Happens to Me came from knowing what it feels like to watch people you love go through something difficult and wishing you could somehow carry some of it for them.

When someone you care about is hurting, their pain doesn’t stay neatly on their side of the line. You feel it too. That’s really where the idea “what happens to you, happens to me” came from.

But the song grew into something bigger than that for me.

We’re surrounded by people every day, and most of the time we have no idea what they’re carrying. Someone can be struggling, grieving, frightened or simply trying to get through the day, and from the outside we may never see it.

That’s also why the artwork shows a crowd of faceless people. It could be any of us.

Happens to Me is ultimately about empathy — being willing to see ourselves in other people, to feel a little more deeply for what they’re going through, and to remind the people around us that they don’t have to go through it alone.