My first release for 2023 is out today. It’s titled “Gotta Learn to Love Myself”. Perhaps a clunky title but it is what it is. I couldn’t think what to title it and I didn’t want to spend considerable time trying to come up with the exact right title because, in the end, it’s just a title. Some people won’t mind it. Others will hate it and others won’t really care one way or another. And that would be true no matter what title I would have chosen.

The song is the first to be released with music composed by Genuist. The instrumental can be heard here.

The cover art for “Gotta Learn to Love Myself” was also settled on after deciding it doesn’t really matter to have an album cover that’s spectacular. Does that mean it would not have been nice to have a spectacular album cover? Of course it would have been nice. But I was limited in what I could do. Sometimes you don’t have the inspiration you need artistically. And that’s okay.

Gotta Learn to Love Myself isn’t a song about romantic love even though the lyrics might make it seem that way. It’s about love in general, and how you can spend your life trying to love others who don’t treat you well. It could be anybody. It could be your mother, your father, sister, brother, spouse, child, other relatives, people whose friendship you value but who don’t value your friendship in return. The message of the song is simply that you can’t be worrying about loving other people and having a good relationship with other people while you don’t love yourself and don’t have a good relationship with yourself. Don’t lose your self trying to make other people love you. Don’t compromise your dignity.

If you happen to give “Gotta Learn To Love Myself” a listen, thank you. I hope you enjoyed it.