When older generations describe what they consider to be “the best times of their life” to youngsters, they unload an inherent pressure. There’s always been anxiety about how one spends their youth, and that stress has exponentially risen over the years with evolving technology and the expanding gap of economic wellbeing. Salt Lake City’s Kyler Slater has captured that mounting worry in his new song “Lost My Mind.”
A cool combination of early Coldplay and Massive Attack, “Lost My Mind” features somber piano, hi-hat triplets, and a wistful vinyl crackling effect. “‘Lost My Mind’ is the anti-anthem for what many people are going through during one of the greatest challenges of our lifetime,” Slater says of the track. “Constantly, we’re comparing / Patiently we are failing,” he sings during the first verse. Whether it’s the greats in the history books or an old colleague that goes viral via TikTok, Slater laments the unrealistic expectations our society has pushed within an inequitable world.
The accompanying video flashes images from various great art movements—from the Renaissance to Dadaism. “This video means a lot to me because I made it with one of my best friends growing up. It displays a sense of chaos with all the different clips and quick cuts that are pieced together. Our culture is so desensitized to mass marketing, ads, audio and visual information, and social media that our minds can feel vast, cluttered, confused, and overwhelmed,” he says.
“The archival footage is somewhat of a scrapbook, a reflection of not only what we have all been dealing with the last year, but also a visual that I feel connects to my own artist career so far, full of moments, the good, bad, and ugly. The quick changes in imagery represent the nature of our ADD minds and definitely gives a peek into my own mind on an average day. I feel like many can relate to that, especially the younger generations.”
Check it out below.
