“Everyone’s asking me what’s wrong?”
There’s something deeply unsettling about Errors by garage pop newcomers K.I.D. On the debut single the two piece, made up of Kara Lane and Chris Rabba, the sugary sweet pop sound of the track sits uneasily with the bleak subject matter lyrics, something the band describe on Genius as “a social commentary on the anti-depressant generation (Millennials).” This dichotomy has a two-fold effect on the overall emotional value of the song.
The first effect is simple and honest; that the work as an expression of art helps Lane as its author deal with her own issues: “Speaking to an experience as grim as depression via a simple pop song makes those dark, complicated occurrences a little bit more digestible for me.” This is undeniably healthy and in many ways the pop sheen of Errors is a good representation of how those with mental health issues seek to cover them up, especially via a perfected social media presence.
However, the second effect is more complex and what really unsettles me about the track. When I first it (without having done any research) I felt like it was somehow cashing in on mental health issues in the same way that some mainstream popstars have done the same with faux feminism (*coughs* Taylor Swift). Although I now know better, the idea that the average listener (most of whom won’t do any reading about the creators) could listen to the track and feel like mental health issues are something to be celebrated, lauded and thus trivialised is something I continue to find deeply troubling.