Cody Fry, the Grammy-nominated artist with a passion for combining pop sounds with symphonic sensibilities, has released his latest single, “What If.” The song will be featured on Fry’s upcoming album, The End, out September 15th via Decca Records US. In the song, Fry seeks to combat anxious thoughts, reflecting, “Maybe the fear just means I’m alive. Maybe I’ll fall, but what if I fly?”
Cody’s own experiences with anxiety shaped this song, as he shares, “the song begins in a place of anxiety, but it uses this strategy I’ve developed from going to therapy. Anxiety is looking at the worst possible outcome of any given situation. If you’re going to do that, you have to also acknowledge that there is a best possible outcome.”
The song is accompanied by a colorful, Disney-esque video where Fry struggles with writer’s block before a little magical intervention helps to get him out of his head.
Fry’s reflections on his mental health journey are set to be a major source of inspiration for the upcoming album, according to a press release. The record blends Cody’s signature cinematic compositions with vulnerable revelations about his struggles with anxiety, along with poignant reflections on change, love, and the human condition, it shares.
Back in 2021, Fry spoke to Atwood Magazine about how he found his style. “I was doing a lot of media scoring and film scoring on the side because I love doing that orchestration stuff. And I was doing singer-songwriter stuff as an artist. And one day it hit me, I was just like, why am I keeping these worlds separate? Why can’t I try to create something that involves all of those skills… And as soon as I made that decision to put orchestra on everything, the whole world of creativity opened up.”