Video: Brandy Clark – “Dear Insecurity” (ft. Brandi Carlile)

Directed by Trey Fanjoy. From Brandy Clark, out now.

This is a great song and a sad, moving video. Brandy Clark trades verses with Brandi Carlile, who produced the album.

Clark said, “I can see myself and my insecurities in every single character and I think you might also.”

You think? I remember being about 12 years old and my mom telling me, “You’ll have so much more fun when you stop caring about what everybody thinks of you.” My visceral reaction was immediate: You have no idea what you’re talking about.

Of course she was right. Adolescence sucks. And now most of the time I don’t give a fuck what anybody thinks about anything. Except when I do. And then I’m a 12-year-old again, slinking down in the passenger seat of the Buick Skylark so nobody can see me going through the Burger King drive-thru with my embarrassing mother.

But most of my current middle-age insecurities aren’t about what other people think, but what I think of myself. I’ve seen enough of the world to know what is exceptional and what is good enough. And what isn’t. When I was young I thought I was as brilliant as Jack Kerouac and that one day I would rightly claim my seat at the table with the greats as soon as the world woke up and recognized my brilliance. Spoiler alert: I wasn’t a genius; I was just young. The fleeting window of overconfidence has passed and now I am left with the knowledge that I’m just a regular guy, plodding along like everybody else. But that’s okay. And doggone it, people like me! There’s a thin line between insecurity and acceptance.

We’re all alright.