Ryan McCartan Reveals How A ‘Bad Breakup’ Inspired His Debut EP: I Turned ‘Misery Into Momentum’

Ryan McCartan’s real-life heartbreak shaped his new EP, ‘The Opposite’. Watch the EXCLUSIVE interview, and listen to him play ‘Changed My Mind’, here!

Ryan McCartan is relatable AF! The singer-songwriter, 24, visited HollywoodLife to talk all things The Opposite, his new five-song EP dropping on May 18, and even play us his new song, “Changed My Mind”. The Opposite is an incredibly personal work. There’s truth, and powerful emotions behind all five songs. There’s a reason why it’s so raw emotionally. It’s all centered around a painful breakup, Ryan says. He took that broken heart and made it into art!

“I went through a really bad breakup, and through the grieving process of that I needed something to fall back on,” Ryan told HollywoodLife during an EXCLUSIVE interview, which you can watch above. “And for my entire life, art has been something I’ve fallen back on. I’m really fortunate to have art to turn misery into momentum. This new album I have coming out, it’s a five-song album and each song represents a stage of grief. I was writing them in real time, and I didn’t realize it, but when all was said and done, in hindsight, I was like ‘Oh wow. This is me depressed, this is me when I was angry.'”

“‘Changed My Mind’ is me when I was at accepted,” he continued. “I accepted that, okay, I’m moving on. I’m taking my old self back, my life back. To anyone who’s felt heartbreak, and felt like they’re going crazy and who’ve gone through these stages of grief, I’m really excited for them to listen. But on sort of a macro-focused way of thinking about it, I kind of just want my audience to come to me and listen to dope songs.”

It worked, because we’re totally jamming out to “Changed My Mind”. We cannot wait to hear The Opposite‘s other four songs — even if they’re about depression and anger. Anything Ryan makes is going to be a bop. The Opposite drops on May 18.