To capture each months emotion visually over the next 18 months, I've partnered with an amazingly talented photographer - Cortney Armitage. Every month, we will be collaborating on images for both the single artwork and monthly emotion artwork. Here are some outtakes from our Times Square shoot. We wanted to try a double exposure, layered look, where I appeared to be invisible. We chose Times Square for our location because it's easy to feel invisible in the busiest and most crowded place in NYC. You become one with the crowd, blending in instead of sticking out.
Kurt Cobain T-Shirt Artwork
Here is the original Kurt Cobain T-Shirt artwork that was released before I decided to scrap the idea completely and go with strictly photo based song covers with no text. It just didn't feel emotional, evocative or even artful. There is something in this simplicity that I do still love, but it wasn't right for Raw Emotions. Raw Emotions needs to feel like it's taking a snapshot into real life.
Here's the final artwork we went with for Kurt Cobain T-Shirt. I actually took this photo myself of my good friend (and fellow artist), Naomi, on one of my LA writing trips.
Raw Emotions Lyric Video
This video was shot by my good friend Manish. We slowed the song down 4X and then I literally wrote all of this over the course of 14 minutes.
Raw Emotions demo
This is honestly where Raw Emotions began, but I had no idea at the time. This song was completely inspired. I think we finished this demo within a few hours of being in the studio. It would take 18 months to realize this title was the core of the next major creative phase of my life. I made this with my friend, writer/producer Daple.
Raw Emotions - cover artwork options
Before the release of the project there we a host of different covers that we explored for Raw Emotions. I honestly still love so many of these, they just weren't right for the song. They felt more like artistic collaborations. These were all created by the BADASS designer Mihailo.
I took some of the designs above and combined them into this sketch. To the right is the digital mock-up of my concept.
This is the final design we chose for Raw Emotions project. I wanted something that couldn't be defined by an emotion, a person or even a genre of music. Raw Emotions is about embracing ALL of the emotions, ALL of the sounds, ALL of the people and saying "I don't give a fuck, I am who I am."
Tom Petty
When Tom Petty died, I was really shocked. You know the icons who made the music that shaped you are getting older, but this was different, it felt like it came out of no where. The world losing Tom coupled the pain of the tragedy in Vegas was overwhelming. I still can't believe it's real. I wrote this song that week.
In america it seems it’s a shit show everyday
It’s harder to justify my words
Oh my little problems buried in my little mind
Trying to find meaning in my life
Natural disasters are coming even faster than we thought we would ever see
But you and your guitar
Made america feel small in a way we haven’t felt since ‘70
Oh my
What will we be without your song
Alright
Runnin’ down a dream out in the sun
What will we be without your song
What will we be without your song
February shakes, 2008
Watching the super bowl down south
A boy of 5 years looks up at his father
daddy who is that man
He said son you listen close
He writes american songs
The kind that you wanna take back home
He put him on his lap
Singing “I won’t back down”
Drinking memories through his eyes
Oh my
What will we be without your song
Alright
Singing “refugee” out in the sun
What will we be without your song
What will we be without your song
2017
Memories and dreams
Got things that I don’t need but can’t admit
Worrying about my songs
My body and my wallet
I feel like a selfish piece of shit
And now Tom Petty died
And too many mother closed the eyes of sons they sent off to watch a concert
I say what kind of america is this
still I think of women and success
Is that human or just the way it is?
Oh my
What will I be without your song
Alright
Runnin’ down a dream out in the sun
Oh my
What will I be without your song
Alright
Singing “refugee” out in the sun
What will I be without your song
What will I be without your song