Groove-rock band Dead Poet Society released single ".intoodeep." on September 24th, 2020. Dead Poet Society consists of four members: Jack Underkofler, Jack Collins, Dylan Brenner, Will Goodroad. They're from Boston, MA.
This song is strong and full of relatable frustration. I can't relate specifically to the lyrics - I'm not a musician, just a writer - I can relate on a similar level. The lines "All my friends are starting their lives / While I'm working nights tryna stay alive / I heard my boy just bought his own house / Told me I could crash while I figure it out," hit me hard. Choosing a different life path, in this song it's specifically choosing to pursue a musical career, than your peers can often bring a lot of pressure down on yourself and bring up questions that you struggle to find the answers for.
I'm 22 and I didn't go to college, unlike most of the kids I grew up with, and what I decided to do was write about music, to someday hopefully have a job in the music industry, and that's an uncommon life path. Going into the arts, in any aspect of it, is part luck, part risk, and a loooot of hard work. You have to put your everything into it, especially if it's all you have, all you know. I doubt myself with what I'm doing nearly every day. Especially with not being in school anymore, there's no grades to tell you if what you've done or created is right or wrong. A lot of my peers have graduated college by now, or are pursuing a higher degree. Some have moved out, moved states away from their families. Some have kids. Some are married. Some have nice houses. And here I am, with none of that; with a life that's entirely different than what was expected of me, with a life that's making me happy right now, but am I wasting my time? Should I have done what society expected me to do - attend college, move out, get married, aim for a 9-5 career?
But that's the thing, there's no right or wrong way to do life. Society's expectations of what they want your life to look like are just that, just expectations that don't really mean anything. Life is truly what you make it, and hopefully what you chose makes you happy and isn't harming anyone. Especially if you're in music - if it's making you happy then keep making it.
"Writing music that isn't popular anymore / Drinking by the fire talking bout my own desires / I know I'm sounding crazy / Know you think I'm fucking lazy / But you'll never understand / You'll never understand." Living in a small, conservative area with people who think you're lazy and crazy, that your dreams are just too big, too unrealistic is something I know all too well. You feel like people don't understand you and they really won't sometimes. It's frustrating, it makes you regret everything you've done and wishing you would have chosen something else, maybe you could have been doing better by now if you did what everyone else chose after high school. But, like the title of the song, you're in too deep now and there's really no turning back, only moving forward.
.intoodeep. captures really well what I feel right now at the age that I am, still figuring it all out with the different life path I chose compared to the kids I grew up with. If you're also experiencing something similar then it's probably the song for you as well.
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