An Interview with Semler
Written for Tongue Tied Magazine, April 2022
Semler is a queer singer-songwriter who has just released their five-song EP, Stages of a Breakdown. Telling the story about a friendship broken by homophobic religious beliefs, Semler wrote over half the EP we know now in just the first 48 hours after their last relationship with this friend.
For being a queer artist, Semler found themselves at the top of the iTunes Christian music charts, which was never truly part of their plan. They claim there was no master plan behind this achievement, just “distrokid, TikTok, and a prayer”. Releasing and distributing this independently, the only plan in place was to make sure this EP was reaching the right, and more interested, audience. Mainstream Christian music would have never given Stages Of A Breakdown a chance, so Semler took matters into their own hands and created something unique within the genre.
Photo by Jax Anderson
“It feels really cool and it feels really strange. I just never expected this type of response and I'm really thankful for how my music has been received. It's also just so funny because I was ready to never listen to Christian music again after high school and yet here we are.” - Semler, for Tongue Tied Mag
This EP is obviously very personal and explains an emotional experience in Semler’s life, so I believe it is important to focus a little on each song. Starting off with “You’re Not My Friend”, this is the most explanatory track in that it gives a lot more inside to Semler’s reason for writing and recording this EP in the first place. It gives us a first person look into the crumble of this friendship and how they used God as a reason to justify the concept of homophobia. It’s probably my favorite song on the album as it provides the perfect structure for the rest of the EP.
“My childhood best friend reached out and asked me to stop writing about the breakdown of our friendship. Our friendship ended as a result of her homophobic religious beliefs. If you ask me not to write about something, that pretty much becomes the only thing I can write about. Most of “Stages Of A Breakdown'' was written in the 48 hours after our last conversation.” - Semler, for Tongue Tied Mag
“Don’t Tell Anyone” is a complete 360 from the first track. Getting rid of the anger and disappointment from this break up, Semler is forgiving, mentioning “I want you in the worst way” as a repeating lyric throughout the song. After this friend showed their true feelings on LGBT+ issues and their relation to God, they are now seen as a stranger, a completely new person from before. It’s devastating and heartbreaking because I’m sure we’ve all seen our own friends - past and present - in a similar light.
The third song, “Twenties”, is a little hard for me to decipher. It seems almost too personal to Semler for me to relate to it, which isn’t a bad thing by any means. Maybe it’s a good thing I can’t relate to “Twenties” at this current moment, but I know if I ever find myself needing a song to explain these feelings, it will always be waiting for me. To take a stab at it, I think this track shows the friend using religion as an overall guide to life, essentially losing themself along the way. Religion can be such a beautiful thing for people to believe in, cope with, etc., but it can also be very damaging in a variety of ways and this song does explain that very clearly.
“Raise Up” includes some of my favorite lyrics on Stages of a Breakdown.
And there’s a galaxy behind your eyelids / And there’s a war in your house / And there’s a meaning that is far beyond us / And there is courage in doubt.
I interpreted these lyrics as a continuation from the last song. Semler’s friend is lost but can see their true self behind their eyes, they are still there. There is a war in their mind between what is right and what their beliefs say. Their hate might be so strong at this moment, but there has to be a bigger reason for why this is happening. This song is heartbreaking enough to bring you to tears, I cannot even begin to imagine how hard this could have been to write, record, and now release to the world, but huge props to Semler for doing so.
Last but not least, Stages of a Breakdown ends with a clear, concise Outro. It’s beautiful, hopeful, and full of forgiveness. In a way, I believe this EP resembles the stages of grief, grief for the breakdown of their friendship. If you aren’t familiar, there are five stages of grief - denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. If you listen closely, each track on this album (in order) matches with the respective stage of grief. I don’t think this was entirely a coincidence, but Semler played it out perfectly without making it too obvious.
Overall, this EP is so raw and emotional, I don’t think we will see anything in comparison to it for a very, very long time. It’s about not blaming God for others wrongdoings but trying to explain to them why their beliefs can be so harmful. Semler ends this five-track EP by finding happiness in letting go - which is something we all need to do once in a while. It’s okay to forgive, but that doesn’t mean you have to forget.
“As a queer person who grew up in the church, all I wanted to do was distance myself from my upbringing and shrug everything off. Eventually things started to bubble over and I found a great deal of healing and inspiration in writing about my experiences.” - Semler, for Tongue Tied Mag
In the future, Semler hopes to play more live shows, especially with a full band. There is definitely more music to look out for as they are always writing, planning, and ready to share their own life experience - in hopes that someone else will feel less alone.
Semler
Listen to Stages of a Breakdown here.