Star Rating: 5/5

Nearly four years after his breakout album “Death Of An Optimist,” the alt rock artist grandson has released his second studio album, “I Love You, I’m Trying.”

“I Love You, I’m Trying” is composed of 12 songs for a total listening time of 32 minutes. “I Love You, I’m Trying” is a change of pace from grandson’s first album, “Death Of An Optimist.”

“I wrote the whole album during the pandemic,” grandson said in a TikTok video. “It was finished around halfway through the pandemic but, after a bad mushroom trip, I realized that I had been in a two-and-a-half year manic depressive episode and upon listening to the album again, I realized it was not me at all and scrapped the whole project.”

Unlike grandson’s first album “Death Of An Optimist,” which was a social commentary on the state of politics, immigration reform and the political turmoil of 2016-2020, “I Love You, I’m Trying” is an introspective journey through struggles with mental health, self medication, suicide, trama and dependence on social media.

“I Love You, I’m Trying” is a bold exploration into the dark world of the struggles many musicians face. In his song “Half My Heart,” grandson sings about his struggle with self-destructive behaviors. 

The title track “I Love You, I’m Trying” is the first of two songs that are my favorites on the album. “I Love You, I’m Trying” is about struggling with one’s mental health but not being ready to accept help. 

My second-favorite song on the album is the song “Eulogy.” “Eulogy” examines the relationship that younger generations have with social media and the consumption of unfiltered topics when the internet was first growing. One lyric from the song that really resonates with me is “Growing up ain’t like how I pictured it / The guinea pig generation / For social media stimulation / I can’t even hold conversation / We got ADHD and anxiety”

His whole album feels like you’re being punched in the chest because of the content and dark places he explores in the album. It is well produced and definitely worth the almost four-year wait.

Grandson takes genres like hip-hop, rock and electronic and forges them into genres of their own. His album “I Love You, I’m Trying” is no exception.