- 2024-10-20
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MUSIC
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Bishop Briggs Releases New Album “Tell My Therapist I'm Fine”
Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter Bishop Briggs released her third studio album “Tell My Therapist I'm Fine” on October 18, 2024 via Terry Eighteen, Inc.
The album is her first LP in five years since the 2019 album “Champion”.
As the project, it follows up the EP “When Everything Went Dark”, which was released in June 2023.
Also, she recorded the album while pregnant.
The album comprises 10 songs, featuring a guest appearances from American rock band blink-182's Travis Barker.
Produced by AFTERHRS, Andrew Wells, Jon Hume, Leroy Clampitt and Teenage Priest.
On the album, Bishop Briggs weaves the loss of her sister and her grief into life-honoring moments that are buoyant, irreverent, and embracing, saying, “It's about the messiness of being human and everything in between.”- Bishop Briggs said of the album, “It has been five years since I released an album and I don't think I could've ever stomached what has happened since then. I wrote 'Tell My Therapist I'm Fine' in pieces, on bits of paper, in voice notes, and alas in therapy. The music in its essence and style is an ode to the bands my sister introduced me to when we were teenagers, most of which you would've heard at The Warped Tour and in grungy dive bars. I can see her singing the songs with so much verve and passion - it makes me want to cry just to think about it. I made this with the hope of connection with my sister, with all of you, and perhaps most unexpectedly with myself.”
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Bishop Briggs explained track-by-track for the album via Alternative Press Magazine.
“My Serotonin”
“'My Serotonin' was written the last time I was in New York, and I had a whole 24 hours without the baby. In a very dramatic way, I found myself singing this verse while I was walking down the street, just feeling in an utter state of longing. After my sister passed away, I never knew if I would be able to love again, and then to be away for such a short amount of time and realize I fully loved again, it was such a beautiful feeling. It was also this understanding that my genetic makeup that has officially completely altered and changed, and I'm different from who I was before, and I think I prefer that. But there's also this part of 'My Serotonin' that's realizing that the relationships around you are changing, too. They're either growing with you, or they're not. If you listen to it, you'll notice little lines that you can tell are about a little baby. It's a love song, [but] in a different way.”
“Hurt Me Now”
“I found this bizarre stage of grief was this defiance and resilience and fearlessness where the No. 1 thing to hurt me had happened, and so it was this idea of shouting to the sky, 'Try to hurt me now... What could happen now?' I will say, now that I have a baby, I'm like, “Don't hurt me. I'm good.” As if we have control over anything. But that was where the origin came from.”
“I'm Not A Machine”
“I wrote this after walking out of the Barbie movie. I wanted to write a song if there was ever a Barbie 2, not even necessarily from a work angle. Part of that was what I've experienced as a woman in music and as a woman living in life. I feel like there's still so much social conditioning that I am tearing at myself to undo, and so that became the song, the unraveling of self.”
“Good For Me” via press release
“'Good For Me' was an idea I had rattling in my head since lockdown during COVID. I had been chasing this beautiful dream allowing it to consume every relationship including the one with myself. As I sat in the hospital room with my sister it was that forever consistent reminder that this is all that matters. This person and this love we have for each other is all that really matters. Which then begged the question, was all that I had been chasing ever really good for me?”
“Mona Lisa On A Mattress” via press release
“Mona Lisa on a Mattress is about a messy, sexy, toxic relationship I fell hopelessly into. I wrote it with one of my close friends, Jack LaFrantz, who helped me laugh my way through this chapter of girlhood I hadn't quite unpacked.”
“Here Comes The Flood”
“This was part of the leaning into joy and feeling the discomfort doing it and trying to think of this whole situation as something that would completely flood me in every single way, and it would cleanse me. I'm still waiting for that to happen, but I hope I can manifest this healthy baptism of sorts.”
“Growing Pains”
“I would say 'Growing Pains' is the theme of the whole album. A friend once [asked] me, “We're always chasing the American dream, but what if life is supposed to be a classroom where we are all students, and some people we meet are teachers?” There are lessons and hardships, but we continue moving on. Perhaps we would be living happier lives if that's how we perceived life to be, that it wasn't meant to be this only high, happy, joyful life. It was meant to have these pits and downfalls that taught us things along the way, whether we wanted to learn the lesson or not. And that doesn't mean everything happens for a reason at all. I don't believe that. But 'Growing Pains' was supposed to symbolize that. I wrote it when I was nine months pregnant, and the vocal is from that day, too.”
“Shut It Off”
“I've always wanted to possess the energy of someone who is completely unapologetic, and I wanted to call out the men in my life from my past. I'm thankfully surrounded by feminists now, but for a long time, I wasn't. And the Me Too movement changed the trajectory of my whole life. I had no idea that I was in systemic abusive and verbally abusive situations — multiple — I had no idea of that. And so “Shut It Off” was trying to be apologetic and powerful.”
“Isolated Love” featuring Travis Barker”
“The first song that was written was right before lockdown, so right before my sister's diagnosis, which was 'Isolated Love' featuring Travis Barker. It's been years in the making.
I tried to keep my fan girl self at the door, and then when Travis started playing, he came out of the booth, and one single tear came down my cheek, and I couldn't pretend anymore. Thankfully, I'd already recorded vocals, and the session was ending, but it was the most surreal experience to be in there with an idol of mine. In those situations, where you don't know how or why you were there, it's best to not think about it too much. I'm super grateful that he's on this record. It also represents that time that I was describing to you, the Warped Tour time frame of the music that my sister introduced me to.”
“Undone Lyrics”
“'Undone' was the last song that was written for the record, and it was that radical self-acceptance of undoing the things that were no longer serving me and letting go of relationships that were no longer serving me. I don't know if it's part of becoming a mom, but you definitely look at the people you're around, and you look at the things that are working in your life and the things that aren't awesome. So this song is saying, 'I'm on the edge of a meltdown if I'm being honest.' But some of the most life-changing moments have been when I've been on the edge of a meltdown. When you're in the midst of a meltdown, like, 'OK, it's done. We're out of here.' But on the edge of it can offer so much perspective, and you see who's showing up for you — who are you reaching to call?” - source : Apple Music
