“Devil’s Advocate” is the new EP from performance artist, singer, songwriter, director, and producer, Jarid Root. A truly inspired piece and one of the most expressive, raw, irreverent, and honest materials we’ve heard as of late.

Today, Jarid is a very secure artist and human being, able to speak honestly about what he is and what he thinks. But it was not always like this. There were days when he -like many other people around the world- had to pretend to be someone else just to be accepted within the standards of what society calls “normal”.

Around the age of 13-14, Jarid discovered that he liked boys and his sexual identity started to shift. There were two separate Jarid and without many peers to confide in at the time, the overwhelming feelings drew him to the solitude of his room, exploring his mind, body, and the internet.

Those moments confront him with himself. “I did get made fun of for singing. From my personal experience, The South can be a very gendered, binary, super macho, deeply closeted area, and when I started going off to more of that stuff with entertainment, people would look at me from afar with a little bit of disdain and a little bit of envy”, he said.

Music was always one of his outlets and with “Devil’s Advocate”, he answers some questions, raises numerous new ones, and provokes listeners on a variety of real-life issues weighing on American society.

First let’s talk about you. You have lived many different processes in your life: acceptance, rejection, discovery, pain, etc. With all that, how would you define Jarid Root today?

If I were to define myself, Jarid Root, today… I’d say perseverant. Outspoken. Strong. And mindful. And most important of all, honest and transparent. I can say, as a gay artist and actor who’s grown up in the industry, through my years of discovering my own sexuality, self-expression and what that means to me, I’ve definitely grown into a stronger, more unapologetic truer version of myself. Hopefully, my journey through that can inspire other younger LGBT+ kids out in the world to come to terms with themselves sooner, and become more comfortable in their own skin even sooner than I did.

Why did you choose “Devil’s Advocate” as the name for the EP?

Each song on the EP deals with various controversial social and political issues, including mental health, school shootings, homophobia, depression, anxiety, etc. These are all topics in America and the rest of the world that typically have two different sides to the argument. And in this EP, I show listeners the inside of my mind and my side of the argument, having had my own personal experiences with each issue myself.

I wanted to give people a sense of who I am as a person, through playing my own kind of Devil’s Advocate with each social issue. Through getting to know my beliefs, listeners can get to know me on another level besides just surface. By choosing the title “Devil’s Advocate,” I’m reflecting on society, but also reflecting upon myself.

Conceptually, how was the idea for this album born?

Well, this EP actually originally started off as a bunch of random singles where I had sat down in my room, and wrote about things that I was current passionate about. And it wasn’t until I looked back at all of them that I realized “Oh wow, these are all about relatively controversial topics that are currently in the front line of societal debate right now” and I decided to continue and finish up this piece of work as a concept piece, in which I give listeners my take on these issues. In a sense, I kind of became my own spokesperson for possibly other people who feel the same way. My goal with this EP was to continue the conversation of these topics, and establish myself as an artist who has something to say.

The EP is a mix between the pop genre and an orchestral style that provides a valuable drama and differentiating element. Whose idea was it to make this musical mix?

It was my idea. The way I have always written music, lyrically and instrumentally, has always had an intensely cinematic feel to it, almost building towards a grand climax, or a sensory overload. My music is almost written through a character of me that lives in a more elevated world, that of a movie, building towards revelatory moments and really relishing in those moments of high drama. And while a lot of the instrumentals come to me naturally, I feel that the addition of orchestral components into pop music provides a more theatrical experience rather than just another bop.

One of the underlying themes of this album is mental health, which is a very important topic. Do you think this EP is a way to contribute to open up about that?

Oh for sure, I definitely think there is a bigger emphasis on mental health nowadays than there ever has been, and I think society now has created a more welcoming place for content that deals with depression and anxiety.

I mean, this EP was a way for me to process my own dealings with mental health and a way of talking myself through situations that I couldn’t fully process while I was in them. And these songs really helped to clarify how I was feeling about them, so in a sense, this EP is almost like a diary that doesn’t necessarily come up with all the solutions, but revels in those emotions while trying to even figure out what they are.

The videos that accompany your songs are very real, they go straight to the fire. How was this creative process? How involved were you in them?

The creative process was actually incredibly fun to delve into. I always like to say that my songs have an element of movie-like qualities to them, that they sound more cinematic and theatrical. That it sounds like you’re listening to a movie.

And the music videos were like that exciting second step in embellishing and expanding upon that idea. So, each music video is its own 5 minutes little movie that really plummets the audience into the world of that song and hits hard on the emotions that surround it. Even the fact that each music video has beginning and ending credits is a small cinematic touch.

I write, direct, produce, and edit all of my music videos, which I think is why they all get straight to the point. Music is a pretty fast business and you only have so much time to say what you want to say, especially as a new artist. But I’m also a very transparent artist. If I have something to say, I’m gonna be straight up and say it, which is what all of these videos do. Each song has a strong message/opinion and the videos give listeners a chance for me to specify further what I’m saying in my songs.

How have you perceived the receptivity of the public to your EP, so far?

So far, I’ve heard pretty good things about this EP. People are definitely streaming it’s made its way onto some pretty good playlists. I would, for sure, like to hear more feedback and get more people listening. Get these songs in front of more and more ears.

Although people can be mean and might receive some of these songs not in the way that I intended, I hope that most see that this project came from a place of truly good intentions and a genuinely personal and emotional place.

Which song on the EP do you feel most affinity with and why?

A Jokester. All the way. Never has a song flowed out of me as easily as that song. I wrote ‘A Jokester’ back in my senior year of high school, and up until that point, I had worked so hard to do everything perfectly in my life, and at that point, I just did not care. I was late to school every day, I wasn’t doing my homework. And the double life I had been living of being miserable inside but putting up a comedic persona filled with laughter totally took over.

And the song basically sends the message of “I’m done with this! I’m sick of pretending to be and feel a certain way when I really don’t just because the ugliness makes people feel uncomfortable.” It really resonates with the part of us that has NO IDEA what we’re doing, especially being a young teenager or in your early twenties. It’s rough, but definitely able to be overcome.

You are a relatively new artist who has made a very powerful production, full of reality. What is your next immediate aspiration in artistic terms?

I’ve started off with a concept piece, which is such a beautiful part of me that I love. However, I do want to start branching off into singles that aren’t so concept driven. More stylistic and raw, and more connected to my romantic life.

I’ve never written about that before, being closeted for so long, so it was hard to write about that part of my life. But now that I’m in a more welcoming, and accepting part of my life and myself, it’s been easier to open up about my love life and relationships.

All in all, though, I just want to keep writing songs people can resonate with and find out more about me as an artist.

Jarid Root: With “Devil’s Advocate” I want to establish myself as an artist who has something to say

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