In a lengthy and illuminating Texas Monthly profile, Columbia’s Leon Bridges shares his struggle with low self-esteem and depression in the wake of his 2014 debut, Coming Home.

The Texas native confides to writer Casey Gerald that at one point he thought about suicide: “I’ve contemplated just not being here anymore. But I never got to the point of acting on it. It’s such a wild thing that something so minuscule as not being in love with a part of my body or my face or whatever... is the thing that causes depression and sparks suicidal thoughts. Because I can’t even walk away from it. I can’t just say, Oh, yeah, I’m chill, and I’m not gonna be this guy anymore. I’m locked in; I can’t really step away from who I am now.”

Bridges leans on a tight-knit crew of friends from his hometown of Ft. Worth for support (the last section of the article captures a riotous dance-off in the street), as well as producer Ricky Reed, who helmed Bridges’ hotly anticipated, smoldering new album, Gold-Diggers Sound. Props also go to Jonathan Eshak and Zeke Hutchins of Mick Management and Columbia PR maven Sarah Mary Cunningham.

Gold-Diggers Sound is out Friday (7/23). Read the Texas Monthly profile of Bridges here.