Viral Summer

52 Set Me Free

Look into your heart, are you happy?
You could be the one to set me free
And with your hand in mine, we will run
To a place that knows no one
The World is Watching- Two Door Cinema Club

One Year Later

"Hello my favorite people! JustJensen here and I just wanted to show you guys around the NPR office before I do my Tiny Desk Concert," I say into my camera, just like all of the obnoxious influencers that everybody hates. I also hate talking to my camera in public, but it's just part of the job at this point. Even though I hardly have time to post on my YouTube channel anymore. "This is where it'll all begin, because in two days my debut album comes out and I'm still losing my mind over it. Thank you to all of you that have pre-ordered, I can't wait to hear what you think of the new songs."

Harris waves at me from across the room to tell me that it's time to film soon, so I drop the camera and stop filming. He's wearing a Washington D.C. hoodie that we got at a tourism kiosk yesterday after exploring the city for the whole weekend. We wanted to spend some time together as a couple before I go on tour, which I leave for right after this concert. I'll be an opening act for Phoebe Bridgers for four months, and I have not stopped talking about it since I got the call.

I've been warned that the second the debut album is released, everything is going to be a whirlwiind, especially by how many people have already pre-ordered the album before its release. I was worried that when I transitioned from YouTube music to recording artist, my fans would think that I was abandoning them, but I've gotten a shocking amount of support.

"Go kill it," Harris says to me, kissing me lightly on the lips before I take my guitar from its stand and make my way behind the desk. Around me, a crowd of people have showed up to watch the performance and it's funny how I don't even bat an eye at it. Just a year ago, I probably would have peed myself if I stood in front of a crowd this size. I mostly have Heather to thank for getting me out of my stage fright. She was always there to pump me up, or even get on stage with me if I needed some assistance. That is, before she moved to London in the spring to be with Lyle.

I don't know what I would have done without her in LA with me for the short amount of time I had her. But now, she's living her best life in London with her boyfriend where they make the cutest content together and are thinking about adopting a dog.

The first song I sing at my Tiny Desk Concert is Who Am I, my Elliot-inspired song that I wrote in London. On the album, it's produced with a keyboard and drums with a faster beat, but when I sing it with just me and my guitar, I slow it down and make it feel as emotional as I was when I wrote it.

For the next song, three band members appear behind me with a keyboard, bass, and a small drum kit when I perform I Know This Feeling, which is a song I wrote singing to kids who feel like they're trapped in situations like I found myself in at fourteen.

One of my newer songs comes next and it's called Angel Skin. It took me a long time to write Harris his love song for a couple of reasons. The first one being that when we got back together last fall, I was taking things slow and he was very respectful of that. I waited six months to tell him that I loved him, which was really hard to do. The second reason being that I already wrote a song about how I wasn't going to write him a love song, so it was just me being stubborn.

Now, I laugh at how F Your Love Song is in the middle of my album and then a few songs later, there it is. The soft, romantic love song that I said I'd never write.

Harris has that effect on me though. I can't feel all the feelings I have for him and not write it in a song.

It feels weird to be standing behind the NPR desk with my album picture behind me, resting on the shelves like trophies on display. Seeing my face like that, edited and on the cover of an album is a very surreal feeling that I doubt I'll ever get used to. I almost don't recognize myself as the same person in that photo, even though my name is written in big bold letters across the top and the album title, Tiger, takes up the bottom left of the image.