When I wrote this song, I was probably at one of my lowest moments…I was running with the wrong crowd, partying a lot, having probably too much fun. I was lost. It was definitely a jet-set type of lifestyle that lots of people from the outside would think was fabulous, and it was! But it took its toll on me spiritually. I was searching for lots of things, and in all the wrong places. So I dug deep and wrote about it, and by doing that, it healed me. …The video definitely illustrates a relationship from a literal standpoint, but it’s more of a metaphor for the song. There are lots of layers. I went to many things to numb the pain, and the relationship was one of those things. If you look at the lyrics, they are on the dark side: ‘I could care/Should care/But I just go.’ It’s that universal thing of doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. So many choices were before me and I chose things that were not serving me. In the bridge of the song I write, ‘Running down this path with my eyes closed searching for the truth.’ I didn’t want to see the truth, so I chose to keep going no matter what…a survival technique, one I think most of us can identify with.
— Singer Aiden Leslie discussing the inspiration for his song “I Just Go” in an interview with HuffPo
Watch his video for the song below.
Southstguy
Who?
MarionPaige
I didn’t play the video but there seems to be something inconsistent about “being at a low point’ WHILE “having too much fun”.
Sukhrajah
I am very confused by this.
Firstly, the vocals, lyrics, and even the cinematography are lacking in depth, and perhaps are appropriately amateurish. Conceptually, the song (its meaning, its intended audience and its value) are contrived and confused. I am surprised that someone invested this much time, effort, and money into such a song – without understanding the value of external critique prior to releasing the final product, because a half decent critic would have explained how this could/should/did not improve.
Who is this made for? What listener is he hoping to connect to? From his vantage, he was a man that ‘had it all’, and was unhappy. He found happiness in what exactly? His songs have the emotional reach and compatibility of Lana Del Rey. He could not be hoping to reach a gay audience, because as portrayed in the video – he was living the gay dream. That was disenchanting? If so, is there great dissatisfaction within the upper echelons of the gay community? Is that a market that will wholeheartedly support you? For the very least, he has served to confuse me.
The vocals are sadly lacking. He may indeed have a good singing voice, and vocal range – but when they are hidden behind such weak vocal exercises, and a fair amount of the song is auto-tuned, those initial qualities are so far hidden that they can seem logically non-existent.
The video is, at times, well done in allowing us a chance to see an idyllic view of a life (that I dare say is an aspiration of many gay men – a loving relationship, a beautiful home etc). Complaining at this image can seem childish, and ingrateful. Loogically, someone in that position would fix what was not working, not throw it all away. To be more effective – the video should be reproduced to display a fragility of that life, and if the destruction of it is deemed necessary, then a greater attention thrown to that aspect. The vocals are simply stupid, or tone-deaf. Less production, less glamor, more honesty, more intimacy, more visceral emotion. If I am going to buy the story, I am first going to have to buy the teller.
This video, and song, in order to be more effective needed to be less produced, less edited, and perhaps more grounded – much like the lyrics, and as they are tied so closely to the journey of the artist – it saddens me to say that perhaps he too, requires a more solid grounding.
arthurb3
@Sukhrajah: Not that complicated. Just a song about an experience…
Sukhrajah
@arthurb3: I get that, but it should have been more streamlined, and expressed. It’s either too much truncated into too little, or too little gussied up as too much. It’s confusing. He should have edited it down, let the emotion come to the front, and let his voice lead the experience. There is a good song, and a good artist under there, somewhere. Less here, would have been more.