In spite of ongoing algorithmic tyranny, Instagram managed to get it right earlier this week, making sure I saw a new post from singer-songwriter Mindy Gledhill.
While the Mormon cultural scene of late, and larger American music scene, understandably focuses on David Archuleta, Mindy continues her own journey. To use her words, it has been a journey of deconstruction, but now becomes one of reconstruction. Like David, and many of us, she’s walked the painful road of faith crisis, and she’s done it while maintaining a commitment to artistic expression. So, it delighted me to learn Mindy has released a new single: “Pleased to Meet Me.”
I’ll throw some thoughts and questions to Wheat and Tares readers below, but first… I invite you to give the next 4:41 seconds to Mindy. Watch the official music video here:
Gledhill has been writing, recording, and filming professionally since at least 2007. She is perhaps best known in Mormonism for her song Whole Wide World, which The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints licensed for its now defunct Meet the Mormons campaign.
A non-Mormon buddy of mine is on a playlist-making kick these days. Coincidentally, on the same day Mindy’s single dropped into my feed, he wrangled a group of us guys into assembling a spontaneous playlist. Since I was at that moment falling in love with “Pleased to Meet Me” I dropped it into the list. As I expressed to my friend, Mindy’s the real deal. Perhaps not as all-out famous as Imagine Dragons, but she is as serious and accomplished a recording artist as Mormonism has produced in my lifetime. I’m a fan, so this post dispenses with attempting an unbiased, objective review. Mindy’s music means too much to me.
Would I be Pleased to Meet Me?
This question, like the tender piano phrase nudging the songwriter on, tugs at my heart. I honestly don’t know if I would be pleased to meet me. I hope so.
The truth of the song, for me anyways, is this: there is a meaningful connection to be made and maintained between our older and younger selves. Arguably, they are separate and distinct beings. Yet, both need care and attention, respect and acknowledgment, even communion.
I’ve been through the above video a couple of times now. Visually, it has flavors of a beloved movie which celebrates similar sentiments: Cinema Paradiso. The lighting and camera choices are exquisite: somehow sharply defined and yet gentle. Director Ty Arnold achieves something visually marvelous, editing together an oscillating sequence of images as Mindy moves about silently or sings along to the soundtrack. According to the YouTube description, the music video was shot at two locations: The Caine Lyric Theater (Utah State University) and The Casino Star Theater (Gunnison, UT). Those of us who grew up attending movies delivered via filmstrip and analog sound may feel an extra layer of nostalgia.
Share Your Reactions
So W&T readers, what do you think? What was your reaction to the song and its music video? Why do you suppose you had your particular reaction? What other Gledhill songs and videos have you seen? And lastly, would you be pleased to meet you? Share if you feel comfortable.
If you’d like to read further, here is my review of Mindy’s previous album: Rabbit Hole. And if you just want to skip to something delightful, my favorite Gledhill tune remains I Do Adore. (It makes me think of the chihuahuas I used to dog sit. And then I start smiling and feeling happy.)
Wheat & Tares 
Loved this post, and the video. Thank you.
I loved this song. So lovely, and such a great message. Thank you for your post.
This song and video are so gentle and soft. I love the lyric about kissing your past self on the forehead. Also “love myself completely; never let me go.”
I had kind of a rough time with my self-image while growing up, and part of overcoming that was basically going back through memories of self-hatred and frustration and picturing myself hugging my younger self and saying, “you did the best you could. I love you so much. We’ll get through this.” Learning to accept myself meant showing compassion to my younger self who was in impossible situations.
If I really did meet my younger self, I’d probably start crying, give her a huge hug and say, “you’re trying so hard. I can see it.” And acknowledge the effort even though nothing ever really worked. I’m crying as I type this. I acknowledge the effort. She tried so hard.
This video brought back all that gentleness, that effort to give my younger self what she needed to stop with all the self-hatred. It’s such a sweet and gentle expression of self-acceptance. Thank you so much for sharing it.
This is such a beautiful, powerful song and message. When I watched it, it made me think of something that my father said at my grandfather’s funeral. My father is one of 10 children and I think 4 out of the 10 are active LDS. He is not active, nor would he consider himself a member. At the funeral, my father recounted having a very vivid, powerful, emotional dream. In the dream, he was by a lake playing as a little boy and skipping rocks in an idyllic paradise without a care in the world. Also in the dream was another little boy that he did not recognize. As he started to get to know this boy, he realized very quickly that it was his own dad (my grandfather), but he too was the same age as my father as a little boy. The two began playing, skipping rocks, and sitting on a log talking for a long time and became great friends.
There is something really powerful about imagining visiting your younger (or older) future self. I get chills imagining the beauty of meeting your father/mother as a child your same age and playing, laughing, joking together. I imagine if we could do this, we might be better parents or children and have a lot more empathy, compassion, and love for one another in our family relationships.
Side note: I served a mission in Montreal, Canada. On my mission was one piano virtuoso Dustin Gledhill. He was mostly an office missionary for the entire time and I think it was so he could play piano and retain his skill (someone should write a post about how different a mission experience looks if you are a skilled athlete/musician, because I don’t think Dustin’s mission was anything like mine!) While I don’t follow Mindy’s career too closely, I do see her Twitter/X posts, which are awesome), but I think both Dustin and Mindy collaborated on a project Hive Riot.
I’ve played in a number of bands over the years. Country, Rock, punk, and alternative are types of music I’ve played. My sister is classically trained. I even made a CD with my daughter that was basically folk but more Americana than anything. One thing I’ve learned is both the effort it takes to say something with your music and then saying it in a way that is true to yourself. I appreciate this video/song and it’s message.
I would be pleased to meet you.
Myself I live with everyday and and I know myself too well. I think I would be interested in going back to meet the person I was to tell myself to cut loose and live a little. I was very driven and desperate to succeed and didn’t take any time for too long. For example the week I defended my dissertation I defended on Tuesday. Wrote edits on Wednesday. Cleaned the lab on Thursday. Sold my house and packed Friday. Saturday my wife and I loaded up the kids and a U-Haul. Went to church on Sunday and started my job Monday at 7:30 AM.
I wish I could have taken some time. I rushed off to a mission, marriage, kids, career. All good things. But time moved fast and as Ferris Bueller wisely observed – “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”
Thank you for sharing – I’m listening to this on repeat. It speaks to me.