“Back then, the thing that I loved more than anything in the world was music. I actually remember getting my first guitar, opening it up, and being like Oh my god, this is my future,” Mooney says in the video before he’s interrupted by a phone call, which he goes outside to take and tells the caller “I don’t want to be a clown anymore.” On a baseball diamond, he continues, “I don’t feel like a character, I’m not a sketch. I think that’s what people think I am, but I’m not.”
Mooney then reveals that he’s ready to debut his first album which apparently covers almost every genre of Western music. “I sing every song, played every instrument, and it’s all there. Rock, country, R&B, dance,” he says. “I promise this is art that’s earnestly me.” And despite the overall tone of the video, Mooney says, “I promise there is nothing comedic about the Kyle M project.”
So what is it? Overall, it sort of sounds like The Shaggs with a YouTube channel. Kyle M’s album, The Real Me, is about 20 minutes of music and there’s definitely something comedic about it, but in the typical, extra-dry Mooney way. The lyrics and themes are hyper-clichéd and the production lo-fi to the point of sounding amateur. Most of the songs seem to vaguely reference other well-known songs or bands; “Blue Car” could be a Beach Boys riff, while “Gwendolyn Bartley” is certainly heavily inspired by The Beatles’ “Eleanor Rigby.” Every song is sub-three minutes, with most under two. There’s not much here that could be accurately described as R&B, but country and rock are certainly represented. And there is some thematic coherence about Mooney being tired of people laughing at him. On the closing track, Mooney sings, “I’m a human, not a clown, because this is the real me.” Now he’s a musician too.
