when it works — and I mean really works — it can be just about the most exciting thing you can imagine.

The key here, again, is that Geese is a band. The kind of band where you can zero in on any member and be captivated. Where each person contributes something vital musically while looking cool as hell in the process. Along with her attributes as a player, that mix of subtle flourishes and hot-dog riffs, Emily Green also has a natural charisma that’s shared by bassist Dominic DiGesu and especially drummer Max Bassin, Geese’s instrumental MVP. On stage, more than on record, that rhythm section gives the music a level of propulsion that’s more akin to the ’90s Red Hot Chili Peppers or even prime-era Zeppelin than a normal 2020s era indie outfit. (“100 Horses” live really does sound like 100 horses stampeding.) Nobody lumps them in with post-hardcore bands like Turnstile or Militarie Gun, but Geese in a live setting really does inspire multiple mosh pits. (The most furious was during “Trinidad,” the chaotic opening track from Getting Killed.) It’s a far cry from the singer-songwriter indie-folk that has dominated this space since the late 2010s, and a necessary antidote to that somewhat stagnant sound.

Speaking of singer-songwriters: I can no longer refrain from talking about Winter, who in spite of everything I just typed is unquestionably the star of the show. So much so that you already sense him downplaying his ample magnetism on stage. In St. Paul, he strode out in a hat and sunglasses, like he was trying to hide in plain sight. But as the 75-minute show progressed, he eventually shed the disguise as well as some of the polarizing vocal affectations from Getting Killed. In person, on songs like “Half Real,” the beauty of his voice is frankly stunning; Even after listening to the record countless times, I was taken aback by the IRL experience of that gnarled tenor filling the room. He really is the best young lead singer I can remember from at least the past decade, both in terms of vocals and presence. He’s so good that I wish he only did that, instead of also playing guitar. His skill set calls out — nay, demands — for him being a stand-alone frontman. (Geese this tour is already joined by touring keyboardist Sam Revaz. Might a touring guitarist also be in the cards?)

Of course, I wouldn’t want to mess with the magic of what’s happening with Geese on stage this tour. If this is what works, this is what works. As the show progressed, I kept waiting for a bum note or slack pacing. Something that might screw up the spell they were casting. But everything just… fell exactly where it needed to be. They capably handled the intricacies of “Husbands” and “Au Pays du Cocaine,” and then they pivoted to setting the room on fire with “Getting Killed” and “2122.” The vibe was loose and relaxed, but they were clearly very well-rehearsed and tight as a clenched fist. And while they appear ready to be stars, they weren’t pandering for it. Instead, they manifested greatness, in a way that’s hard to describe but impossible to miss when you see it.

By show’s end, after Winter introduced the rest of his band, the camaraderie on stage extended to the people in the audience. What had happened was undeniable. We were all in this together now. This was a special occasion, and we knew it.

Musician Jared Choeft suffers from a subtype of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder known as “Just Right OCD.” The condition manifests as an intense need for his actions to be carried out in a manner that feels precise, correct, “just right.” This desire leads to repetitive behaviours other people would judge as unnecessary. When trying to complete a task, even one that might appear inconsequential, Choeft is compelled to repeat the process, again and again, until a sense of balance or satisfaction is achieved. If he stopped short, the anxiety would be blinding.
Choeft finds his OCD keenly affects the parts of his life that he cares about the most, including, of course, his music.

Based in Fargo, North Dakota, Choeft records and performs a folky, whimsical style of classical music alongside his wife, Amanda — Jared often behind the piano and Amanda on the flute. When working on his compositions, Choeft can agonize over decisions such as how a melody or harmony should develop. But his OCD reveals itself in more innocuous ways too. As part of his process, Choeft uses musical notation software that turns his pieces into sheet music. He finds himself continually logging the same information into the computer. Choeft will repeat rituals such as dragging text or dynamic markings back and forth, moving the cursor along an arbitrary path, falling into cycles of undoing and redoing actions on screen until they feel… just right. A task that should take a second or two can stretch to minutes.

“I would use the word ‘hell’ to describe it,” Choeft tells me. “It’s just so painful.”

Everyone recognizes the three letters, and yet, OCD remains a highly misunderstood and misinterpreted condition. It’s most closely associated with cleanliness and attentiveness, with glove-wearing chief germaphobe Melvin Udall from As Good as It Gets providing the prototypical idea of how a person with OCD behaves. OCD does present as traits such as excessive hand washing and lock checking, but this association has fostered stereotypes and misconceptions that it is simply the impulse to be organized or tidy. This often leads to trivialization. It’s common to hear people describing themselves as a “little bit OCD” because they like things a certain way. What they miss is the anxiety experienced by true sufferers.

Lesser known symptoms include morbid obsessions and intrusive thoughts, sometimes of a violent nature. This naturally leads to the fear of psychosis or losing one’s mind. OCD can be painful, paralyzing, repulsive, and debilitating. The symptoms can feel unspeakable and, therefore, isolating. OCD doesn’t just implore, it torments.
But the antidote to medical myths is conversation and knowledge, so by speaking openly about their own experiences with OCD, pop stars have been contributing to the busting of misinformation and improvement of the collective understanding. Ariana Grande, PinkPantheress, and Luke Combs are among the artists to open up about how their OCD affects how they perform, how they write, how they move through the world. “When it hits, man, it can be all consuming,” Combs said in an interview. “If you have a flare up of it, right, you could think about it 45 seconds of every minute for weeks.”

To describe his OCD, Combs uses the term “Pure O” to signal that his symptoms play out internally, without a physical compulsion. (It should be noted that some organizations, including the American Psychiatric Association and OCD UK, do not endorse the expression.) The highly popular English singer-songwriter George Ezra has also spoken about his experiences with the same condition. “Whilst everything’s going on in your head, you’re vacant to the world around you and you’re not really there,” he told the How Do You Cope podcast.

Ezra always knew there was something in his brain constantly tugging at him, forcing him down corridors of his mind that he did not want to go. Yet he made it all the way to adulthood without being able to put a name to the demon. Ezra already had a number one album on his list of achievements when, while recording his second LP, it finally hit him that he had a recognizable condition and that condition was OCD. “I heard about it and instantly there wasn’t a doubt in my mind,” Ezra recalled. “I said, ‘That’s it. That’s what’s going on. That’s what I’m experiencing.’ In hindsight, this is something that I had my whole life.” Since diagnosis, he has been inspired to depict his OCD through songwriting.

This moment of realization is similar to Choeft’s experience. He was finally diagnosed with OCD around age 27, but had been experiencing symptoms since childhood. As it happens, this mirrors my own story. I was in my mid-twenties when the notion came over me to look up OCD online. Immediately, I recognised in this condition what I’d been suffering from since childhood. I’ve since undergone therapy and counselling, but nothing was as important as first discovering that I wasn’t alone — that the demon in my mind wasn’t unique to me. This sometimes decades-long lag in people experiencing OCD and recognizing they have OCD is attributable, I believe, to the poor information circling about the condition — sufferer’s themselves often don’t know what they have. And so the pushing of misconceptions is not without collateral damage.

One fallacy unique to artists: that having OCD is like a superpower that increases their attentiveness to their craft (“superpower” is a common trope applied to different mental disorders). Of course, many people are particular about the work, but OCD is almost always an impediment, rarely an advantage.

“I think a common [misconception] I get is people will tell me, ‘Yeah, I have OCD too. I just get really zoned in on something I’m doing and nothing can pull me away from it,’ or something like that,” describes Christine Goodwyne, the singer and lead songwriter of the band Pool Kids. “If you have OCD, when you’re doing compulsions, sure they bring you temporary relief or whatever, but overall it’s this feeling of dread and doom. If you are being OCD about being perfect, it’s not like you’re enjoying it, you know what I mean? It’s a burden and it’s a very negative, bad experience.”

Goodwyne cites her compulsion to record everything she’s working on as an example of a symptom. She also finds herself constantly making notes, not to be fastidious, but because of a fear of forgetting something that might someday be useful, even if these ideas soon become lost in a sea of unusable material. “It can hold you back because you feel like you’re drowning,” she says.

For Pool Kids, 2025 has brought new success and attention. The Tallahassee band’s third album, Easier Said Than Done, was received with acclaim. It was during the promotion of the project that Goodwyne began to speak about her OCD more than ever before — how it affects her as a person and creative. She’s open about how OCD is weaved into the album’s themes. On “Bad Bruise,” she sings, “Can’t help but try to touch it like a bad bruise,” sharply comparing her compulsions with the impulse to touch a physical bruise. “You can’t help but resist and give in to it,” she tells me, “even though you know it’s bad for you and it hurts.” There’s also the song “Leona Street,” inspired by Goodwyne’s realization that she was being, “OCD about trying to fix my OCD, where I was scanning every thought that I had and trying to figure out how to perfectly handle every thought. And I was doing all these rituals that I thought were going to help me, I don’t know, fix my mental health, but I ended up making it worse because I realized I was just giving into a different type of compulsion.”

“Which is Worse” delves into the role memory plays in grief, with Goodwyne drawing interesting parallels between hoarding as people understand it, and the idea of memory hoarding. “I think people don’t see or don’t realize the connection of hoarding with OCD,” she says. “Memory hoarding is a thing. When dealing with grief, I have gone through phases where I try to obsessively write out every memory I had with the person because I have this fear of forgetting. But then it gets to the point where it’s compulsive and you have pages and pages where you’re trying to record every thought and every memory you ever had with someone. So yeah, ‘Which is Worse’ is saying, ‘Is it worse to forget about someone and not have to deal with the pain of remembering their memories, or is it worse to have to be obsessively keeping track of the memories?’”

For some artists, having music as an outlet has proved soothing. Ariana Grande has asserted that the creative process has helped her find relief from intrusive thoughts and compulsions. Others, though, are uncomfortable with the trope that art is automatically remedial. While Goodwyne has used her songwriting to depict, probe, and make sense of her OCD, she rejects the idea that songwriting is somehow therapeutic.

“Everyone’s always like, ‘So how is it like therapy to you?’ And I’m like, ‘What if it’s not?’ Because I always say I don’t feel like I get a practical effect out of songwriting. It doesn’t do something, or help anything, about my mental health. I’m a musician and I just like to create and write songs. And that’s why I do that. It’s really not therapy to me. And it’s crazy how everyone seems to assume that and then it seems like every other artist agrees and says it is. And I’m wondering if they’re just going along with it. I’m like, ‘Are they all lying? There’s no way I’m the only person who doesn’t find this therapeutic?’ I don’t find songwriting therapeutic. It’s just something I enjoy doing.”

Choeft also became interested in expressing his OCD experience through music when he had a hard time finding work that specifically tackled the subject. “It felt like something that really needed to be expressed,” he says. “There’s been many pieces over the years that have about kinds of mental health issues. I really admire the way that other artists have expressed some of those struggles through music. And I wanted to do some of that with OCD in particular.”

Formulating the project, Choeft wondered if an instrumental or song with lyrics would be the best form. He settled on theme and variations, a common structure in classical music where an idea, called the theme, is revealed at the start of the piece, then repeated with different flourishes. He titled the piece “Grumpy Brain,” the name his wife Amanda gave her husband’s OCD.

Performed on piano and flute, the composition begins relatively serenely before more and more shades of discomfort and chaos are layered on, pulling the listener into a place of unease. “I started with I guess the tamer sort of emotions associated with OCD and I progressed towards some of the more really extreme dark emotions that come from OCD as the piece goes on,” says Choeft. With “Grumpy Brain,” he doesn’t just tell people about OCD, he tries to show them.

“It felt like a wonderful outlet, not just composing it, but then also recording it and performing it, because it felt like a way to share [the challenges of OCD] with a broader audience and connect with other people who are going through similar challenges,” says Choeft. “That just felt like a huge, you know, relief is the wrong word, but it felt really important to do that.”