Ojai (EP)

In an interview, Young & Sick described the EP as showcasing "a nice range of what the next phase of Young & Sick will be."[1]

On the songwriting process for the EP's first track and titular single, "Ojai," Young & Sick described his experience staying in a hotel in Ojai, California:[2]

I was staying at a hotel there called The Rancho. I just had a few drinks and I was in the sun, and I just let a very apparent feeling hit myself, hit me. I got to make a song about taking too much on your plate and how that affects you and how you can have, like, a micro-meltdown because you’ve put too much on yourself.

The EP was released in 2018, along with a limited-edition yellow vinyl record with red and black splatter designed by Young & Sick containing the first two songs on the EP.[3] Young & Sick expressed his pride in the design, calling it "one of the wackiest, in-depth pieces of art I’ve made."[4] Along with the record, Young & Sick also released a number of visual designs for the release of the EP,[5] including three pairs of sneakers and a hoodie.[4][6]

The EP was well received by critics. Regarding the EP's cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Dreams," online music publication Earmilk noted that the cover proves that Young & Sick "can take on the classics," and sounds "[d]renched in California sunshine with a dash of twinkly lo-fi indie sensibility."[7] Earmilk also reviewed the single "Ojai," calling it a "near-perfect pop song."[8] On the single "The Road," Complex said that Young & Sick "uses the raw and track to further encapsulate his recent travels throughout small town America."[5] The EP ends off with a "gorgeously pared-down solo piano version of EP single 'Ojai,'" as described by BroadwayWorld.[6]