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- March 19, 2023
corook Gets Vulnerable About Mental Health in “i’m not doing well”
Mental health is a topic that’s hard to discuss and cover in music, mostly done through vague metaphors and imagery. However, Nashville-based artist corook makes it seem effortless to be open in their new single, “i’m not doing well”. The 28-year-old singer-songwriter explores their struggles with mental health and how to open up to others about it.
corook’s debut EP, achoo!, was released in April of last year (which you can check out our review of here). The EP has a lot of deeply personal songs with some great indie-pop instrumentals to lighten the mood. As their first single of the new year, corook released a heartbreaking lullaby about going through a breakup, called “the dog”. Watch the music video for “the dog” down below.
Following “the dog”, corook’s new release “i’m not doing well” changes gears from their past habits of attempting to make their words more lighthearted or amusing. Instead, corook provides us with a devastatingly sad and realistic track, utilizing mainly an acoustic guitar and their vocals to get the point across.
“I got to write this song with two of my favorite writers, Wrabel and Ben Abraham, at my house in Nashville. To put it simply, I wrote it when I was not doing well. Sometimes my sad is short, sometimes my sad is long and this time it felt long. I remember being embarrassed to tell them how I was actually doing but by the end of us writing the song I felt empowered saying how I felt. I recorded and mixed it in my bedroom studio in the cold January winter in hopes of capturing the rawness of my everyday life.”
– corook
The song’s woeful lyrics and corook’s raw vocals create a really gut-wrenching experience for the listener. You can almost hear their voice shaking at certain moments in the song, which makes an easy crier like myself instantly start tearing up. The song tells a story of not knowing how to open up to your loved ones while simultaneously being afraid of becoming a burden to the other person.
“i’m not doing well” doesn’t try to mask what the artist is feeling, with lyrics such as “haven’t been sleeping, haven’t been eating” and “don’t know how to ask for help when I don’t know what’s wrong with me”. These realistic examples of what it feels like to be going through a hard time make the track relatable to anyone who’s ever struggled with their mental health before. The songwriters did a beautiful job allowing the listener into some of the darkest parts of their mind without filling the song with dark imagery and hard-to-understand metaphors.
If you love this single as much as I do, check out corook’s website to find more music and get tickets to their North American tour with Maddie Zahm! Listen to “i’m not doing well” below.
