The cover art for theMIND’s new album, Don’t Let It Go to Your Head, shows a young Black couple kissing with plastic bags over their heads. Photographed by Nolis Anderson, it’s a take on René Magritte’s 1928 surrealist painting The Lovers, which shows two people—one in a jacket and tie, the other in a top that exposes what could be a white shoulder—kissing through white cloth wrapped completely around their heads.
TheMIND explores these sociopolitical issues through the context of his own experiences and traumas, grounding himself in the belief that he’s accountable for who he is and what he does with that. His debut solo project, 2016’s Summer Camp, was a coming-of-age tale—what he calls a “grandiose story of the boy turning into a man”—but DLIGTYH reflects larger community-wide and systemic struggles.
For Don’t Let It Go to Your Head, Wilder enlists a familiar group of artist friends, selecting his collaborators—Kari Faux, Sun, and Chicagoans Saba, Qari, and Phoelix—based on the textures of their voices. Montreal producer Da-P handles all the production except on the song “Craig,” where he works with Los Angeles-based producer Esta.
Wilder can’t speak on his traumas without recalling his youth. The song “Craig” is inspired in part by a story about a childhood friend and neighbor who was also in foster care. Wilder remembers one day when he and his buddies saw Craig run out into the rain. “He looked up at the sky and said, ‘Is that all you got, God?’” Wilder says. “Literally, a bolt of lightning hit right next to him. It was like God [said], ‘Stop playing with me, bro.’ Craig just ducked and ran back on the porch like, ‘Yo, what the fuck!’” In the song, Wilder croons to himself, “You play too much.” He gives an honest account of the hardships he and his people have endured, and of tender moments overshadowed by violence.
“So now you have these kids who are acting out and who need actual help, but these systems that were set up to help have failed them. And not even failed them, since they’re playing and working the exact way that they’ve been set up to work.”
