Dende - A Happy Man (Album)

Starting off the record with a prologue to set the tonality of this record, Dende is scattering all these jewels to the four winds with how swiftly he's letting his reflective pen work its magic. A beautiful way to begin this introspective journey into that of "A Happy Man," what is happiness? Nobody is going to be happy all the time. It's just another emotion that comes & goes; if anything, it's bittersweet. You can hear the pain in his voice as he pushes forward despite all the tragedy he's faced & how softly it bleeds into the following number is so heavenly. Being "Close2U" could possibly alleviate all that pain; we've been apart for too long. I'd say he sounds prepared to meet up again; clearly, he's been working on himself with all his passionate candor throughout.

Calling on Chris Patrick & Bairi to turn down requests for their "Phone Number," you can't have it. I'm sure everybody has felt like playing the delete game with their phone, just to get rid of people that don't even really care about you like that but also just people wasting your time. Just be straight with them is all they ask, but it seems she's playing hard to get or just doesn't wish to hear any of his shit, him either. He's too busy facing "A Happy Man's Demons," all that self-doubt & criticism, expressing deep regret from his past while struggling with the fact that he's not that same person anymore. He's grown exponentially; he's not afraid to admit that he cried; life is no easy task, but it isn't supposed to be. There's no room for growth if it's just a breeze to get by, as much as we want it to be.

People want many different things out of this game; Dende just wants the money. He, like I'm sure a majority of us, are simply just tired of being "Broke." They took the cards they were dealt & have been doing more than the bare minimum with them. They've been putting in work, even when the pressure was an inch away from folding them, they persevered, Dende didn't "Wait!" for things to happen & he couldn't ask for anyone to do the same while he figures this life out. Though he hopes they see that he's trying, maybe even cheering him on in the distance, anything to make sure he smiles through the pain, gotta train your brain to reach that level of emotional intelligence. It's the one thing we actually have control over, more than we allow ourselves to believe.