Track #1 – The Cracks Beneath
A track by track reflection on "The Jacked Up Life Soundtrack"
“The floor looked fine… until I tried to stand.”
If you’ve read Chapter One of The Jacked Up Life, you already know this whole thing starts in a quiet kind of chaos; not with an explosion, but with a slow creak underfoot. A feeling that something’s not quite right beneath you, even if everyone else sees a solid surface.
The first track on The Jacked Up Life Soundtrack, “The Cracks Beneath,” is a direct mirror of that first chapter. It’s the sound of realizing your foundation might not be as sturdy as you hoped. It’s also the beginning of honesty.
Sound Inspiration: Preteen Pop with a Purpose
When I was writing this melody, I kept thinking about what was playing in the background during my daughter’s early preteen years—around 10 or 12 years ago. There was this window of light, melodic pop that felt fresh and emotionally accessible. Not bubblegum. Not too brooding. Just introspective enough to feel real, but still hopeful.
I wanted this song to sit in that same sonic space—where raw feelings could be explored without being dragged down. Think early 2010s light indie-pop meets acoustic CCM, with a vulnerability that’s sung rather than shouted.
The vocal performance captures that well: clear and confessional, a voice that sounds like it’s halfway between whispering a prayer and journaling late at night. There’s nothing forced about it—which is the whole point.
Chapter One in Song Form
Chapter One of the book is titled “Cracks in the Foundation”—and it opens with that deceptively simple realization: we build so much of our identity on a floor we never stopped to inspect. We smile wide. We keep moving. But eventually, the pressure finds its way through.
The lyrics in The Cracks Beneath pull from that same emotional soil:
“Bare feet on the kitchen floor / Never noticed these cracks before…”
“Perfect on the outside, flawed underneath…”
It’s not just a metaphor. It’s how so many of us live.
This song is for the person who feels like they’re barely holding it together. For the one who’s terrified someone might see the imperfections they’ve worked so hard to hide. For the one who wonders: If they saw the real me… would they still believe in me?
The Turn: From Hiding to Being Known
Where the verses ask questions and the chorus wrestles with perception, it’s the bridge of this song where the real soul-turn happens:
All these little faults, God already knows
When I try to hide, I’m not alone
Can I tell myself, I’m loved through every weakness shown?
This is the whisper beneath the anthem. Not “Will others believe in me?” but—Can I believe that God loves me even when He sees the cracks? That He sees me even when I try to hide? And even more: Can I begin to believe the most profound love in the universe?
That last question is the heart of the whole album. If we never move beyond the fear of being found out, we never step into the freedom of being fully known.
This track sets the tone for the whole album. It doesn’t resolve everything (yet), but it does ask the question that every other song will build on: What if healing starts by acknowledging and showing what’s broken—and letting God rebuild from there?
Stream the Song
🎵 Listen to “The Cracks Beneath” on Apple Music
🎵 Stream on Spotify
In the next post, I’ll walk you through Track #2 - Spiral Down Again, and how it connects with Chapter Two: “The Shame Spiral”—but for now, I hope The Cracks Beneath meets you somewhere honest. Somewhere quiet.
Because that’s often where God begins.
More soon,
—Michael