As M.A.G.S. reveals tracks from his upcoming record, he gives glimpses of his personal growth throughout the last three years. Those years were transformative for M.A.G.S.’s Elliott Douglas, as he explains, “During that time I discovered that for most of my life I’ve always had a pretty negative outlook on myself overall, telling myself that all my friends secretly hate me and I’m not good enough at music.” His latest track and video “Choked Out” portrays a toxic relationship with the self.
“Choked Out” marks the ego death stage of Douglas’ journey, in which he realized that he could no longer spend any more time invalidating himself. In order to see past current predicaments, Douglas needed to learn self-love. “I’ve always been my own worst critic,” he explains. “It wasn’t until I wrote ‘Choked Out’ that I realized I could be my own biggest fan.” Early in the song, Douglas sings the line “karma takes me by the throat but I like to get choked out” – an analogy for sabotage and a lack of concern for the consequences.
With influences ranging from ASAP Rocky to Unknown Mortal Orchestra – Douglas tackles the aftermath of relationships both with others and with himself, and the process of sifting through the rubble and emerging having learned something. Douglas describes his upcoming music as “a little more grown up.” He continues, “I’ve managed to evolve my sound to a point where I feel like I can go in any direction I want after this. I gave myself permission on this album to experiment with new sounds and dive deeper into the production on each song, all while maintaining the energy and the spirit of my previous work.”
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