For Eric Vattima, he has come to an understanding that second guessing his work as a songwriter is always going to be part of the process.

“When you’re an underground artist that not too many people know about, you have freedom to experiment,” he said. “Even if you lose some followers along the way, you never know who’s going to become a fan as a result of the changes that you make to your sound as an artist.”

During the creation process of this latest EP, fears., he remembers a specific moment where the song “Reality” was nothing more than a filler. The lyrics address the anxiety that comes with facing the reality of a situation, which in turn can give off more anxiety when it comes time to release it to the world. Despite its initial doubts, “Reality” ended up being the lead single.

Each song on the EP became mini therapy sessions for Vattima as well as a major learning experience. For starters, it helped him learn to take his mental health seriously and finally step back into the world of therapy.

“Writing this was truly therapy for me, so I found a lot of peace on these topics in writing my feelings out and building these tracks from the ground up,” he said. “This was the first project that I’d worked on where there was a cohesive idea that tied the whole thing together, and that’s given me a lot of motivation moving forward in tackling future projects that I want to create.”

By learning to take his mental health seriously, he was able to hone in on his skills as a songwriter and producer. He found a sound that he believes best represents him as an artist and has a stepping stone to his next body of work.

He also has many friends that contributed to fears., including Dallas Jack, Matt Wagner, Kory Shore, Nick Magasano, Christopher Rivera (Arquel), and his father, Michael Angelo Vattima. Thanks to them, the EP is everything he could have hoped for.

“The most rewarding moment of all was sitting back and hearing the entire project from start to finish as soon as I got the mastered files back in my possession,” Vattima said. “To hear it all finally together was incredible. In the end, I’m glad that I didn’t let anything keep me from releasing these songs, because the response that the project has gotten so far has been more than I could’ve ever hoped for.”

What he hoped for in releasing the EP was that someone would find a point of relation to it, and he did just that. Each song creates an open dialogue between friends, family, co-workers or strangers to tap into their emotions and find out that everyone has fears and they are valid.

“If you can get past your fears, then nothing can stop you from achieving anything that you want out of life,” Vattima said. “Don’t let a fear define you, just take your time and work through them as you’re ready to. Also, if you feel like it would work for you, therapy is what truly helped me confront and get past a lot of my own fears and self doubts. Life is full of uncertainty, so remember to be kind to yourself and to others, because you never know when someone is going through a rough time.”