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Feb 01, 2022 By Caleb Campbell

Later this month, singer/songwriter Tyler Meacham is set to share her new album Into The Fray, the first full-length offering from the indie songwriting talent. Meacham debuted in 2019 with her first EP, Property, after leaving her corporate job to explore her songwriting dreams. On her upcoming full-length debut, Meacham moves quickly between full-blown pop productions and stripped-back numbers, showcasing new vulnerable corners to her songwriting and anthemic pop heights. She explores that authentic core on her latest effort, “You Mean Self,” premiering early with Under the Radar.

On “You Mean Self,” Meacham explores the tension between her faith and the outward hypocrisy she sees from the faithful. She laments the hypocrisy and selfishness of people who, as she puts it, say God but mean self. She wonders, “What’s left of holy these days? / Couldn’t find it in church or the state / If I fall in line for my faith when it’s weaponized / No saving face.” Meanwhile, the accompanying instrumental rings with the quiet strength of indie singer/songwriter fare and the crystal clear presentation of a pop production. Resonant chimes of guitar and shimmering production interlock with Meacham’s airy vocals to beautiful effect. Later, the song ascends to its final strident form with the stomping gospel-tinged bridge, transforming into a soaring anthem in its climactic moments.

Meacham explains of the track, “‘You Mean Self’ is a song about individuals that say ‘God’ but only think of themselves, rather than the selfless love that ‘God’ is supposed to signify. I’m a person of faith, although I’ve spent the last several years of my life reinventing what that truly means to me. It’s no secret that a large portion of the country leans on Christian morals as a political platform, even though the U.S. was supposedly founded on the principle of separation of church and state. I never quite had the words to describe the anger I felt about this because part of it is just frustration towards the blatant hypocrisy.”

She continues, “Then, I came across words from Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez spoken during a House Oversight Hearing in defense of LGBTQ rights. She said: “I feel as though if Christ himself walked through these doors and said what he said thousands of years ago—that we should love our neighbor and our enemy, that we should welcome the stranger, fight for the least of us… he would be maligned as a radical and rejected from these doors.” I reflected on that video a lot and eventually got the idea for this song. In my opinion, somewhere along the way — politicians learned to bend the values of religion to fit their platforms and satisfy their personal advancement — while completely whitewashing the figure that this entire religion was based on.”

Check out the song below. Into The Fray is out everywhere on February 25th.