‘’Losing My Mind’’ is very close to Jennie Laws’ heart. The song merely scratches the surface with what it’s saying; there’s so much more, so much more profound.
For World Mental Health Day, Jennie Laws of Toronto collaborated with Juno Award-winning producer SLMN on this ominous ballad. As well as providing backup vocals for INXS and Michael Buble, Jennie has performed as an opening act for Bruno Mars, Andy Grammer, and Common Kings.
The singer, composer, and multi-instrumentalist tells eloquently about her lifelong struggles. She has had to deal with anxiety, OCD, and depression. Jennie says ‘’it’s therapeutic for me to finally begin expressing what I’ve been going through for my entire adult life. In this crazy world we live in, almost everyone I know is losing their mind on some level.”
Jennie's publishing of this essay aims to raise awareness of the pervasive mental health problem. Of course, she hopes to give those who listen to this song solace and an opportunity to flee.
The rhythm is slow and sexy, making the song a very alluring track to jam to. You can hear the strings, drums, and Jennie’s enticing voice. The lyrics are a good mix of singing and some rapping, which give it an added boom.
The song reflects this to perfection. Feel drawn to the music, sway from side to side and feel everything this song offers. The song is an absolute banger, loaded with emotion and motive.
Welcome to BuzzMusic Jennie Laws, and congratulations on your latest release, "Losing My Mind." What are the most present emotions in ‘’Losing My Mind’?"
In my song "Losing My Mind," I address feelings of social anxiety, obsession, and depression that I've been battling for most of my adult life, especially as a female in the music industry. I sing about how regrets, over-perfectionism, comparing myself to others, and sometimes feeling like a failure can take over and make me feel like crawling out of my own skin, so to speak. Time flies, and when we spend too much of our time wallowing in these emotions, we can look up and find that we've wasted our lives on regrets and self-loathing. Putting it into a song feels like taking the poison out of my wounds so they can begin to heal.
What inspired you the most in your journey to create ‘’Losing My Mind?"
At first, I had written the song about my grandma's depression and mental health issues. Her older sister Adelaide had died in the diphtheria plague in London, England, and her mother's grief caused her to mistreat my grandmother as she was growing up. This made her a miserable human being for the rest of her life...it was very tragic. Her sad story inspired the original version of the song. But then, during the pandemic, I found myself wanting to rewrite the verses from my own point of view. I needed an outlet for all of the thoughts spinning around in my head, and the new verses just poured out of me. Reflecting, healing, and growing a lot during the pandemic inspired me to finally write about some of the emotions that so many of us struggle with daily in terms of anxiety, depression, and OCD in today's crazy world.
What do you picture when you listen to this incredible song you’ve created?
Visually, I picture a band and small orchestra playing behind a tortured woman with messy hair and mascara running down her face, playing her guitar and telling her story vocally with a manic expression in her eyes. Viscerally, I can see the poison dripping out of wounds created by years of constant stress, misogyny, social pressures, misconceptions, bad decisions, and self-destruction.
What's the main message you'd like people to take away from "Losing My Mind?"
Mostly I want people to know that they're not alone in these feelings of sadness, regret, panic, obsession, self-judgment, -hate, and -sabotage. Unfortunately, it's a ubiquitous and all-pervading feeling for most people. However, while we're all "losing our minds" daily and slowly going crazy in this insane, backward world, we must also find a way to lose this old mind that has been unwittingly programmed with pain, fear, inadequacy, and lack and replacing it with a new mind that trusts the timing of the universe, forgives ourselves and others, love ourselves as we are and has faith that we have everything we need and are exactly who and where we need to be in this very moment. Talking to our friends and family, having constructive outlets of release (for me, it's making music and dancing/exercising), and taking care of ourselves by doing things that light us up are all good ways to counteract these negative feelings.
What's next for you?
Well, now that I've got that out of my system, I'll continue to bring awareness to this subject of course, through podcasts, interviews, and artistic content. But musically, I'm going back to creating and releasing more uplifting, upbeat music at the top of the new year with one or two singles before dropping a full-length album. I have a few visual projects in the works for my recently released songs, including this one and some live shows I'll be doing in order to keep up my performing chops in the meantime. Also, I already have some interest from a Hollywood film producer to use "Losing My Mind" in his upcoming movie, and I'll be working on getting it placed in other shows and films.