It’s sad and it makes me a little sad for her, but also excited because I’m old enough to know she’ll snap out of this shit real soon. Jordan ends this song by calling herself stupid for investing too much energy on a path leading to a dead end.
KID CUDI SAID KEEP MOVING FORWARD HOW TO
When you’re young, you don’t know how to stop blaming yourself for things you can’t control. There’s all this weight attached to everything, but the pressure mostly falls on yourself. Her songs capture that unmistakable attitude of the young: incomplete, flustered thoughts, mood swings, and so much meaning in every little thing. Not just because Lindsey Jordan, the woman behind the project, is a teenager herself. Mrs. Aguilera, are you trying to seduce us? It’s working. “You were raised in all my glory,” she reminds. GoldLink’s verse isn’t a stunner, but it’s an ample precursor for Xtina to “make this simple for you, lay it out on the table for you.” She’s at the height of her powers here, putting a new guy - and the rest of us - in his place. “Like I Do,” produced by Anderson.Paak, is a bop! It’s smooth and slinky, and exactly what I needed to renew faith in Christina’s forthcoming album. One day soon my neighbors will come knocking on my door, asking me to please turn down the Xtina song I have on repeat. I want the best for Kanye and Cudi, but it’s better to see them want it for themselves. Hearing it from two famous men in recovery makes the message all the more vital. “Reborn”’s power, then, is in its therapy: When Cudi chants “keep moving forward,” it’s just a simple affirmation, but simple is what’s needed when the mind is clouded in confusion. But, as we saw last week, mental illness doesn’t give a damn about celebrity or ego. It’s easy to strip a guy like Kanye of his humanity - and even he sees his bipolar disorder as an enhancement to that humanity - and dismiss him for crazy. That is perhaps the realest thing Kanye has said this entire album cycle. Kanye is able to look back on his rock bottom with some clarity and unpack what it’s meant to deal with private demons in public hell: “I was off the meds, I was called insane / What an awesome thing, engulfed in shame,” he raps. But on Kids See Ghosts, and on “Reborn” especially, they’re doing their best. Kanye and Cudi have never been experts at synthesizing these experiences into music - it’s messy, so it sounds that way. But not everyone has the language or peace of mind to process what they’ve been through once they’ve pulled themselves out of depression. I can’t think of another rapper who has been as candid as he has about seeking treatment to keep himself alive.
Kid Cudi has made a career of talking about his mental health. We should always be talking about what it’s like to lose the will to live, to feel suffocated by sadness, to be consumed by nothingness. We’ve been talking about suicide a lot around these parts because of recent high-profile losses, but it’s a subject that’ll never die. Read our picks below, share yours in the comments, and subscribe to the Vulture Playlist for a comprehensive guide to the year’s best music. If the song is worthy of your ears and attention, you will find it here. Every week Vulture highlights the best new music.
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