On Sunday, Radio 1 DJ Matt Edmondson took to Instagram to talk about the experience of writing his emotional tribute to his late father, Your Car. The song was released on October 3rd, the 12 year anniversary of his father’s death, and is avaliable on all major streaming platforms. It is written by Edmondson himself but sung by pop singer Aymee Weir.

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Last week I shared a song I’d made about my Dad. I was unbelievably nervous about putting it out into the world, but I can’t begin to describe how it felt to receive so many messages from people who connected with it and opened up to me about their own experiences. I’ve had some amazing conversations about it all week and this afternoon the song is getting played on @bbcradio1 , at 5pm on Life Hacks with @katiethistleton and @vicknhope – I can’t even begin to tell you what this means to me. The song is now also available to stream in all the places you’d expect it to as I was keen for people to be able to listen to it easily. You can find it by searching for: Aymee Weir- Your Car Again, thanks so much to @aymeeweir for working on this with me. I’ve stuck the Spotify link to the song in my bio.

A post shared by Matt Edmondson (@matthewedmondson) on Oct 11, 2020 at 8:00am PDT

The track, which contains lyrics like ‘I always felt second best ‘cos I know your depression kinda made me depressed’, is about Edmondson’s father who suffered from bipolar disorder and alcoholism. His father eventually killed himself when Matt was 22, an event that had a profound effect on him. Matt has said that he has only began to come to terms with the tragedy recently, stating that he started going to counselling a couple of years ago.

The process of writing this song apparently had a therapeutic affect too, as having hidden his pain for so long Edmondson now feels a weight of his shoulders and has experience much support since its release.‘I’d never spoken about this because I’d hidden it, I was worried other people would feel pain or I’d bring the vibe down…I also didn’t know if the song was any good but more importantly I’d never spoken about this before. I felt very vulnerable. But the reaction has been unbelievable.’

This sentiment is echoed in the lyrics when Weir sings that ‘My friends ask me but I get upset// They know you were sick but I leave out the rest’. Now that Edmondson has opened up he feels ‘connected’ to listeners who have contacted him about their own personal experiences. It is vital that music like this is made, as it contributes to the on-going conversation about mental health within the music industry, and is an example of how creativity can help heal emotional wounds.