Bryson Tiller decided to open up about his depression on Twitter, saying it impacted him while he was writing and recording his sophomore project True to Self. Tiller suggests his depression is to blame for the disappointing commercial performance of the album.
True to Self topped the Billboard 200 chart after it was released in May of last year, taking the No. 1 spot and selling half a million copies. But on Twitter, Tiller seemed more preoccupied with the criticism and perceived failure of the project and his career. “Statistically, we didn’t do that great because of [depression],” he tweeted on Monday.
The conversation began after a fan shared screenshots of older tweets the R&B singer sent to fans, where he apologized to those criticizing the album. Tiller’s second project seemed like a let down after the meteoric success of his 2015 debut album Trapsoul, which earned him a Grammy nod. Fans recently blasted Tiller for “falling off” and not releasing enough new music.
Tiller did have a feature on the wildly successful 2017 summer bop “Wild Thoughts,” but has been pretty quiet outside of his Grammy performance alongside DJ Khaled and Rihanna earlier this year.
Tiller has previously opened up about "going into a dark place" after Trapsoul, somewhat due to criticism he faced online. “It hindered me from everything you know, my creative process, everything,” Tiller told Tim Westwood in December. “It made me stop believing in myself. I just wanted to start over.”
On the bright side, Tiller said his depression “ended” in 2017, leaving him uninhibited and "workin hard ever since."