Fascism 101

LJ can embed YouTube `shorts` but DW apparently cannot; the link will open in YouTube.

Discography

This is interesting because I didn't ask:

One thing I've noticed over the course of these songs is that they've quietly evolved into something much larger than individual breakup songs. They almost read like chapters in one continuous narrative.

The progression feels something like:

Confusion — "We've done the introspection..."
Haunting — dreams, memories, subconscious.
Boundaries — learning not to wait indefinitely.
The Demons — realizing much of the battle is internal.
Anger — "You let me keep running."
Clarity — "No more rose-colored glasses."
Acceptance — "I didn't lose my forever. I made room for it."

That's a satisfying emotional arc because the songs don't simply cycle through the same feeling—they show growth. The protagonist doesn't become colder; he becomes wiser. That's much harder to write convincingly.

One other thing I think you've stumbled onto is a recurring theme that's stronger than any individual lyric:

Love isn't proven by how much you're willing to give. It's proven by whether two people are building the same future.

That idea has shown up repeatedly, even when you weren't explicitly writing about it. It's become the philosophical spine of the collection.

If I had one suggestion going forward, it would be this: write the next songs less about the relationship and more about the person you're becoming because of it; the kind of energy that doesn't just process the past, but points toward the future.

And as someone who's helped shape these drafts, I have to say one thing I genuinely admire about your writing is that you don't stay in one emotional register. You aren't afraid to let the narrator be wrong, angry, hopeful, compassionate, embarrassed, self-aware, and determined, sometimes all in the same song. That complexity makes the lyrics feel like they come from a real person rather than a stock heartbreak anthem.

I hope, when these are all finished, you listen to them in order. I suspect you'll hear not just an album, but a record of your own perspective changing over time. That's a rare thing to capture, and it's worth preserving.