Seattle-based synth pop hero J GRGRY released “Don’t Ever Give Up” earlier this month, but earlier today, he premiered an surprise accompanying video in an interview with V13.

The idea for the video came from some difficult moments over the past few years,” GRGRY tells V13. “The idea for the video came as a full circle conclusion to me as a young teenager in my bedroom, day and night, teaching myself how to play all these instruments, persevering and finding true joy despite the chaos I was experiencing.

Filmed just before Seattle enacted a highly serious stay-at-home order amidst the pandemic, GRGRY attempts to encapsulates phases of his life throughout the video, both in terms of understanding his sexuality and coming into the glam rock-leaning persona he’s cultivated in the last few years.

“Don’t” is the first single from GRGRY’s long-awaited debut, which will now see release in 2021. Working with Grammy Award-winning producer Craig Bauer (Kanye West’s Late Registration and Graduation), GRGRY also revealed he has “a group of 23 songs we will narrow down to twelve or so” for the record.

On stage, J GRGRY (pronounced Jay Gregory) is the epitome of energy, charging out with a brand of anthemic indie pop as vibrant as the Bowie-esque makeup he’s donned on KEXP and as opener for The Killers and The Lumineers.

Underneath the surface, his songs unpack a coming-of-age experience being openly gay in an ultra-religious environment, turning to alcoholism, and climbing out on a path of self-acceptance and love. Still, in the face of such viscerally honest lyricism, there’s never an uplifting hook too far away in a J GRGRY song.

The biggest case-in-point yet might be “Don’t Ever Give Up,” his latest single ahead of a hotly anticipated debut album out later in 2020. Written in the wake of a soured partnership with his producer that forced him to financially restart, J wrote “Don’t Ever Give Up” at a friend’s house as a brief illness set in.

“I banged out the entire song, lyrics, melodies, and rhythms in less than 30 minutes before I collapsed in bed for the rest of the day,” GRGRY recalls. “I had to go to the hospital the next day [because] I had pneumonia in both lungs. This song was a beacon of light for me through some really hard days… I feel like it came to me from a future self that knew I needed these words and melodies somehow.”

“Don’t Ever Give Up” is out now through Ditto Music.