Caleb Lessel | February 22nd 2025
For TITUS, writing music is not just a creative outlet, it’s his therapy. TITUS is back from his year-long hiatus with his newest single Bad Year. It's more than just another song to him, it is a personal reflection on mental health, burnout, and the struggle to balance vulnerability with the pressure of being in the public eye.
TITUS did not plan on taking a long break from music, but after the constant pressure to put on a happy face, tour, and write music the “short break” stretched out for an entire year. “There’s not a song that isn’t exactly how I’m feeling,” he says, explaining how writing lyrics became a way to navigate his emotions. Bad Year is the product of that introspection—a song about struggling to accept difficult emotions while being expected to keep going.
“I want people to feel bittersweet. A happy song with a sad message.”
The song is about at the time feeling like it was not ok for him to feel the way that he did. He was holding back on how he was feeling because he was in denial of it. The song is a release of these emotions, “It’s ok to put mental health first.” He encourages his listeners to not be scared to step back from the craziness of their life and take a break. He wants this song to feel like you can just scream it on the interstate and release your emotions.
This song was inspired by the feeling one gets driving by the same thing every day. He remembers driving back to his apartment and realizing that everything has changed and thinking “I would love to get the fuck out of his place.” With references to multiple movies such as Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind which is all about forgetting the past and starting over, this song is an escape from the past and an encouragement to start something new.
TITUS’s advice to young people going into music is “don’t” unless you really love it for the right reasons. He says that it takes stupid bravery to put your emotions and art out for everyone to hear and then be criticized for it. It takes a lot of toughness mentally and he is terrified to put even small things out like promotion for his music. Everything that goes viral gets tons of negative comments “It’s like being a boxer, you get numb to it but then you have those days where you just can’t take it anymore and that’s ok.”
Overall, Bad Year is a bitter-sweet song about wrestling with one's feelings. With themes of burnout, needing to get out of a place, and stress “Bad Year” is relatable to everyone on some level. We have all felt burnt out, we have all been scared to share our emotions, and we have all needed a break. The song preaches to its listeners telling them that it is ok to not be ok, it is ok to take a break, and it is ok to let others know how you feel.
