International artist JTM takes a long hard look at the trauma of their past on their newest single and music video for “Try Again.” Its arrival comes at the end of a brief hiatus that began in 2019 after he released two records — We Came To Play and Five Years to Live. Two collections that revealed his penchant for rampant collaboration, as well as his uplifting and fiercely honest lyricism. Something that his latest single is overflowing with as it attempts to negotiate the tangled mess of strife that life often comprises.
In “Try Again,” JTM openly wrestles with their depression and the fallout of a broken home. Fluctuating between an honest expression of their struggle to replace a lack of family with people who truly care about them and a buoyant bravado to keep themselves afloat. “And my old girl told me dat you gotta / keep Copin Heart on my sleeve but you still finna roast him,” he raps over the track’s energizing medley of glowing riffs and rattling collection of beats. Across the song, JTM rides that thin line between a boisterous hype anthem and voracious introspection phenomenally well.
“No mama not today no no no no,” he pleads on the track’s distorted hook. Its words a gutting allusion to JTM’s traumatic childhood beholden to a mother that starved, beat, and abused him virtually every day of his young life. His words highlight the painful task that comes with detangling oneself from toxic biological and familial threads. But “Try Again” is also a powerful affirmation of the things JTM has survived — which leads to both an appreciation of life but also a recognition of their own durability as a person.
The music video for “Try Again” visualizes that struggle with a bit of tongue-in-cheek humor. In it, JTM walks over to a table in a snow-covered park where sits “Ozzy” — a red costumed figure that looks like a rejected sports team mascot — with a game of Connect Four. JTM starts playing Ozzy, but it soon becomes clear that the latter is quite the professional at the game, beating him over and over until he gets up in defeat. But after a bit of consoling from his opponent, he returns to the table to snag a victory — a reminder that even after numerous losses, all one really needs is that singular triumph to turn things around.
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Words: Steven Ward
Watch the music video for “Try Again” the new single from JTM below!
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