On Sam Steen’s show on Today Radio, musician Jordan Edward Benjamin, aka grandson, spoke candidly about his new album “I Love You, I’m Trying,” out now, as well as his previous debut album “Death of an Optimist.”
So far, this tour has been exhausting, he revealed, having released the album only one week prior to hitting the road. Jordan isn’t sure he’d do it this way again, now he knows he’d rather let the album breathe and have time to mentally prepare for the project to be released. On the other hand, he did say that it has been enjoyable to watch audiences learn the songs as the tour goes on and see, in real time, which songs audiences connect with most.
The quick jump from release to tour was not entirely unplanned. Benjamin found it helpful to give himself these strict deadlines otherwise the album would never have been completed. In total, the first mix had forty songs which was been whittled down to twelve. Benjamin had songs he needed to force out of him to stumble on tracks that felt honest to his current life. He said he needed to give up writing music he thought would sell tickets, or he thought his fans would want to hear and, instead, write for himself, creating a very different album than his first.
The title of this album, “I Love You, I’m Trying” is directed both to himself and the people that kept him grounded over the past few years. Benjamin says “it is an apology that tries to reclaim a little bit of understanding that we are going through a hard time.” The new sound and style reflects all the ways he’s changed since going through the pandemic, going on tour for the first time, meeting his partner, and going to therapy. He says “to be authentic is to change,” and fans will respect the stylistic changes he’s made because they want authentic music.
One of the personal changes Benjamin realized he had to make was drawing boundaries. While it can be fun to be as close as possible to his fans, he cannot give them everything. Part of being a musician and artist is having some distance between yourself and those that consume your art. He came to this conclusion after an awkward fan interaction on tour in which he took a group of twelve fans out to bar when he was supposed to have a one-on-one reunion with some old friends. Balance is important as a musician, he learned, finding the midpoint between being authentic and open about your experiences while keeping some distance and maintaining a private life.
grandson will be in Luxembourg on September 17 playing at the den Atelier. Get your tickets here.
To hear the whole interview on RTL Play click here, or listen via the player below.
The genre hopping Canadian is currently touring his superb 2nd album I Love You, I’m Trying and is set to play at den Atelier on September 17th.
