The impetuous for this record, thematically and creatively, was to take some of the energy of a live show and put it on this record. RUSTON: In the Shape & Destroy studio session, we had attempted “Hellfire.” We just couldn’t quite nail it. Was that an obvious song to make this album? You’ve been playing “Hellfire” live for a while. There is still a plan to release a live record, I’d love to be the type of artist that has a lot of live records but it wasn’t the right timing then. That’s the one frustrating thing about being an artist with a label, there is budgetary red tape at times and the pandemic really affected that. RUSTON: That was in the works and we had started mixing it. The one thing I do remember seeing is that you were hinting about releasing a live record.

During that process, I was purposefully staying off social media so I could focus on the art of it without thinking about those things that kind of come around sometimes that don’t matter. I got home on Christmas Eve and then flew out February 1 to finish the record. off and on, off and on, and then I did the two-month tour and got home in November for a week and then went straight to the studio in December. to start working on this record, at least writing songs for it, in May 2021. Because of the pandemic, I had to do the Shape & Destroy tour in the middle of working on this record. This record is the longest record that I’ve worked on before. At the same time, I was working on this record. I had to reassess what my relationship with social media is and was and I still am reassessing. RUSTON: From a social media perspective, the year 2021 I purposely stayed off social media.

Was I missing signs on social media or were you a little quiet leading up to this? The new album seemed to be a bit of a surprise. Working with an outside collaboration ( Nate Mercereau) for the first time in his career, Kelly’s openness and honesty continues to be on full display on The Weakness, the artist’s most accessible album to date. Following a very public divorce that found Kelly in the tabloids, the singer got to work on songs that document self-examination in a time of change and the process of healing. 2020’s Shape & Destroy was a relationship album with songs written during Kelly’s marriage to Kacey Musgraves.

2018’s Dying Star detailed the singer’s drug addiction and recovery. Ruston Kelly’s always been candid when it comes to lyrics.

GROWING by keaton st. james