Over the past year, 25-year-old recording artist NF has drawn a fanatical following with emotional music — none more vulnerable than a new song written to his mother, who died from a drug overdose in 2009.

On “How Could You Leave Us”, track No. 4 from his album Therapy Session which released Friday, NF weeps as he asks his mother why she loved him less than the pills she grew addicted to. This neglecting, he expresses, makes the image of his future children without the grandmother they should’ve had no easier.

I got this picture in my room and it kills me /

But I don’t need a picture of my mom, I need the real thing /

Now a relationship is something we won’t ever have /

Why do I feel like I lost something that I never had?

“How Could You Leave Us” by NF:

By the conclusion of “How Could You Leave Us”, numerous listeners have begun to cry with NF.

 


NF’s transparency on “How Could You Leave Us” epitomizes the concept of Therapy Session.

“I mean, I think sometimes people, they confuse what I’m doing,” NF said on the outro of the Therapy Session title track. “…write about life…about things that I’m actually dealing with, something that I’m actually experiencing. This is real for me, like this is something that personally helps me as well. I’m not confused about who gave me the gift. God gave me the gift, and he gave me the ability to do this. And he also gave me this as an outlet. And that’s what music is for me.

“When I feel something, whether it’s anger, it’s a passion about something or frustration, like, this is where I go. This is … that’s the whole ‘nfrealmusic’ thing, man. This is real for me. I need this. This is a therapy for me.”

Buy Therapy Session on iTunes.