When Wes Hamil of the Memphis Royal Brothers presented Kendall Jane Meade with a new song idea she wasn’t “feeling particularly collaborative.” At the time, Meade was still coping with the breakdown of her marriage and where she stood, and Hamil’s song, “I’d Like to Know Myself,” captured the essence of her life, post-divorce, as she became reacquainted with herself.
“He had been studying my songwriting style before we met, and burst through the double doors of my little cottage in LA with the title of the song and a melody ready to go,” said Meade of how Hamil approached her with the song, from her upcoming album SPACE, out February 2025.
At first, Meade pushed back on the song, particularly its title, which hit too close to home. “I had just spent a year doing all of these intense healing modalities to try and make sense of why my relationship failed and, frankly, I was exhausted talking and writing about it,” shares Meade. “The subject matter felt too on-the-nose, too raw, too inward, and intense. When he challenged me that the title could have a double meaning, that it could also mean searching for answers outside of myself about things other than my marriage, I got where he was going and the rest of the song poured out of me in about 20 minutes.”
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Everything you told me, isn’t what you do / And I’ve been working hard, making sense of me and you / Gather up your wishes / Drop ’em in the blue / The things you never said / It isn’t hard to do sings Meade on the surprisingly lighthearted prance around all the things that went wrong.
“The song is empowered, joyful, and kinda rebellious—exactly my state of mind right now,” says Meade. “My dear friend Eli Wulfmeier (aka Leroy From The North) adds his signature guitar style to the song giving this very “LA” song a little jolt of Detroit steel, where we both grew up.”
Meade added, “When I moved to LA a few years ago, Eli’s musical support uplifted me. We have collaborated a bunch over the past two years so having him featured on this song feels like home.”
Recorded at Cottage Sounds with producer Charles Newman (Magnetic Fields, Bones of J.R. Jones, “I’d Like to Know Myself” also includes a collection of other Los Angeles-based musicians, including guitarist Eva Mikhailovna, bassist Ex Maxwell, and drummer Butch Norton.
The album was one Meade says she started writing with a broken heart that SPACE and its songs helped mend.
“The process of creating it, fueled by the power of music, friendship, and community, brought the pieces closer to [the] whole than I ever dreamed possible,” adds Meade. “My mission for this album was to process some really raw feelings—with the hope that it might help others to do the same.”
Photos: Jimmy Pham
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