Imagination

Context

Imagination was released in July 2024, only a few months after Make Me Feel Alright. There wasn’t much distance between the two projects. In fact, I had already started working on new songs before the first album was even out.

By that time, my life felt more stable. I had found a friend group, was going to house and park parties, and felt more socially settled. Still, the late nights hadn’t disappeared. Music was still therapy. I just wasn’t as isolated anymore.

Unlike my debut, this album was made with the intention of being an album. I didn’t wait to see if the songs accidentally formed something cohesive. Once I had seven tracks, I decided that was it.

Looking back, that says a lot.

Mood & Direction

Sonically and emotionally, Imagination sits close to Make Me Feel Alright. The gap between them was short, so the mindset was similar. I was still using music to process things in real time.

But there was a subtle shift. I was trying to make something more “normal.” More mainstream. Less obviously experimental. I wanted to see if I could fit into a broader sound without completely losing my own style.

The result is an album that’s slightly more ambitious in intent, even if not dramatically different in sound.

The Quick Infatuation Mistake

The most chaotic moment of the project was “Quick Infatuation.”

I had set myself an unnecessary release date, August 1st, just because it felt clean. That deadline created pressure I didn’t actually need.

The original version of “Quick Infatuation” was completely different production-wise, and honestly better. But it sat right in a vocal “dead spot” for me — a range between chest voice and head voice where I just couldn’t sing comfortably. Changing the key didn’t fix it. Instead of waiting or reworking it more patiently, I scrapped the entire thing and rebuilt a new version from scratch just weeks before release.

I regret that decision. The replacement version feels rushed. The lyrics aren’t fully fleshed out. The production is fine, but the original had more character. I still plan to release that first version someday.

That moment says something about where I was creatively. I was moving fast, maybe too fast.

Writing & Themes

The album still revolves around real situations and real people. Especially the title track, “Imagination,” which centers on uncertainty — not knowing if someone feels the same way and building entire scenarios in your head.

At the time, part of me thought writing songs about real-life crushes might actually change something. Maybe it would make things clearer. It didn’t. No dramatic moment followed. But the impulse to write about it was genuine.

There isn’t a strict concept tying the album together. It’s more a collection of emotional snapshots from a period where I was socially active but still inwardly unsure.

If Make Me Feel Alright was raw and isolated, Imagination is slightly more outward-facing but still searching.

Production

Technically, this was an incremental step forward. I applied what I had learned from the first album, tried to mix more carefully, and again relied on Logic’s mastering assistant.

The sound still leans electronic, but the tracks vary more stylistically. In hindsight, maybe too much. The album jumps between moods and genres more noticeably than my debut.

“Record Deals,” which was actually the first track created for the album, carries a big-room energy inspired loosely by tracks like Avicii’s “Levels.” I wanted something uplifting and larger in scale. The chorus says it clearly: I want to make music that inspires, that lifts people up, that sets them on fire.

That ambition closes the album intentionally. It feels like a statement of direction, even if I didn’t fully know what that direction would be yet.

Looking Back

I’m more critical of Imagination than of my debut. It feels less cohesive and more scattered. The mixing and mastering still show my limitations at the time.

But it represents growth. I was faster, more confident in finishing projects, and more willing to experiment. Even the mistakes — like swapping out the original “Quick Infatuation” — are part of that growth.

In the larger arc of my music, Imagination is the transitional phase. Not the raw beginning, not the full concept era yet, but the point where ambition started becoming louder.

It’s imperfect. But it pushed things forward.