Tituss Burgess has released a new EP, Saint Tituss, a hopeful six-track project that includes lead single “45.”
Including soaring vocals and merging a combination of pop, R&B, gospel and Broadway influences, the EP presents hope and love in the face of our personal and political struggle.
Expanding on the name of the EP, Burgess said in a statement, “While I’m not a member of the Catholic Church, I understand the significance of saints. Saints are thought to be patient, generous, empathetic and intercessors. The beautiful thing about saints is that they were once humans. Saints are just sinners who fell down and got back up.”
Burgess continues: “I’m tired of looking without myself for inspiration. I’m tired of looking up to people who let me down. So, I sainted myself so that for the rest of my days, it is my me-est me that I will aspire to be. It is the god in me that I will pray to, and I will be my own intercessor. A true and living saint: Saint Tituss. A sinner who falls down but gets back up.”
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Burgess spoke to ESSENCE about the project, touching on the fiery anti-Trump track “45.” Here’s what he said:
“I despise that man in the White House, he invades my personal life. He gets into my personal space. I can’t go have dinner without hearing a conversation about him and his antics and what he’s doing. I just am not here for it. He’s treating us like we’re not humans. He’s treating children at the border like they are not [humans], like they haven’t come into this world with the rights they were given and something has to be done. We have to get rid of him. I’m also nervous that we aren’t going to stay angry long enough for us to get him out of the White House. That we’re entertained more than we are angry. And that scares me.”
Burgess says that despite the climate we’re in he’s managed to stay optimistic by connecting with people who wish to be part of the solution and not the problem.
“The more we can talk about it the more we can keep the conversation going.”
And while it would be easy to paint the entire EP as a somewhat political project, that’s not the case.
“I’ll Be All Right” and “Those Pretty Eyes” will feel familiar to anyone who has lost a bit of themselves in a relationship, whether romantic or not.
“It’s about certain things that you’re needing to come to terms with and certain things to let go of. That’s been, for me, my love of food, overeating. I love alcohol, drinking too much. My love of substances and dancing with substance abuse. My love of certain people who I shouldn’t have been part of my inner circle. Getting lost into those things and losing myself. Coming so close to losing my identity”
But listening to the project, Burgess isn’t lost. He sounds sure that the next day will be better, clearer. When the EP ends with “The Sun Is Out Again” it feels like a new beginning.
And this all may be because, for Burgess, “art is just my religion and in my religion, I constantly perform exorcisms.”
Burgess exorcises his demons on this EP, personal and political, and comes out the other end hopeful and ready for the light to come in.
Saint Tituss is available to stream now on Apple Music, Spotify, and more.