In The Deep, MICHELLAR gives a very emotional and poetic experience that delves into issues of self-realization, inner development, and emancipation of emotions through symbolic oceanic imagery. The music gives a peaceful, introspective world where water functions as a symbol of the inner world of the artist—endless, unknown, invisible. MICHELLAR doesn’t simply sing about the ocean but employs it as a strong symbol of issues of existence further and suffering of emotions.

From the outset, there is such desperate searching. MICHELLAR yearns to make sense of herself, make sense of her earth-place, find her way. Such a sense of vulnerability lends the lyrics such overpowering candor, richness. As currents flow outward, as the moon winks from sight, we experience time passing, presence of something more—a still power defining her way. She wades into the deep without knowledge but yearns to confront the unknown head-on. That moment of wading into the dark, cold deep opens such massive emotional bravery. She openly confesses feeling lost, even breathless, as asking questions of the environment. These lyrics slice straight into the silent ache of second-guessing about existence as well as one’s self.

What works best of the song is MICHELLAR’s skill at transforming suffering into renewal. There’s a marvelous shift, of course, about the second half of the song, when riding on a wave that’ll kill me at the grave, that has got absolutely nothing to do with physical death, but symbolic death—a relinquishing of old hurt as well as of old parts of self. The image of coming up out of the water when dying is a powerful statement of renewal. It’s as if, through surrendering to the struggle, she emerges on the far side stronger, freer. Speaking of once again “live” doesn’t sound like something flappy, but a real hallebuiah of renewal. It’s repetitive emphasis on “be free” that lends potency to the sense of release which has got to emanate from some of her hurt, transmuting private hurt into something empowering.

There’s a quieter, more intimate moment that the bridge introduces. MICHELLAR talks about being carried home and finding some sense of sanity again. That conception of home isn’t about territorial earth, but some internal stillness. After all that movement of emotion through currents and waves, there’s some form of stillness that she finds. There’s something restorative about that return—like the chaos has, at some point, somehow, made sense, and her body, at long last, as well as mind, has gotten into rhythm again.

In the latter portion of the song, memory and dreams are at center stage. She informs that she’s “buried deep” in dreams, which has a self-reflexive tone to it. It’s as if we’re informed that the ocean that she’s walked towards the entire duration we are aware of has existed inside of her. As we see her walk her body into the waters of her heart, we realize that the journey has actually transpired internally the entire duration. The final concept that the tides have brought her to salvation feels like complete release. It’s about surviving, yes, but about becoming redeemed. The ocean, which once symbolized confusion as well as darknes, has now translated into a time of clarity as well as calmness.

Lyrical-wise, MICHELLAR on The Deep creates an incredibly beautiful blend of vulnerability, symbolism, and hopefulness. Said simply but firmly, she envisions growth on the emotional that’s intimate as well as absolute at the same time too. Imagery is soft but powerful, as if every word carries heft to it. It’s a song about navigating your way through your darkest corners of you but emerging on the opposite side of things not just whole but rein-vigorated.