Grand Rapids, Mich., native Jason Singer is a multidimensional talent with a massive heart—one who sounds like he was weaned on the melody-infused punk/emo aesthetic of fellow Midwesterners Fall Out Boy and the Get Up Kids. Once in Nashville, Singer was matched with Jeremy Lutito, a Grammy-nominated writer/producer associated with major advertising campaigns and acts like Needtobreathe and Jars Of Clay. Amid the flurry of creativity that led to Michigander (Totally Normal/Thirty Tigers), Lutito served as producer, cowriter and sounding board, and his meticulous craftsmanship doesn’t leave a ton of room for Singer to move. There’s more Michigander in Michigander begging to come out—and that bodes well for the future.
Back in the here and now, Singer takes us through Michigander’s dozen tracks.
—Hobart Rowland
1) “Broadcast”
“This one is about how the world is so crazy sometimes that it feels like we’re on a television show. Every day, I wake up and read some horrible new story about how our country is going downhill. It sucks.”
2) “Emotional”
“Being alive is hard. We’re all just trying our best, despite being human. The key is to just keep going.”
3) “Peace Of Mind”
“I wrote this one with Butch Walker. It’s about living rich on minimum wage. It’s about how falling in love doesn’t solve all your problems. It’s about how the grass is truly always greener on the other side of the fence.”
4) “Giving Up”
“This is one of the last songs I wrote for this album. Last January, I went to a little cabin to write some songs and ended up only writing this one. I was so proud of it that, instead of trying to top it, I just drove back home that night.”
5) “Letterman”
“This was one of the first songs I wrote for the album. I had my guitar in a lower tuning and just started playing this riff over and over. I looped it on my computer and wrote over top of it. It’s one of those songs about growing up and coming to terms with the world changing around you.”
6) “Breaker Box”
“Written with Trent Dabbs and Jeremy Lutito, this song was the toughest to get right. I was trying to say a lot with this one without being too specific. It’s a song about not letting other people’s poor choices dictate your feelings—something I really struggle with.”
7) “Spitting Image”
“This track almost didn’t make the cut. But Jeremy edited it, and it turned out to be one of my favorite songs on the album. It has one of my favorite lyrics: “How long it takes to build the hill you’ll die on.” It’s about accepting your friends for who they are.”
8) “I’ll Be OK”
“This one’s about having my first-ever panic attacks. I was at SXSW in 2024, and I thought I might be having a heart attack. I went to urgent care, and everything was fine. Since then, I’ve had many severe panic attacks and so much anxiety for the first time in my life. It was such a strange new feeling. It took a lot of work and therapy and meds, but I currently feel like I got it under control. Side note: If you’re struggling, please talk to someone. Talk to your doctor; talk to a trusted friend. You can overcome it.”
9) “Important”
“This has been one of my fave ones to play live. It was originally supposed to be an upbeat rock song. But when I was writing it with Chris Koo and Sam Hollander, I showed it to them on piano and they were convinced it was more of a ballad. They were right. I absolutely adore this song and can’t believe it’s mine.”
10) “Episode”
“I wrote this one with Trent—it was our first time working together. It’s a song about realizing you maybe have outgrown people you used to feel really close with.”
11) “Socialite”
“This was my first real attempt at writing a ‘political’ song. I feel like it’s really hard to pull this off. I’m not sure I did. I’ll let the listener be the judge. It’s a song about being brainwashed by radical ideology. It’s for all the haters who tell me to ‘stick to the music’ whenever I share an opinion.”
12) “Hair”
“This song is so special. I wrote it when I got an heirloom family piano. I looped this piano part and wrote the song in one take. This one makes me cry—I hope it makes you cry, too.”
See Michigander live.
