Bradley Jago steps back in with My Inner Vitriol, built on tension, love as expansion, then destabiliser. The EP coils through shifting emotional states in real time, letting immediacy shape the structure.
Co-signed by BBC Music Introducing and Future Hits Radio, and debuting at No.1 on the iTunes R&B Album Chart, it marks a sharper phase. Production moves between soul textures and orchestral lift across Logan Apsin, Joey Walker, and Joseph Burnett, with the vocal front-facing and lyrics carrying the weight.
At its core, this is Bradley’s first queer relationship laid out in real time. Identity and self-worth colliding, with no clean resolution, just the process unfolding.
Our first ‘teenage’ experiences come in our late teens or early twenties most of the time, and there comes a reckoning with that.
1. My Inner Vitriolcentres on love as both expansion and destabiliser. What was the first moment that made you realise this project needed to exist?
When I was writing Burn, I felt so exposed in the studio because I was exposing my relationship and I’m a very private person. But it was such a cathartic experience, and it made me realise I need to write this for my own peace. I think that’s where my best music comes from.
2. The EP moves through shifting emotional states rather than a fixed narrative. How did you decide the order and flow of the tracklist to reflect that internal spiral?
For me the order was about how the sounds made me feel. Ultimately, I wanted to reflect the spiral into the desperation I felt to be happy again. So it starts semi up-beat, then down, then a high with Killer Queen, before descending into the finale of Burn.
3. You describe your sound as “queer soul for queer souls.” How does this project evolve that identity compared to earlier releases likeGirl Problems?
This is all about my first queer relationship, which I think many queer people would understand is not as easy to sit in compared to a heteronormative relationship. It comes with a history of self-worth issues that change their shape after the honeymoon phase and leave you questioning your identity.
We start dating a lot later on average as well. Our first ‘teenage’ experiences come in our late teens or early twenties most of the time, and there comes a reckoning with that. It’s my most honest work, so inherently it’s queer. It’s also my most dramatic, so also inherently queer haha.
4. Tracks likeI ForgotandYou Let Gosit in very different emotional tones. How did you approach contrast without breaking cohesion across the EP?
For me, the lyrics hold everything together in this EP, because sonically it’s a bit more eclectic. The narrative and vocal delivery centre the EP in a longing and loving tone.
5. Killer Queenleans into a more hook-driven pop lift. What role did that track play in opening the project and setting expectations?
It was actually the last track I wrote for the EP, and that’s when it felt finished because I had my lead single. I wanted to return after Girl Problems with something familiar but new for my listeners and give them a heads up on what the EP was going to be about. It explores the dichotomy of love and worthlessness in a more tongue in cheek way than the rest of the EP.
6. The title track My Inner Vitriol feels like the emotional core. What did that song unlock for you creatively and personally?
It started inspired by the incredible Purple Rain, and as an homage to that sonically and the obvious nod lyrically in the chorus. For a moment, I was going to do an 80s style ballad EP but then I started making other songs I preferred and saved that for another day, haha. It was an admission of my own failures to keep myself mentally healthy, but also how a lot of it was out of my control because of how much of a whirlwind love is.
7. You’ve spoken about the tension between real thoughts and defence mechanisms. How did that duality shape your lyric writing across the EP?
It was a really confusing time because even as I was writing the songs I was wondering if I’d look back and think what I’d written were intrusive thoughts, but there’s still an honesty in that. I just approached each session with where I was that day and wrote so many songs. It’s clear through the project how much push and pull I was going through, especially in songs like I Forgot and Killer Queen.
8. Coming from Portsmouth to London, how has your environment influenced the emotional and sonic direction of this project?
For sure, I think I’m around so many amazing musicians now, and have really found my people in and outside of music. Just being able to go for drinks and dinner with other artists influences what I do so much and is a constant reminder to do it for the love and never for the numbers.
9. FM PRO TECH Q:Working with Logan Apsin, how did you balance soul textures and orchestral elements while keeping the vocal front-facing?
Every song feels fairly different on this EP, especially since Burn was produced by Joey Walker and You Let Go by Joseph Burnett, so it’s the first time balancing different producers’ approaches across a body of work. But they are all so professional, and it really helped to have clear references when it came to levels in the mix to make something cohesive. Logan is one of the best collaborators though, there is no ego, and he is so incredibly talented.
10.FM PRO TECH Q:OnIn The EndandBurn, what key arrangement and recording choices maintained intimacy while scaling the mix?
In The End actually started as a much smaller song that grew and grew over the recording process, so I think that helped it as we were growing with the song and only adding parts where we felt it needed it. Burn is a little bit of an enigma, I don’t have much recollection of recording it, which often happens to me when something is so exposing and personal to record. I tend to step back and just let the vocal do the talking.
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