George Ezra spoke to Lorraine in 2018 when he released his second album Staying at Tamara’s. In the interview he speaks about his experience of dealing with anxiety.
“I can’t stress enough how fortunate I have been with my experience of it (anxiety), I was able to identify what was triggering it, so at first you’re… I don’t think we’re equipped with the vocabulary to understand, because if I walk in here with a broken arm and sit down here, you know… where as I think people are more than able to, you know masquerade, and then can be going through who knows what!”
“I think the biggest thing for me was, we all function better when we’re busy and needed and we have commitments and there’s a reason. I think that at the beginning of writing the record I was going through that, and it wouldn’t have worked unless I spoke about it on the record, and now speak about it when I’m going out. So I just think everything is too short not to. But I think the more we do that, the better things will be.”
An example of how George Ezra references his anxiety through his music is on the track Pretty Shining People, see the lyrics below:
I turned to him said: “Man help me out
I fear I’m on an island in an ocean full of change
Can’t bring myself to dive in to an ocean full of change
Am I losing touch
Am I losing touch now?”
He said, “Why why, what a terrible time to be alive
If you’re prone to overthinking and
Why why, what a terrible time to be alive
If you’re prone to second guessing” and
Hey pretty smiling people
We’re alright together, we’re alright together
Hey pretty shining people
We’re alright together, we’re alright together
There is a beautiful message in this song. George Ezra is saying he fears change and is “prone to overthinking” but he confides in his friend and his friend comforts him and says it’s alright because we’re together, you don’t have to deal with this anxiety on your own.
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