“Break These Chains” ©

The story — in my words

I wrote this one at three in the morning sitting on the edge of a motel bed in Memphis, just trying to make sense of a relationship that had turned into a chess match I never asked to play. For a long time, I let someone else dictate who I was, wearing that mask just to keep the peace. We cut the tracks in a small room with a lot of natural reverb to capture that raw, desperate energy of finally hitting your breaking point. When I sing about being higher than a cat on a tin roof, that's real—that's that nervous, electric feeling of knowing you're about to burn the bridge but realizing it's the only way to save your own life. It’s a song for anyone who finally decided they were done bleeding for someone who wouldn't even offer a bandage.