Music Review // Tyler Mullendore "Mama Cry"

 

Tyler Mullendore tells an important story in the song "Mama Cry" about drug addiction, but rather than tell it from a first person point of view or from the idea of friends concerned about another friend (though those subjects are touched upon in the lyrics still) it comes down to the title and not wanting to see your "Mama Cry".   Often times we focus on the person with the drug addiction and how it affects them more so than those around them who are also affected in other ways.  

This music video features mothers and starts with one flipping through stations on the television until a story comes up about drug abuse.  If you are struggling with drug addiction, this is the type of thing which you might hopefully see and realize even if you don't get clean or get help for yourself or anyone else around you, you can do it for your mama.  With a sound of upbeat rock with those organs coming in, backup singers can also make this feel like gospel and in a way it is because you need to take this message to heart.

There are a lot of lyrics in here which might hit home for people and that's a good thing.  There are lines: "You gotta gift that you don't use / Another night turns into day" and that just feels like good motivation for anyone, even if you're not addicted to drugs.  Just put aside whatever is in your way and get to doing what makes you happy and what you can do best.  There are also lines which I hope get burned into everyone's minds that say: "Old enough to know better / But too young to die".

"Mama Cry" addresses a very real and very serious issue.  It doesn't just come off as a message of not doing drugs though, as it offers up lines such as: "Listen to your heart / Listen to your friends" as a way of advice and: "But it's not too late" as a sense of comfort that you can do this and you should.  The truth in this song is that it will hard for those addicts who hear it, but it's going to hit even harder for those who aren't addicts themselves but know them.