This is the album I never wanted to write, but had to. “Regretful States of America” comes from a deeply personal place. It's about my experience, my story.
I was born in this country. It's my home, where I grew up, I served this Nation, and built my entire life. But somehow, none of that seems to matter. When you don't fit their image of who belongs here, when you look different, when you speak more than one language, when your name sounds "foreign" to them, you're treated like an outsider. They look at you with suspicion, like your birth certificate might be fake, like the hologram on your ID could be counterfeit. That's what "Say it in the Original German" is all about.
"Do it the Right Way" speaks to everyone who has followed every rule, who waited patiently in line, who paid every fee, who showed up dressed their best with hope in their heart, only to have the door slammed in their face. No explanation, no apology. Just "policy," just "timing," just being the wrong kind of people who finally got close enough to the finish line to become a problem.
And when you're still standing after all of that, something buried awakens inside you. Something they were counting on you forgetting. I wrote "I Remember / Yo Recuerdo" in both English and Spanish because both languages are mine, and the whole project of this political moment seems to be making people like me feel like that's something to be ashamed of.
This is Regretful States of America. Seven tracks from inside the decline. For everyone born here who still has to prove it. For everyone who did everything right while the goalposts kept shifting.