I think this generation is more aware of mental health, but also more consumed by self-analysis
Sometimes, when we look at certain people, we can almost see an embodiment of their thinking mind. It feels as if their thoughts formed a soft, visible cloud that floats around them, and if we just leaned in, we could hear the faint mechanical sound of their inner cogs. Recently, this has become a generational mood. We tend to disregard reality at first sight, and we slip into endless loops of “if” and “but,” almost without noticing. Sometimes it doesn’t even seem possible to escape these spirals, as if our minds refused to let us breathe for a moment. But is it really like this? I had a talk with Canadian R&B artist Myles Lloyd about his latest EP I’m Still Thinking, and something unexpectedly beautiful emerged from the way he sees all of this.
It’s dark outside, and suddenly you wake up in the middle of the night. Your body doesn’t know why, but your mind does, because it never really went to sleep. So you find yourself exhausted and anxious, overwhelmed by random thoughts at 3 a.m. You light a cigarette, but it doesn’t help. You put on chill music, yet even that doesn’t always soothe anything. And so you start analysing everything: every mistake, every possibility, every scenario that never happened. You start overthinking. And you end up suspended between doubt, remorse, and the fear of choosing wrong. That’s when a simple but heavy question arises: how do you stop this unfinished stream? How do you quiet a mind that refuses silence?
A key quote opens the conversation with Myles: “I think this generation is more aware of mental health, but also more consumed by self-analysis than ever before.” It really sheds light on a collective way of thinking. We are the generation that values psychological help more than any other, yet we are also constantly wired into what surrounds us and into what other people expect from us. It’s about caring, but sometimes we overcare. Questions and doubts become blocks. What we think we are supposed to do ends up chaining us to a version of ourselves we don’t even fully recognise. As Myles suggests, we often understand our choices only in hindsight. In one of his songs, he sings: “Trying to move forward in life, but I don’t know what is right.” For him, this isn’t a limit. Failing is part of becoming. Trying again is the only way forward. Otherwise, we fall into the trap of regret. Many times, we end up in situations where hesitation pushes us into decisions we later wish we hadn’t made. But we cannot live permanently in regret.
Sometimes letting go for real is the only freeing act we can offer ourselves. We cannot always control how we behave, or why. And for this reason, overthinking and paranoia can make us seem distant; sometimes we avoid people not because we don’t want them, but because we feel tangled and heavy. This is what Myles quotes as well, referencing his personal experience. However, beyond this thought, it is also true that misunderstanding and confusion often accompany us more frequently than we admit, shaping moments without us even realising. This theme is deeply explored in “I’m Still Thinking” as well, framing love and its complications. Distance and coldness, in these times, can have multiple meanings, yet are always more and more recurrent among people. As Myles sings in his song “Cold,” “Don’t blame it on December for why you’re cold, ‘cause even in summer your heart was frozen.” And this just creates loops.
I’m Still Thinking reflects these generational experiences with rare sincerity. In the EP, Myles Lloyd frames the traumas, doubts, and emotional spirals that define our times. The difficulty of keeping stable relationships not only with others, but first of all with ourselves. That’s where our conversation naturally moved: on what it means to feel overwhelmed by thoughts, how toxic comparison can become, and how painfully regrets strike. And exactly because of this, learning how to let go is essential. Let go of useless thoughts. Let go of external judgments. Let go of the comparison that eats away at our confidence. As Myles concludes: “In life, if you’re only in competition with yourself, how can you lose? When you compete with others, there’s always a chance of losing because the outcome depends on someone else. When you compete with yourself, the only standard is who you were yesterday. Every small step forward is already a win.”