Like any great album, these songs completely capture specific emotions: anger, frustration, hopelessness, joy, acceptance, and more, sometimes all at once. I got this CD about 10 years after it released, but teenage Justin felt all these emotions as fully as any teenager could, most times all at once.

This is the kind of album I’d put on when I didn’t want to be around other people but didn’t want to be alone. At that age, I wanted so badly to be extroverted because it seemed like that was the cool way to live. As I’ve grown, I recognize the joy of being in solitude, with one or two people around at most. Just because I can have a conversation with anybody doesn’t mean I want to. It is physically exhausting to be around People. People are gross, and People, whether it be in the store or a restaurant or an office, can be rude and obnoxious. My parents always said told us to act like we had some sense. Most People clearly weren’t given this advice.

TM2YL made me feel normal for having conflicting emotions. I told my Sunday School teacher I was mad all the time. She told me “Dogs get mad. People get angry.” I was angry a lot as a teenager, especially at people who weren’t raised to have the same manners or work ethic as me. I still have these feelings occasionally, but I have learned to try to acknowledge that we may have lived in different worlds. This album helped me channel that energy in a better way. Sometimes these choruses resonated so strongly I offered them as prayers. Sometimes I still do. I reckon that’s the point.