On the first listen of Kelly Moonstone‘s “Digress,” it felt like an invasion of privacy. Soothing vocals brush the microphone to unveil the contents inside my light purple journal written in invisible ink. Immediate thoughts ask how she knew so much of my story, of the negative thoughts that replay in my head.

The backdrop is simplistic and spacious, with dazzling synths sprayed between hush drums and keys descending in notes like a countdown. Listen closely, and the chorus of attacks framed as “being a realist,” the internal clashes between celebration, “All my friends are superstars shooting like Steph Curry,” and incompetence, “comparison stole my joy and ran off in a hurry.” when friends reach heights you’ve yet to achieve, how everything cost so damn much “shit expensive, and I don’t have it,” it all feels familiar. As the record fades, Kelly reduces her experiences to rambles of speculation, repeating, “What do I know.” In truth, it shows that our pathway to success is uniform. Failure is omnipresent, most effective when attempts are absent. Plenty of things hold us back, yet sometimes we need space to call out those obstacles that bar us from success, and “Digress” is precisely that: A pivot to vent out the realities of that dream. Yet based on her latest album, “I Digress,” Kelly seems destined to be where her friends are soon enough.