Pop-Culturalist.com

Actor, artist, and comedian Jordan Doww is no stranger to the limelight. He’s best known for the comedic and dynamic characters he’s brought to life in projects including The Commute, It’s Sketchy, Reach, and Mr. Student Body President.

But behind closed doors, Jordan was struggling with his mental and physical health—which he’s opening up about in his new song, “Had Enough”. More importantly, the song is an anthem to push forward and change your life for the better.

Pop Culturalist had an open and vulnerable conversation with Jordan about the release.

PC: Fans will recognize you for the work that you’ve done on screen. What have you learned as an actor that you’ve been able to apply to your music career?
Jordan: That’s a good question. It’s allowed me to dive into more honesty in my work. Acting has been a way for me to connect to a deeper part of myself. I know that I’m playing a character when I do these roles, but it’s allowed me to find so much more about myself that I wasn’t aware of growing up. It’s been this beautiful journey of self-discovery.

With music, I’ve been able to tap into all of these memories and emotions that I may have buried. That’s why I love music, acting, and the arts in general. I’m able to tap into something so much deeper than what’s on the surface. That’s why I’ll always love being a creator.

PC: You’ve got a new single out now. Tell us about “Had Enough” and the inspiration behind the song.
Jordan: I had just moved back to Michigan from LA. It was in the middle of the pandemic. I had my own mental health issues at the time. The world was shut down. My finances were running low. I moved back home temporarily. I remember sitting in a bath. I felt this sense of failure drowning me. It was a lot. I remember writing a lot when I moved back in with my parents. I wrote a lot and I painted a lot. I had to let this creative energy out. It was profound because I wanted to tap into that my last few years in LA.

My busy lifestyle and the status of everything was a lot. I wasn’t able to hear what was going on. At the time, I was struggling with a lot and I wasn’t aware of any of it. When I moved back home, I put everything to paper. I remember texting my producer and collaborator my journal entries. She was like, “Oh my god. We need to turn this into something.”

She sat down at the piano one night and started coming up with a little tune based off of my journal entries. She sent me a verse. I sent her back a verse. Two months later, I drove back across the country and hung out with her for a month and we made this song. We sat together and wrote the chorus. It was kind of about a breakup. When she sent me the first bounce (which is what we call the production), I remember driving through Mulholland (Mulholland is my depression drive). I remember hearing it while driving through the hills. I was like, “This song means so much more than we were aware of at the time.” When I was listening to it, I was getting chills. It felt like a direct message to myself. It was almost like my subconscious was trying to tell me something.

I’ve had a few people raise their eyebrows at me and ask, “Is this about ending it all? Is this about the dark stuff?” I was like, “No, it’s the opposite.” I can see where people are getting that message from, but for me, I was sitting in my suffering too long. We as people can do that. It’s uncomfortable to make changes. It was an ode for me to get my sh*t together. I needed to put the work in and change some much-needed things.

PC: This is such an honest and vulnerable song. Has it always been easy for you to tap into that vulnerability?
Jordan: It hasn’t. I hate to say it, but it took experiencing a lot of struggle in my life to be able to actively tap into something and let it go. When I first started my career, I was playing the game and playing the part. When my career was at its height, I had people telling me to write a book. I had people telling me to talk on all these panels. I didn’t have much experience at the time.

I had lived a unique lifestyle, but I didn’t have the struggle yet. Now, I’ve gone through it and seen the ebbs and flows of life. I know I’m only 26, but I feel like at 26 I’ve seen too much. It’s gotten easier to tap into that vulnerability. In a way, this might sound a bit crazy, but I almost needed to tap into the vulnerability because I feel this immense need to release it.

To be honest, it’s really hard for me to not call out the elephant in the room. I know no one sees what that elephant is, but I feel it. If I can lead with honesty and my truth, that lessens the weight it has on me. What better way can I do that than with some form of creation?

PC: You’ve paired this song with an equally emotional music video. How did you come up with a concept for that and also the idea of marrying clips from your past?
Jordan: When I moved back to Michigan, I connected with this cinematographer and I had mentioned the idea. I was like, “I have this music video. It’d be really cool to work together on it.” I really didn’t have a vision for it, but after sitting down with him we got to know each other better. He was so fascinated with the life that I had lived and the life I was experiencing now.

We started off making this docuseries. It’s in the vault right now. We haven’t finished it yet, but I was touching on these deep emotional topics. Half of what we filmed for the series ended up going into the music video.

The music video explores the struggle of an artist. While it may not be my exact experience, everything that you see is something that I can relate to or something that I felt. It just may be a little heightened. Parts of the video explore my past. Honestly, I didn’t know that Matthew (the director) was going to do that. I remember watching the video for the first time and bawling my eyes out. I was like, “Oh my God. This got so much more personal.” But it’s beautiful because it’s so true.

I’ve been so scared to touch on that because people always viewed me as this bubbly, happy, goofy guy. Little did they know behind the scenes that I was really struggling with my mental and physical health. I feel like it was a story I wasn’t sharing. The more that I acted like it wasn’t happening, the worse it got. The video is so real. I was scared to post it. I was terrified.

PC: You received an outpour of support from your fans, and they expressed how much the song and the video has meant to them. What has that response meant to you?
Jordan: This is probably my proudest work in my career. I feel like in today’s society, we’re all bombarded with social media, numbers, engagement, and all of that. The landscape has changed. Even to have an ounce of support was profound to me. The number of people that are messaging me about it and saying that they relate to it or that they could see my heart through it or they loved my vulnerability and honesty, means a lot. As I said, I was terrified to post it. I was so nervous that showcasing this darker side would make people turn away.

Some people did. I lost followers and subscribers. But that’s just a number at the end of the day. I’d rather only have people around and in my circle that are here for the long game and supporting the ebbs and flows.

I feel like people were so attached to the comedic, goofy side. The support has meant so much to me. I remember crying the other day, responding to comments, because it was my most honest and proudest work. To have that support has been amazing.

PC: As we look ahead to the rest of 2022, what can fans expect from you? Are we leading to an album or EP?
Jordan: I haven’t thought about it. I’m very much at a place where I’m creating what calls out to me at the time. I know that may be very confusing in terms of entertainment industry standards. I’ve been trained to stick to one thing, and unfortunately, I will never be that way. I like too many things. I like learning new things. I love exploring different things.

During the pandemic, my neighbor and I met and started creating together. I found so much love through it. It was so therapeutic. I’ll never want to turn down something that makes me feel good. So that’s what this chapter is bringing.

I have maybe 30 demos. So maybe we’ll make them an EP, maybe we’ll make them an album. They’re all different sounds. I’ve touched on pop-punk. I’ve touched on acoustic. I’ve touched on pop. I’ve touched on indie. For me, I feel like I have to have one sound. But at the same time, I also don’t want to adhere to one sound. I love whatever this chapter brings or whatever the moment brought. I just want to create.

To keep up with Jordan, follow him on Twitter, Instagram, Spotify, and Apple Music. Pick up or stream “Had Enough” today.

Photo Credit: Mathew Pimental