Travie McCoy’s highly anticipated new solo album NEVER SLEPT BETTER was released this past Friday, with the album available to listen in full to at: ffm.to/neversleptbetter
In celebration of the album release, Travie McCoy premiered the music video for ‘Full Monarch‘. On the song, Travie shares, “Lyrically, it’s about escapism and a relationship gone bad. But it stems from a show we (Gym Class Heroes) played in Chicago on the 311 tour. We had high hopes for the show but something felt off that day. Right before we got on stage Matt and I saw an injured monarch butterfly and we tried to help it along. Later on when we were on stage, the show was all off and I was feeling down, I looked up and saw the same monarch butterfly fly across the stage and the rest of the band noticed too. From that moment I had a new appreciation for that show.”
The video, directed by frequent collaborators/directors, Spaced Visuals, captures the feeling that Travie had that day, and chronicles the mundane, fruitless nature of a toxic relationship and the transformation/metamorphosis that one feels when they realise they can leave the toxicity behind and become your true self.
“Full Monarch” rounds out an eclectic collection of singles and music videos from Never Slept Better, including “The Bridge ft. Elohim”, “Stop It”, “Spoonful of Cinnamon” and “Loved Me Back To Life”, which included features cameos from GaTa (from FXX’s Dave), Zach Holmes (Zackass), Toby Morse (H2O, Hazen Street), Wes Period, and Chad Tepper.
Growing up as a bi-racial kid in Geneva, NY, he grew up loving hardcore and punk rock, along with hip hop and R&B, and instead of choosing one lane, he created a genre-bending sound that changed what modern alternative and pop looked like. He formed Gym Class Heroes, a group that found a community in the alternative/punk space, but shot into the mainstream with hits like the 3x Platinum “Cupid’s Chokehold” and “Stereo Hearts.” But as a solo artist, he hit new heights, and jump-started the careers of a number of up and coming artists, with songs like the 4x Platinum, “Billionaire ft. Bruno Mars.”
Through all of this, Travie started battling with addiction and depression, leading into a real moment of rock bottom that almost ended his career and life. After getting into recovery and working through his constant demons, he started feeling creative again, and decided that he was going to be true to himself and his craft. He wanted to write music that he 100% believed in – that he could pour out his heart and soul into – and that could be the cathartic vehicle of self-expression that he was missing.
The result is NEVER SLEPT BETTER – the most honest, unpretentious, and devastatingly powerful album of his career. With an album title that references Richard Connell’s “The Most Dangerous Game,” The album encapsulates the past 10 years of Travie’s life with brutal honesty. It is a journey telling the trials and tribulations of addiction, mental health crises, and navigating the shady characters and frustrations one finds in the music industry, to get to a place where he could finally be at peace.
‘Never Slept Better’ Track listing:
1. ..never slept better..
2. Stop It
3. Deja Fait
4. Loved Me Back To Life
5. The Bridge (feat. Elohim)
6. Down and Out in L.A.
7. matty’s mattresses: deluxe la
8. A Spoonful Of Cinnamon
9. Another Round
10. Full Monarch
11. matty’s mattresses: from larvae to monarch
12. I Am Pagliacci
13. The Best Part Of Revenge
14. Karma Kama Sutra
15. Broken Barometer Blues
16. matty’s mattresses: weatherproof
17. I’ll Never Be Loved (feat. Hamzaa)
The album could have been a dark, depressing tome, but with Travie McCoy, where there is darkness there is also joy and hopefulness. After years of navigating treacherous waters, Travie McCoy has put together the most honest, vulnerable, raw and emotional music of his career. And he’s never slept better.
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