grouptherapy. Reclaims Their Childhood Innocence in 'i was mature for my age, but i was still a child'

Photo: Jumelles Studio

As life is lived and seasons experienced, looking back on the times in which you were commended for being “mature” for your age lands less gracefully. Was I wise beyond my years or put through experiences that urged me to grow up quickly? To stow away the sweet naivety of my adolescence to parent myself or survive a brutal world?

A risk that could only conceive true art, grouptherapy.’s i was mature for my age, but i was still a child is a boisterous reclamation. It demands back the youth, sovereignty, and time stolen from those evading accountability. It’s aggressive, abrasive, and sonically thrilling.

16 songs deep with a 49-minute run time, the project moves through every genre possible. It’s a robust work that samples every possible sound, from rap to rock to “Lightspeed ~>,” an electronic dance anthem that yanks you out of your skin. It’s evident that Jadagrace, SWIM, and TJOnline have all individually embarked on journeys of self-discovery, making a project to mark the intersection of their becoming. Throwing all of their findings in a bag and shaking it free, i was mature for my age, but i was still a child is centered on resilience and radical self-love, and it’s much too riveting to sit still through.

“how I’m feeling” is a particular standout, a song that begs to let emotion be felt rather than have advice and toxic positivity smother its natural dying process. True healing is surrender to pain’s spectrum and the consequential art it births. Between Jadagrace’s heavenly vocals and SWIM and TJOnline perfectly punctual verses, this album is just the art emotion paid its due respect can create.

We close out with “still alive,” a celebration of who you stand as once your experiences, both delicious and rancid, come together to form you. There’s a spoken word element to it, a sense of hope that burns in your stomach as TJOnline and SWIM both bare all. They have a brilliance that can’t be bottled nor taught and with fated stardom and a destiny fulfilled, grouptherapy. has solidified themselves as cultural forerunners.

Listen to i was mature for my age, but i was still a child below: