I fell in love with a girl on September 8th, 2020. She was sitting in my patio during a party, smoking a cigarette with the kind of self assuredness that you can't help but admire. It happened immediately for me, but as we started spending more and more time together (largely in part to my giddy persistence), I noticed that the feeling was mutual. But it was more than just the adoration. She knew me better than anyone within five minutes of meeting me. It was in a lot of ways what some people look for their entire lives, but my heart was unsettled and I wasn't ready to give myself entirely to her. I took her love for granted and ultimately lost the privilege of having it.

Over the next 365 days I would learn just how rare what we had was, and process and channel that experience in the most natural way I knew how: music. Even months after she had gone, it was still effortless for me to tap back into how absolutely fucking magical it felt to be loved by her. The songs came from the purest place within myself, and after a while started taking shape into what would become my debut album, The Love Umbrella.

One year later to the day I made my final edit and pressed the record. This is that final draft, from start to finish, all in one place. The album was never meant to be separate songs but instead a cohesive narrative that blended seamlessly from one to the next. It was meant to feel like a movie, more specifically one with a happy ending. I gave so much of myself to this project and to date it is easily my proudest contribution to the airwaves. I learned more about myself in the process of making it than from probably anything else ever, and am definitely a different (in a good way) person because of it and her. It goes without saying that this is my most personal release to date, which is why I wanted to share it in this format.

The winner of this piece will receive:

- (2) VIP tickets to any non-private/festival Grady shows in perpetuity

- Access to a token gated archive of demos/ future releases by Grady

- The Love Umbrella vinyl

- The Love Umbrella t-shirt

- The Love Umbrella .jpeg file

- The Love Umbrella .wav file