“truth be told” — Donaven Opens Up About Meth Addiction and Recovery

There are artists who arrive polished. And there are artists who arrive honest.

Denver-based indie pop and melodic bass singer/songwriter Donaven steps forward with truth be told, the opening track from his debut independent EP meet the beast — a project that refuses to posture, perform recovery, or offer clean redemption arcs.

Instead, it tells the truth.

Built on nothing but piano, voice, and soaring harmonies, truth be told, releasing everywhere music is streamed on March 20th, is couture in its restraint: stripped bare, every note intentional. There is no major production armor. Nothing to dramatize the darkness, apart from the presence of the Beast’s voice, which fans will hear throughout the project. This lead single, gives space for a raw, relatable kind of confession.

“truth be told is me admitting I am drowning, and I do know why,” Donaven shares. “I’m ready to let you into a vulnerable part of myself. The Beast is ready to be heard.”

The Beast is the name he gives to the part of himself shaped by meth addiction, shame, and survival. For years, he experienced it as something evil, something separate to exile. But meet the beast reframes that narrative.

“When I am in active addiction, which by the grace of the Universe I’m currently not, it feels like I am in the passenger seat of my life. i’m grateful recovery has given me more power and choice in it all, but when the Beast takes hostage of the driver’s seat, I’m just along for the ride.”

The EP does not glamorize that experience. But it does not flatten it either. Sometimes addiction is loud. Sometimes it is quiet and heavy. Sometimes it is confusion. Sometimes it is messy — really messy. All of that is explored in the debut EP, but truth be told captures the pain before clarity, the moment of surrendering, of trying something different.

“When I’m at my lowest, I don’t always know how to stay clean behind the scenes. Or ask for help. Recovery is hard. I’m doing my best — but sometimes I ask, ‘Is it enough? Am I enough? Will I ever feel better?’ The work no one normally sees, the internal transformation, that’s what this EP explores. I’m ready to let you see it.”

Structured as a seven-track arc, meet the beast moves through admission, confrontation, contradiction, trauma, compassion, and ultimately integration. It does not end with “everything’s fine.” It ends with understanding.

“This project isn’t an exorcism. It’s a love letter,” they say. “It’s a space I’ve created to welcome an exiled part of myself into an integrated whole. I’m not trying to kill the Beast or remove it from my Self anymore. I’ve spent these last few years trying to better understand it, to invite it to be heard and have its needs met.”

For listeners discovering Donaven for the first time, meet the beast marks a pivotal shift for them. Though this is their debut independent project, he is no stranger to the global music landscape. He has collaborated with producers and artists across continents, contributing to releases that have collectively surpassed three million Spotify streams. That electronic foundation converges here — distilled into something more intimate and transparent, and truly reflective of who Donaven is as an artist and human being.

In an era of curated healing narratives, Donaven offers something rarer: recovery in real time. Not triumphant. Not tidy. Honest.

With meet the beast, he doesn’t ask listeners to witness perfection.

He invites them to sit in the mess and look at their own “beasts” — and to consider the possibility that the parts we fear most may simply be the parts that learned to survive. And the parts that need the most love.

New fans are discovering Donaven at the perfect time. Long-time listeners will be pleasantly surprised with all Donaven offers in this EP, releasing early summer, and what he has planned afterwards.

The lead single, truth be told, is available March 20th.