"Both the actual book as well as the saying I’m OK – You’re OK have been
featured in popular culture in the decades since the book was released, starting with a [1972] New Yorker Magazine cartoon about a phone conversation: 'Oh - we're reading "I'm O.K. - you are O.K.," and I guess we are O.K.. But I think it's because of the martinis, not the book."In 1969, American psychiatrist Thomas Anthony Harris published his handbook on transactional analysis, a special form of psychoanalysis developed some 10 years earlier by Eric Berne. He gave the book the title "I'm OK – You're OK: A Practical Guide to Transactional Analysis". After a slow start, the book climbed to the top of the New York Times Best Seller List for non-fiction books in 1972. It subsequently sold over 15 million copies, was translated into almost 25 languages, and one could even find copies of "Ich Bin O.K. – Du Bist O.K." on the bookshelves of Berlin, as Nicholas Berne Calcaterra wrote on his Webseite drthomasharris.com.
On October 11, 2024 rap-turned-country-music artist Jelly Roll released his latest studio album entitled "Beautifully Broken". It contains 22 songs (8 of which available digitally only) and entered at number 1 on both the Billboard 200 Pop Album Chart, as well as the Billboard Top Country Album Chart. Quite unexpected, the deluxe version was released immediately afterwards under the title "Beautifully Broken (Pickin' Up The Pieces)" with an additional 6 (duet-) songs.
The first pre-release single from the project was released in June of 2024. It was titled 'I Am Not Okay' and represents a central theme of Jelly Roll's last two projects. It adresses the topics of self-doubt and depression, which he tries to make tangible in his songs:
I almost stayed in bed.
Had the devil on my back,
and voices in my head.
Some days, it ain't all bad,
some days, it all gets worse.
Even though he allows for a ray of hope at the end when he sings: it's all gonna be alright.
And although some critics consider the topic already to be exhausted, it is by no means an obstacle to Jelly Roll's success. For on November 22, 2024, 'I Am Not Okay' topped the radio (Billboard Country Airplay) chart after 24 weeks. This makes it his 5th solo number-one single in a row.
It is the popularity of Jelly Roll, as well as the recognition and respect towards him, that has offered him a wealth of musical opportunities in recent months. Pop band OneRepublic invited him to record the song 'Hurt' with them, he recorded 'Run It' for the video game adaptation Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Brooks & Dunn brought him into their studio to record a new version of their classic 'Believe' (2005) for their new album "Reboot II". He also emotionally performed the latter together with the legendary duo at the CMA Awards in November 2024.
While Jelly Roll seems to be pretty sure, Megan Moroney is not. With her current single, the 27-year-old artist, who was recently named New Artist of the Year 2024 by the Country Music Association (CMA), asks herself: 'Am I Okay?'.
It is the title track from her second studio album, released in July of 2024. Written together with Jessi Jo Dillon and Luke Laird, the song is about self-doubt, but it is less serious than one might initially assume. Rather, it is a healthy questioning of previously aquired attitudes.
Megan Moroney describes her music as emo cowgirl country because of the many sad and emotional relationship themes she adresses. Rolling Stone Country writes about her current album: "This is an album full of references to therapy ('No Caller ID'), fears of dying alone ('Third Time's the Charm'), and blasé resignation ('Indifferent'). There's even a mournful goodbye ballad — the devastating 'Heaven By Noon' — inspired by the death of Moroney's uncle during the 9/11 terrorist attacks."
But the album also offers another side, as Megan Moroney is quoted of saying at musicrow.com: "I always say that I have two sides. I'm either 'emo cowgirl country' or 'bad bitch country.' It really just depends on what kind of mood I'm in."
And it is these two sides that she brings together in her single 'Am I Okay?', which sits at number 31 on the radio (Billboard Country Airplay) chart of November 22, 2024. In it, she appears surprised that she is experiencing a positive relationship, for a change:
not cryin' and dyin', and messin' me up.
I think I'm really happy, I think I wanna stay.
Oh, my God, am I okay?
Megan Moroney does not have a number one hit yet, but with the huge amount of attention she has received over the past year, she is not only considered one of the most up-and-coming female artists in the genre, but her first number one hit is most likely only a matter of time.
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