When there’s an invisible barrier between yourself and everyone else, how do you make your experiences heard and understood? Art is one such medium that can bridge the gap and music is an especially powerful conduit. This is something that 22-year-old singer-songwriter Bertie Newman discovered long before his ADHD diagnosis, which only happened at the age of 22. Feeling different and not knowing why, Bertie picked up his acoustic guitar and a pen to begin processing his individual experience. The resulting piece of work is his evocatively named Thoughts So Loud EP.
Speaking about his Thoughts So Loud EP, Bertie shares that: “The idea for this being the name of the EP arose straight off ‘I Will’. When I first wrote that lyric, it just spoke very personally into my life. I was diagnosed with ADHD last year as a 22-year-old man, which is a relatively late diagnosis as it is usually diagnosed when people are kids as they haven’t had a chance to socially adapt and it seems far more present in their behaviour. Having 22 years of feeling like I was different and had qualities missing and also qualities present that others didn’t, it was a big relief and the start of a journey when I found out. I felt very little empathy but never knew that was the case until I met my partner. This started to form the basis of the EP as she showed me one of the most crucial parts of human existence – how to feel for others. Suddenly I felt anger and sadness on behalf of this person and I truly had never felt that before.”
Recommended! Discover ‘Thoughts So Loud’ EP on Spotify:
