Powerlessness. Disillusionment. Despair. Loss. There were many complex emotions I experienced when I first wrote “Where Do Belong?” in 2019. The song was written not only in response to the first Trump administration, but was also a reaction to what I felt was an increasingly dark world that was beginning to slip further away from the one I grew up in. It wasn't simply the feeling of loss people experience as they get older and the rest of the world moves on to the next generation. It was a deep, unsettling emotion that everything I thought I knew was a thin facade rapidly melting away and revealing an ugliness underneath that I was blissfully unaware existed. Maybe that was naive, I don't know, but that's where I was at 27 years old.
After struggling several times to get the sound I wanted with the vocals, and feeling that perhaps the song itself was just not up to the arbitrary, self-assigned standards I held myself to at that time, I eventually decided to shelve the song. It would have been released in 2022 as a single after the release of the Internal Combustion EP. Little did I know, my confidence, for many reasons, would completely erode after that decision, and I ended up not releasing ANY music after Internal Combustion. Mental health is a real struggle, folks. Don't ignore it.
Fast forward to 2026, and the mask has been fully stripped away. I don't need to recount all the horrific things COVID, the Trump 2.0 administration, Putin, Netanyahu, and many others have brought into the world since 2019, but suffice to say, the feelings that birthed “Where Do I Belong?” in the first place have only intensified. So, after many years of doubt and self-loathing, you, my dear listeners, finally get to hear possibly the angriest song I've ever written. My hope is that out of all the anger and sadness I felt when I wrote this song and still feel to this day, you can know that in the seemingly endless search for belonging, you are never alone.
– Colton Cox