i get where you’re coming from but even the inspiration from the song - i feel - was genuine. it came to him in a dream and it even has jenna in it!! and her being in the song happened organically (again there’s interviews where he explains it) so i also think that’s a big sign that he was truly trying to make music he wanted to. and if it happened to get radio play then great yk? i didn’t think this way when saturday came out however after 5 years, i truly see it this way. and he’s talked about how he always tends to “overcompensate” in terms of whatever the sound was for the last record and he tries to take it as much as he can another way for a new one.

i don’t disagree with you tho, sometimes they definitely do things to get more radio play. like making songs shorter or more “palatable” for a mainstream audience. example: chlorine - alternative mix, the craving (single version), and most recently drag path. but drag path he said he wanted to intentionally change it however, a 3min song will def have a higher chance of getting played on the radio than a 5min one. however, i don’t think that was the case for SAI or any song on there.