As emerging artist Chris Jobe continues his steady rise, he is releasing a new project this week.
The Los Angeles-based multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter and producer will put out his new If You Knew How Loved You Are EP on Friday, but he's premiering it a day early on Variance, along with an accompanying note about the inspiration and background for the six-song release.
Jobe recently made his television debut on NBC's Songland with a song about gun violence, which was actually recorded weeks before the show aired in August, just days after a mass shooting in the singer's hometown of Dayton, Ohio.
Read about Jobe's new EP in his own words and then listen to the full project below.
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If You Knew How Loved You Are is not a fluffy pop EP but rather a collection of songs that touch on the struggles, highs, and lows of a modern day 20-something relationship. The EP is very personal, centering around two amazing yet heavy years that I've been with my girlfriend dealing with addiction within our families, financial struggles as freelancers, and one very tough decision we made while being haggled by some very insensitive and rude protesters.
The title track is about the latter, in February of this year we were faced with a very difficult situation which I will avoid going into detail about to protect my girlfriend. When we made our decision we hardly told anyone, afraid of judgement and ridicule especially because we lived in Nashville which can be as progressive as it can be conservative.
The days leading up to that decison and the months following were incredibly hard for both of us, but especially for Livy. No matter how empathetic nor sympathetic I was, I knew that not being a woman and not going through that first hand made it impossible to understand the feelings of disappointment, isolation, and sadness that she had. All I wanted to do was to take that bullet for her because it was too heart breaking and unfair to watch her go through it alone. The song and EP reflect the desire of wanting to be there for someone no matter the peaks or valleys. The lyrics "I wish I could be you, tip toe on the broken glass so you don't have too", is the inspiration for the shattered glass on my face and around my head for the cover art. The line addresses how Livy felt she needed to deal with the broken parts of our lives in silence- in order to avoid being judged.
Like in any real relationship, the EP does deviate from those warm sentiments to feelings of doubt. We live a world, inundated with options between prospective partners and lifestyles and most of them are surface level- presented in a deceivingly unrealistic highlight reel via social media. The song "2 Hours Sober”, deals with that exaggerated existential crisis that most of us feel in our twenties.
While it's been a rollercoaster of highs and lows, I can wholeheartedly say that I wouldn't want to go through all of this with any one else. I'm very grateful for that and I hope that everyone can find that person. "Ride Or Die" is sort of a celebration of those emotions from committing to someone through the thick and thin. Similarly, "Bad Look Good" is a song about a time when were in a 'thin' place in terms of money, but we were still able to make a joke about robbing a bank in a half sort of smiley way.
"Rainy Day" is a mental health anthem that is less about suppression of negative thoughts, but more so, the reorganization of them in order to not drown. This last year was pretty heavy, so I needed to write a song like that. "Make It All Better" also holds cathartic undertones, both Abigail Rose and I wrote that duet after watching loved ones go through hard times, and in my case it was watching my girlfriend deal with addiction in her family.
All in all, the EP is the soundtrack to my life in the last year, and as a millennial, I'm not afraid to embrace the not so great parts and own it. Life can be hard, but its a hell of a lot harder if you try to mask it as something else. Also, despite how nervous we were to tell even our close friends about our decision, we were met with love and sympathy. Its in the spirit of this music that we are vulnerable with others. I hope that someone reading this, going through tough times, can open up to those they trust and realized that they are loved and understood too. That's the true message of If You Knew How Loved You Are.
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