Editing this episode triggered my realization that this podcast should actually be called “Jensen McRae & Other Recovering Theater Kids.” Jake, like so many of my friends and previous guests, was involved in theater as a child, and it helped him find his place and his voice. I joke a lot about the humiliations and indignities of doing theater as a child, but it is a salve for so many of us. At the end of the day, as Jake says in the episode, “it takes a village, but it takes you.” It’s vital to tap into the support systems and communities that are available to us, and it is also vital to tap into and trust yourself.
I think my other most profound takeaway from this conversation is about the idea of catharsis vs. healing. There’s a lot of talk of songwriting as therapy, and Jake presented a nuanced view of this that really resonated with thoughts I’ve had but not previously vocalized. Ultimately, the act of creating art can be wonderfully cathartic, but can be insufficient as a way of fully processing pain. This outlook lends itself to another observation that Jake made, when referring to a documentary he watched about David Lynch, which is that directors with long discographies are often telling the same story over and over but perfecting it. There’s nothing wrong with that kind of creative quest, but I find that as a songwriter in particular, it’s worth interrogating. Why this story? Why must this pain be rendered beautiful, interesting, acceptable, and why must it happen so many times over? Perhaps the healing process for certain traumas can only begin when the cameras and microphones have turned off.
I hope you love this episode as much as I do. It’s a gift because I’m giving it away.
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