Every week, the Milwaukee Music Premiere sponsored by Density Studios connects the city’s artists with our listening audience. If you’re an artist with a track you’d like us to debut exclusively on Radio Milwaukee, head over to our Music Submission page to learn how.
There’s an arresting part of Milwaukee folk-pop artist Grayson’s new track, “I Don’t Know Me at All,” that stands in contrast to pretty much everything else in the song. It’s so simple on the surface, and yet it turns the message into a 10,000-watt billboard.
In the nearly three minutes preceding that section, the 18-year-old singer-songwriter painstakingly (and undoubtedly painfully for her) spells out the details of a toxic relationship she experienced. “I remember feeling SO lonely and isolated, feeling like I couldn’t trust myself at all,” she explained. “At the same time, I truly started to believe that most of this was deserved, that it was my own fault, and I struggled between deciding whether to choose myself or the person I had cared about for so long.”
Grayson gets right to it in the opening lines, layering her lovely and clearly affected vocals over a stripped-back arrangement consisting solely of acoustic guitar:
Made up a version of some guy
That doesn't quite exist
I sit in silence asking why
As if I don't tell myths
About what happened between us
About how I was far too weak
You think I'm good at hurting you?
Man, I'm great at hurting me
More of that follows across two verses and two choruses. Then comes the part that really connects. It’s lyrically so very basic — just her singing slight variations on “To get to you” and “To get to me.” But it hits so hard. It’s like having a friend attempt to explain away the horrible situation they’re in and then, when the words stop, you see this honest look on their face that actually tells the whole story.
It makes for a rewarding listening experience that almost didn’t happen, due to Grayson being “terrified … to put this song into the world. But if just one person listens to it and feels seen, then it will all be worth it.”
You, being one person, can help Grayson get to that goal by enjoying “I Don’t Know Me at All” using the player at the top of the page or catching it on 88Nine throughout today (6:30 and 10:30 a.m.; 2:30 and 6:30 p.m.). You’ll also be able to find the song in all the usual streaming places starting this Saturday, June 14.
