05-02-2025
Michigander's Jason Singer on debut album: 'It took my whole life to make this'
Michigander's Jason Singer on debut album: 'It took my whole life to make this'
After 10 years of his solo band Michigander, Jason Singer felt the time was finally right to craft his debut album. So he created a collection of songs he classifies as "slightly political, very self-referential and critical of idiots."
Nothing could be more quintessentially Michigander.
The 12-track, self-titled record walks the line between alternative pop and indie rock, showcasing Singer's striking lyricism — equal parts sarcastic and vulnerable — his emotive, nasally voice and a nostalgic, polished sound.
Ahead of the album release on Friday and an accompanying show that night at The Basement East, Singer spoke with The Tennessean.
Why now is the right time for Michigander's debut record
In the years ahead of his first record, the 32-year-old Michigan native and Nashville transplant has risen to respect in the indie music space.
Michigander is known for his tracks "Misery," "In My Head" and "Let Me Down," and has hit the stage at music festivals that include Lollapalooza, Austin City Limits and 2024's Bonnaroo. Singer has performed alongside acts like Silversun Pickups, Pete Yorn, Manchester Orchestra and Andrew McMahon, and has released four EPs.
Now it's time for his biggest release yet.
"I feel like it took my whole life to make this even though I've made other things up until this point," Singer said, sitting in his home studio in Nashville with his two cats as snow melted outside. "It's the most authentic thing I've created and put out."
This is the first time Singer felt ready to release an album, and the first time he's felt solid enough as an artist. "I don't think I had the songs that were good enough."
But this time around, he undoubtedly had enough quality songs to choose from.
"I've wrote more songs for this than I have written collectively my whole life probably," he said, noting that he picked from about 50 tracks.
Having the time and ability to write that volume of songs is a uniquely Nashville privilege, Singer said, because there are so many co-writes happening in town with such regularity. It's just easier to churn out good work in Music City.
Miraculously, narrowing down the tracks for his album was somewhat easy. "It's the 12 best ones," Singer said.
That's where the fun began.
This is the first time Singer has crafted a collection of songs in the city that he lives in, having commuted to Detroit and Los Angeles to work on previous EPs.
"This is the first time I've gotten to go somewhere and take as much time as I wanted to do whatever I wanted," he said.
It's also the first time he has played piano on a record.
Singer got with his producer Jeremy Lutito at his studio in East Nashville, and the two started throwing paint at the wall.
"I wasn't embarrassed to try anything. I wasn't scared to try anything," Singer said.
As they created the record, Singer dove into the catalogs of artists he used to listen to in the 2010s, back when he'd grab CDs at the library or discover new bands from the previously defunct file-sharing software LimeWire.
"TV on the Radio was a big influence for this record, Blur, LCD Soundsystem." He was inspired by piano rock, too, listening to David Gray and the Fray.
Michigander pens anthems for people pleasers, those struggling with anxiety
"(The record) feels serious and sarcastic at the same time — it feels like an inside joke," Singer said.
"There's parts in it that are just me making fun of things. People might hear it and be like, 'Hell yeah, brother,' ... but really, I'm making fun of those people in a way."
This irony shows itself early in the record. There's the album's surging, percussive second track, "Emotional." While the tune is deceivingly hazy, positive and upbeat, the underpinnings are urgent.
"I'm so emotional," Singer belts, "But I don't know any other way / So I just roll with it / I never get out of my own way."
Singer's referring to "how people in a political environment are just so tied to emotions a lot of times," he said. "The whole Trump thing is so bizarre to me — it consumes a lot of my brain, how people are aligning with that in any way."
But the album isn't a political statement in its entirety.
It's about growing up, being in your 30s and all the real life, adult things you suddenly have to cope with.
Last year, Singer's mother almost died of a brain tumor. In 2023, Singer's wife was seriously injured after being run over by a truck. She's since healed, he said.
In his tracks, Singer is confronting a lot of the emotions associated with these events.
"I feel like the music is more for people in their later 20s and early 30s, which is what I wrote about," he said. "I'm trying to be true to my experience."
Singer's honesty allows him to do just that.
"I'll Be Okay," a reflective, bright track with buoyant drums and soaring saxophone, comes mid-album. The tune is Singer's response to struggling with severe anxiety and suffering from a horrible panic attack that landed him in the emergency room last year.
"I'll be okay," he sings. "But I'm not okay right now / I'm knocked down and I'm still out, so if you see me on the ground / It's okay / But I'm not okay right now."
Another one of Singer's favorite tracks on the album is "Giving Up," a tune he wrote in January 2024 in a day. It's his anthem for people pleasers, a conversational, determined track about trying to change destructive ways.
On the chorus, he intones: "I'm giving up trying to make you happy (cause I) / Gave you enough, and now I'm feeling empty inside / You're wearing me out, yeah, you're wearing me thin / You broke me down and now I'm caving in."
"Every day is just weird and scary (for everyone)," he said. "There's always gonna be people who have it worse off than you. ... Just because you're not on the verge of losing everything doesn't mean that your feelings and your thoughts and your troubles aren't valid."
The bottom line on Michigander's debut album is that life is complicated — aging is strange, politics are bizarre and mental health issues can kick you down. It's OK to sit in it; Singer's songs give you permission to do so.
But like Singer sings, you'll "be okay," too.
To learn more about Michigander, head to
Audrey Gibbs is a music journalist with The Tennessean. You can reach her at agibbs@
