A title that lays bare unvarnished, unapologetic feeling is the first marker of a work that exists in lockstep with the core ethos of independent music, the space where artists prioritize unfiltered creative vision over any external pressure to soften or sanitize the ideas that drive their work. I Always Wanna Die (Sometimes), from The 1975, emerges from the Philippines’ robust community of independent creators that has spent decades carving out space for work that rejects the one-size-fits-all frameworks that often dominate mainstream music circuits across the globe. Unlike commercially aligned music that often leans into familiar, widely palatable themes to reach the broadest possible audience, independent music as a category centers the specific, personal perspective of the artist, allowing for works that grapple with complicated, nuanced, even uncomfortable truths that might otherwise be sidelined in more mainstream spaces.