ALBUM REVIEW: Grandson – I Love You, I’m Trying
Grandson has released his new album, I Love You, I’m Trying. The first single of the album ‘Eulogy‘ released back in the end of February. He released the last single ‘Something To Hide‘ 2 weeks ago. This was one of the albums this year that has a lot of newly released songs with songs. The album had only 3 singles and the album has 12 tracks so there are 9 new songs on the album.
There is so much to talk about with this album review. Grandson has explained previously that the album talks about a massive part of his life. He also emphasized that is a massive difference between his EP series A Modern Tragedy and his albums. While A Modern Tragedy is more political, his albums talk about himself and how he deals with life.
Before I start with the breakdown of all the songs on the album, I do want to put out some trigger warnings because the album talks a bit about suicidal ideation, substance abuse, and depression in general. That last one is pretty much a given though. Let’s get into the tracks now.
Two Along Their Way: The album starts off with a more personal song. The album has 2 songs on it that are only 1 minute long. This is one of those. It’s a minute of Grandson’s father talking, accompanied by a piano. The first part of the album is in my opinion weaker than the second half. The reason for that might very well be that that is because I like the heavier sounding songs more. The first half will have more light sounding songs.
Eulogy: The first single of the album that released. Probably one of the more politically charged songs on the album. The song is a bit of a mix of political issues and someone who is in an existential crisis. I think the choice to make this the first single to release is perfect. It is basically a mix of every song on the album. It talks about a bunch of heavy subjects, has it’s slower moments, it has a breakdown and the general feel of the song can be linked to basically every other song on the album.
Something To Hide: The last single to release of the album. Also my favorite single. It is the shortest song of the album if you don’t count the 2 “songs” that are only a minute long. But what it lacks in length, it makes up for in the feel of the song. The song has a great drop which I can’t wait for to hear live. The song talks about Grandson’s youth where he experienced a lot of traumatic things. He exposes a lot of family secrets in this song while he talks about how he dealt with it back then. This is one of my favorite songs of the album.
Drones: The second single to release of the album. After this song we’ll have had all the singles that released prior to the release of the album. This song is one of the best if you go off of the beat only. The rhythm that the song has, combined with the drum kick and the vocals that hit those beats perfectly all combine for a great song.
I Love You, I’m Trying: The title track of the album. Sadly also one of the least favorite songs of mine. The song repeats itself a lot. “I Love You, I’m Trying” is said 28 times in the song if I counted the song correctly. That isn’t that bad on it’s own but the song is 2:42 long. Which gets you one “I Love You, I’m Trying” every 6 seconds on average. The last drop and the other lyrical content do save the song a bit though. It’s clear that this song is one of the more emotional songs on the album. Talking about touring and the bad things that happen on tour.
Half My Heart: This song was supposed to be the 3rd single of the album but it got replaced by Something To Hide. Probably the most pop sounding song of the album. If you’ve heard the album HOPE by NF then this is comparable to HAPPY. It’s also comparable to Fuck About It or Funeral Grey from Waterparks their new album Intellectual Property. To me, it feels like the song talks a lot about self-sabotaging in a relationship. A great song for if you like pop songs.
When The Bomb Goes: A great song in my opinion, quite a bit of repetitiveness in this song too but it’s less bad since the music actually varies a little. Plus the verses and bridge make it diverse enough that the chorus doesn’t seem to be too repetitive. The song has great buildups and the drop would be amazing live. His tour is starting soon too so that will be exiting. This is a great song to have a big amount of crowd interaction on.
Enough: This song talks a bit more about suicidal ideation like I mentioned previously. It might not be clear at fist but with lyrics in the chorus’ like: “What’s it gonna take? It just won’t end. I need a savior, but if not me, who?” he makes it quite clear that he wrote this song when he was in a low point in life. The song itself also has quite the desperate/depressing feel to it. Still with the classic Grandson sound that he always has though.
Murderer: The longest song on the album with 4:24. This song talks a lot about the music industry and what it can do with an artist. This song is fucking insane. By far my favorite song on the album. It’s the feel of the song, but also the lyrics, also the flow, the schemes he has in the lyrics, the effects on the vocals, the buildup and the way he is able to tell a massive story with the song. The way of storytelling really reminds me of STORY by NF, they’re both really vivid and they can tell intense stories in a great way. The music perfectly fit the lyrics too. You can also compare it to Stan by Eminem. Only in a lyrical way though. The music is nothing like the previous mentioned artists, Grandson really takes the music and makes it exactly like he wants it. I won’t spoil too much about the lyrical content of the song but if you don’t have much time, listen to this song on the album. It’ll be 100% worth it.
I Will Be There When You Wake Up: The second 1 minute song on the album. There isn’t really a lot to say about this song lyrically or musically other than that Grandson’s girlfriend Waifa sings the main vocals of the song. The title of the song are also the only lyrics that the song has. Another fun fact about the song is that Mike Shinoda from Linkin Park co-produced the song. It’s a nice little interlude on the album.
Heather: I have honestly no words for this song. It’s probably one of the calmest songs on the album. It’s about a fan who killed herself. It was one of Grandson his first fans. I don’t think anything that I’ll say here do it justice. Give it a good listen with the lyrics next to it if you can’t follow the lyrics. It’s emotionally one of the heaviest and beautiful songs on the album.
Stuck Here With Me: A great last track for the album. It sums up a bunch of themes that have been touched on throughout the album. It’s another relatively slow song other than the drops after the chorus’ that sound a bit like a desperate scream accompanied by the lyrics: “Stuck here with me”. The song doesn’t stand out too much on it’s own but it fits so beautiful at the end of the album.
Those were all 12 songs on I Love You, I’m Trying. 2023 keeps amazing me with what amazing albums get released. I think this album is my number 2 of 2023 albums right behind HOPE by NF. The album is so amazing lyrically and musically. I don’t think I can say much more that I haven’t already said. It’s great to also once have an album that doesn’t have deep lore behind it like PORTALS by Melanie Martinez but with things that are still below the surface level. Do listen to the album if you have the time, it’s worth it. Grandson will go on tour soon. Check here for tickets, listen to the album below and let us know what you think of the album!
