Reflection by Toolie Bleu

I began work on "Reflection" after a period of depression, uncertainty, and disintegration. At 22, during the my final year of University working towards a bachelor's degree in business, I realized that the life I had constructed was not one in which I had control. I felt lost, scared and worst of all unconcerned. I began abusing various substances. I was attempting to escape the reality through which I had lost myself.

This path of self-destruction eventually led me to try to take my own life on April 8th, 2023. I felt alone and embarrassed of how I had been living my life for the past six months. Luckily I was saved by a close friend; I was given a second chance at life.

What followed was two years of self-reflection, self-compassion, and self-reconstruction into the person I felt I was meant to be.

"Reflection" is not a perfect album. It is raw and unpolished, immature and incomplete, but entirely my own. "Reflection" was a means of understanding my power and finding solace. The same hands that can take my own life can create a new one. "Reflection" is both proof of self-efficacy but also a gift to my past and future self.