8 Mental Health Lessons We Can Learn From Earl Sweatshirt’s New Album

August 27, 2025 3

Coming from an artist whose songs have often sounded like soundtracks for a dungeon, Earl Sweatshirt’s new album Live Laugh Love, feels like an exercise in irony, but it’s actually a genuine shift in world view. After becoming a father, the former Odd Future member earned a proverbial new lease on life.

“I think [Live Laugh Love] captured both parts of myself: being 16 and then also having a family,” Earl told The New York Times’ Popcast in a rollout interview for the album. “The 16-year-old that still is like, [grunts] ‘Live, laugh, love — [expletive] dumbass!’ Like, ‘live laugh, love, the world is [expletive]!’ And then my life changing drastically. It’s like, I guess the joke was on me, because if you have kids, that is not even kind of funny at all. If someone says ‘Live, laugh, love,’ and you have kids, you’re like, ‘Exactly, brother.’”

While the former Odd Future rapper has been known for melancholy, LLL sees Earl leaning into spurts of optimism. Fatherhood underscores much of Earl’s maturing perspective, and there’s a lot for listeners to digest. He’s not a self-help coach, but there are plenty of mental health gems to be extracted from his new LP. Today, Okayplayer takes a look at eight of them.

Love Can Give You Power

“She found me on the streets/she vowin’ to keep my feet grounded/
For my sweet child
The struggle not a team sport/
You’re not afforded recourse, of course I had to reroute/
The story wasn’t unfounded/
Multitudes of one, I’m never done, countin’ up drowsy/
The sun bouncin’ through the fun houses/
I got used to the comedown, I leaped, bounded, jumped out it”

Realizing you can and must steer out of toxic self-loathing, Earl closes the first verse of “Tourmaline” laying his loner tendencies bare. But in the end, he acknowledges that love and embracing fatherhood have helped him to climb out of those perilous depths.

It’s Important to Embrace Personal Growth

“You gon’ die on the hill of your choice
I still hear the voices
I’m a Pisces, part of me still in the void
Fishy and noid, my inhibitions destroyed
Tapped in, locked in with my little boy
I’ma lead you to the river, I can’t sip it for you
Never lead with indecision, never leave the homies
Unless it’s time to leave the homies…”

Fatherhood shows up again as Earl acknowledges the uncertainty that comes with it. On “LIVE” he blurs the lines between sounding like he’s offering patronly advice and sounding like he’s saying goodbye to an old friend. Growth can be bittersweet.

You’re Stronger Than You Think

“Train the mind, it made me solid/
Traits of mine my baby got, can’t trace to mama/
Get these white girls out my home like Babyfather/
Things I thought would shake me to my core just made me hotter, sacred knowledge…”

Fortitude is a theme throughout Live Laugh Love, and on “Crisco,” Earl references Babyfather while rapping about being a father to his baby and seeing himself in his child. While he also acknowledges his own power.

Patience is Key

“The blade came with thе roses/
I still hold up the bouquet for the photo/
I’m thankful for the blood, sweat, and pain that we paid for it/
Lump sum, you can’t change the total/
Always the slow roller, don’t race the tortoise/
Don’t wait for me…”

With an allusion to the classic fable of The Tortoise & The Hare, “GSW vs Sac” sees Earl musing on pain and being patient with yourself as you work through it. He’s focused on where he’s going — regardless of any hardship he’s faced to get there.

Why It’s Important to Persevere

“Flirts with danger, we hastily learn how to dance/
Circumstance raised a baby to a beast/
Like rain and heat raise a seed into a plant/
Stone throwers, glass homes, keep hiding hands
Terse reminders of the rocky path/
Gleaning what I can from what I have amassed/
The space-time continuum bend, I’m sticking with the simple plans/
I’m just a man/
Bars like the rim of the bath, live, love, and laugh…”

The title of “Infatuation” seems to make the lyrical themes clear, but one stretch of the song fully embraces perseverance as a necessity through life’s struggles. Earl references hypocrites and the “rocky path,” while acknowledging that he comes out stronger than he was before the pain.

Faith is Important

“You cumbersome comin’ in to your old age/
The jig is up, it’s much too late/
I pray the Runtz fake/
I’ll try my luck one day/
For now, I only trust faith/
Untouched rage stuck with him from the bus days
I need the love, gang/
My feet is up way above niggas’ ceilings, fuck your feelings/
I look around, the only thing I see is us, gang/
Love leaving, it’s unappealing to be stuck/
You stayed under, I stay wondering why ’cause the wave undulates and I’m on a high…”

While pondering a friendship lost, Earl offers an examination of faith on “Gamma (Need the <3)”. Whether he’s referencing a higher power or belief in himself is unclear; but he’s come to the bittersweet conclusion that loved ones might let you down. But you don’t have to stay down.

The Importance of Self Belief

“At Marathon standing on the couches, singing loud/
Lining silver on the nimbus cloud, I get it now/
(The heart breaks itself)
More power to you, but it’s no flowers in your vase/
(Over and over again until)
No amount of sugar gon’ help with the taste/
(It stays open)
At the end of the day/
It’s really just you and whatever you think
I’m airmailing you strength…”

On “Exhaust,” Earl makes it clear that you are your greatest advocate and your best ally. There isn’t some “lightning bolt” moment that will hit you and everything can’t be spun into a positive. But that’s okay—because you are still you and can get through whatever is pulling you down.

The Importance of Self-Awareness

“I love being counted out for me/
Lust and leave, love cut a little deeper/
Don’t trust the leap, only the ones in the bleachers/
2016, I had a dream of my son crawling ’round on the ceiling/
And I had never seent him/
Finally found the meaning…”

On “heavy metal,” Earl closes with a sense of self-awareness and understanding. He acknowledges the pain of being underestimated, the hardship that comes with actually loving someone, and a glimpse into fatherhood that finally makes sense for him.

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