It might be a universal experience where all of us as kids, want to grow up sooner ― maybe to buy the things we want that our parents can’t afford to give us, or to do things that are restricted for us to do as young ones, or maybe just to explore more in general. But now that we are already grown up, we all share the same sentiments again, we all just wanted to shrink as the little us again, because we were freer and more confident as kids, right? We also don’t have problems just like how we have in the present.
Singer/songwriter Evolsi released an EP that’s inclined and talks about this very situation entitled Growing Down. The EP offers six tracks for us to enjoy. Evolsi shared, “I wrote this EP about how growing up sometimes feels like growing down. I was always the tough kid, brave and truly fearless. As I got older, all of the confidence and fearlessness that came naturally in childhood seemed to evaporate. I became scared of life, my surroundings, and even myself. I grew up in a household with a parent who struggled with addiction and so much of my anxiety came from the lack of control and safety that I felt at times. When I was younger, I could shake it off but the older I got the more the feelings and trauma became undeniable. I wrote this project to express all of these feelings and to also inspire and be there for others who may have been through similar experiences.”
Growing Down opens with Nobody Knows, a song that recognizes one self’s struggles and tells that you did great because despite all of that, you survive. Maybe other people might not recognize it, but you made it through, and your present self is proud of you.
The songs Help! And Holding My Breath are two sides of the same coin. Help! is a song for wanting to be saved from all the matters ― depression, growing up, responsibilities while being broken, and drowning from your own thoughts and past traumatic experiences. Holding My Breath is the song that explains Help!’s backstory. It is a song about the perpetrator, the root cause of all these traumas. Sometimes, even when you know someone loves you, their actions can contradict their words. They unintentionally hurt you because their self-destructive behavior prevents them from seeing the impact of their actions on those around them.
Losing Game and I Hope You Know are songs that share the same themes of sadness and grief of not being able to heal from the scars you reap from childhood up until you become an adult. Losing Game focuses more on fighting through it all, while I Hope You Know takes on a more hopeful tone, of finally healing maybe not now, but someday.
And for the EP’s conclusion and closing is the song Growing Down. It talks about the irony of growing up and being more and more afraid of the world. Ironic how when we were kids, we used to take on the world, ready as we were, but now, we aren’t as ready as we were.
Growing Down is now available to listen to on your preferred music streaming platforms! Go and give it a listen!
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About the Author
Angel Mariah Rodiel – Mari to the people she’s fond of – is a BA Literature student currently studying in Central Luzon State University. Writing, arts, and music are some of the things she’s been most passionate about ever since she was a kid. Mari’s little dream is to build a band that will open for Paramore’s concert someday. Pop-punk and alternative rock are her comfort music genres, K-pop and J-rock comes close as third and fourth.
