Features : Mars debuts with “Not That Bad,” a charming, acoustic pop lesson in empathy

People tell Mars that possessing parents, even divorced parents, means the situation is not that bad. Mars (whose preferred pronouns are they and them) has a musical answer.

 “Not That Bad” is Mars’ debut as a musical artist. It is a fine piece of music musing on just what “not that bad” might mean. Empathetically speaking.

“This song in general is about being kind of invalidated about your feelings on an experience,” said Mars.

“My parents are divorced and everyone says, ‘Oh, well, it could have been worse, like, your parents don’t hit you.’ And I’m like, just because my parents don’t hit me doesn’t mean that it wasn’t a bad situation to be living in.”

I made myself feel alone
Like I was the only one who didn’t feel at home

And I’ve got parents so it couldn’t be that bad
If it could have been worse then why am I so sad

“So it’s kind of about trying to be empathetic to people, even if their problems don’t seem as bad as yours.”

“I guess,” Mars adds, after a little pause. In the song’s chorus, those same two words come after the same little pause

Well at least I wasn’t mistreated by my dad
It wasn’t that bad
I guess

It is slow, meditative and whimsical at the same time, which is the same vibe imparted by Mars’ contralto voice, a voice that can also reach up into soprano territory. The song is kind of poppy and other things all at the same time. Down in the bridge, there’s some guitar that sounds a teensy bit country, but there’s also some melancholy violin and some flute.

The style listed on Mars’ bio is “indie,” which is as good as any.

“A lot of people have asked me what the style is. What’s my genre? And I actually don’t know. People would say things like ‘It's country, folk, or indie" and I'm like ok that's what it is”.

Music began early for Mars. When they were 7 years old, “I wanted a red electric guitar for my birthday, and I got one for Christmas, and then I got guitar lessons. My dad and I started performing at local places, and I didn’t stop performing.”

Later, Mars added bass to guitar, some saxophone, “a lot of things.” Mars writes all their own lyrics and music.

Mars’ musical inspirations are Mother Mother, Debra-Jean Creelman and Sarah Osborn.

“They’re all really great people, and I’ve actually gotten to know them personally.”

Debra-Jean is Mars’ vocal coach and was a second kind of inspiration for “Not That Bad.”

Mars began writing at about age 15 “because therapy is expensive.”

“And I would write a lot, but I would always hate it. And then I started working with DJ. I showed her something I wrote, and she said it was good. So, then, I’m like, ‘I should do something, because she said it was good. So, it must be very good.’ I’m really inspired by her, and I really want to be like her.”

But the original inspiration for “Not That Bad” was people saying, “Yeah, well, that’s not that bad.”

“Yeah,” said Mars. “That kind of thing. ‘Oh, it’s not that bad,’ but unh-unh. Kind of was.”

Putting music out is not easy for Mars. All the stuff they wrote from age 14 and 15 until now, age 18, was instructive. They learned a lot from it.

“Some of it could have been good stuff, but I didn’t show it to anybody because I was too scared. I had to stop caring about what other people think in order to start putting my stuff out, because it fully feels like giving a piece of yourself to the world. When you release art, it’s really hard.”

Next for Mars is a four-track EP sometime next year. “Not That Bad” will be one of the songs on it. For now, Mars thinks, the songs will likely be similar to “Not That Bad.”

“I like to listen to a lot of people, alternative rock, and I was like, ‘I want to sound like them.’ Then I write this moody, chill piece, and it sounds nothing like them. But I talked to people that I’m working with, and something might change, the vibes might change.”

Connect to Mars on all platforms for new music, videos, and social posts and see where the vibes go.

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