Sometimes I find myself stuck in a negative mental loop for hours. With mental loops in general, we find ourselves replaying events or situations over and over in our heads. In a negative mental loop, we’re replaying events that deeply bother us.
And more often than not, negative loops arouse unwanted, antipathetic feelings about ourselves that become increasingly intrusive. Holly Wild’s newly released single, “Inside My Head”, showcases the internal struggle with living within this loop when all we want is to be mentally free.
“Inside My Head” is an alt-pop single that explores how we transform into our own worst critic when stuck in a negative mental loop. The song opens with a deep guitar melody that’s heavily reminiscent of Creed and Incubus. Simultaneously in the music video, the audience sees Wild lighting a candle before quick flashes of their eye and a darken hallway occupy the screen. This symbolizes how easy it is to trigger a negative mental loop. Wild then begins the first verse by describing what their loop is. This is followed up with how the loop brings on feelings of shame that feed into low self-esteem in the second verse. The sudden crashing of the cymbals brings on both the chorus and a temporary moment of freedom from the negative mental loop. Here listeners are reminded that the things we tell ourselves when stuck in a loop are cruel, intensified imaginations – they’re just simply not true despite our inner critic convincing us otherwise. Unfortunately, the ending of the chorus within the music video is met with a fire breather exhaling a plume of fire – quite figuratively, a trigger has breathed new life into the negative mental loop. It effectively demonstrates that an awareness of our inner critic’s illegitimacy sometimes is not enough to ward off their persuasive but invasive nature. Wild reveals how their inner critic has interrupted and ruined opportunities within their life in the third and fourth verses before being teased with the chorus’s momentary liberation. While the chorus is progressing this time around, the music video flashes through multiple visuals of places and things that evoke the same feelings of entrapment; providing listeners with direct imagery of what being stuck in a negative mental loop is like. In the final verse, Wild makes an emotional plea to be released from the grasp of their inner critic and in turn, the negative mental loop. But listeners and watchers of the music video can sense an air of ambiguity regarding whether this plea was accepted. As the powerful, melancholy song nears its end two different projections repeatedly run over Wild: a blackened gridlocked pattern and bright pink waves with whitened edges. Ending the song in uncertainty flawlessly embodies how there are no definitive answers or solutions when dealing with such a prominent internal struggle – we just simply find a way live alongside it.
Australian singer and songwriter, Holly Wild, grew up in a musically inclined family. Her childhood was filled with grand evenings of familial harmonies sang alongside recordings of Roy Orbison. Classic 60’s and 70’s rock and folk music would later become inspirations for the artist’s own projects. Wild believes music is the window into the soul and the foundation for establishing deep relationships. All of which can be seen in the artist’s discography. If you’ve enjoyed Wild’s music as much as I have, you’ll be thrilled to know their debut EP, Wild, is coming out soon. While patiently waiting for its release, you can show the artist some virtual love in the form of streams, likes, and follows.
Written by Giavanna Gradaille
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