After nearly two decades of creating music, Miss May I has reached a point where their history, evolution, and personal experiences have become deeply intertwined. With their upcoming album No Place for Me, vocalist Levi Benton is opening up about anxiety, isolation, self-discovery, and the difficult process of confronting the parts of yourself you may have spent years avoiding.

During our conversation, Levi spoke candidly about what the album revealed to him personally and why No Place for Me represents one of the most emotionally significant chapters in Miss May I’s career.

“My Cup Overflowed”

For Levi, the writing process behind No Place for Me became a moment of realization. When asked what surprised him about putting these emotions into words, he admitted that he had reached a point where the pressure he had placed on himself had become overwhelming.

“The biggest thing I realized was I was always stressed and, like, freaking out. Everyone always says your cup can only get so full, and I think my cup overflowed going into this album.”

Levi explained that all the pressure came from constantly trying to overcompensate, overachieve, and push himself forward, and not taking the time to honestly slow down

“The overcompensating and going, just overcorrecting and trying to overachieve, made me a little crazy. I think I realized that during this album. I’ve been a lot more chill and relaxed since the album. It’s been awesome. I was stressing too much and overworking too much, and I think I never took time to chill or listen to anyone. I was just go, go, go. That’s a hard thing when you realize what you’re messing up at, but it’s good. It’s good to realize.“

That realization has had an impact beyond the music itself. For Levi, No Place for Me wasn’t simply another collection of songs. It became an opportunity to examine the patterns in his own life that he had been avoiding. He admitted that realizing those flaws wasn’t easy.

Finding the Meaning Behind No Place for Me

“I was trying to realize what brought us all together as a band. Not only was this a feeling I was going through in this album, just feeling very isolated and that there was no place to really feel safe as myself, but while I was processing this, I realized what brought us together as a band when we were like 15, 16. We all just felt very isolated and alone, and that was like a common denominator and sort of what was our magnet to each other. That’s a subject that has carried through with our band these whole 20 years. Obviously, it’s a dark subject, but it’s just something we’ve been longing for.“

The title No Place for Me has continued to take on new meaning for Levi as he discusses the record. While the album was born from his own feelings of isolation and struggling to feel comfortable within himself, Levi eventually realized that those emotions were also connected to the very beginning of Miss May I. The members of Miss May I weren’t simply brought together by circumstance. They shared something deeper. Nearly 20 years later, Levi recognizes that isolation has remained a recurring theme throughout the band’s history.

Opening Up About What People Don’t Always Want to Say

“It wasn’t something I wanted to obviously talk about because I’m going through this time. But while I’m writing it, and everyone’s asking, ‘Why’d you say that? What is this?’ The wild thing is when you talk about it, everyone’s feeling the same way, just in a different perspective. Everyone’s going through it, and I feel like people should talk about it more.”

One of the most honest and powerful parts of our conversation was Levi’s perspective on discussing difficult emotions. Writing No Place for Me required him to put feelings into words that he wasn’t necessarily comfortable discussing while he was actively experiencing them, but during this process Levi also discovered important aspects of himself. For Levi; the realization during writing this album became comforting to him. People go through emotions and difficult situations that are hard to speak on. That message is the emotional center of the album. Musicians, touring life, the albums, and the performances are done by human beings that experience the same struggles as the people listening to the music

Music Says What Conversations Sometimes Cannot

“My wife says she’s been with me since the first album, and she just says how I can say more; I say things on albums that I can’t say to her or, like, my therapist. It’s weird. I feel most comfortable when we’re writing songs, and then I’m saying it to all these strangers, but it’s helping everyone sort of deal with it.”

Levi openly discussed about how songwriting allows him to express emotions that can be difficult to communicate directly to others, but easier to let it flow on paper. The vocalist has been with his wife since the beginning of their first album and she notices how Levi is not able to express his emotions, but able to through music. As an outsider point of view; that might not look healthy in a way, but sometimes its easier for individual to express how they feel through poetry or in Levi’s position; writing lyrics. Sometimes its easier to put all your emotions into lyrics than it is to sit across from another person and say those emotions out loud. Songwriting has became a safe place for Levi where difficult feelings can exist in the most honest way. And by sharing them, those feelings may help someone else understand that they aren’t alone.

Experimenting With “Hand Me a Halo”

“There’s a handful of, for us, I would say experimental songs, and this would be one of them. All the foundation songs that Ryan started were out of the box for us and weird, which is awesome. Obviously, we didn’t want to lead with this one, didn’t want to scare anybody off and say, ‘Hey, this is some weird stuff.’ But we do want to let you guys know there are some fun, exciting songs. We had the same ingredients for 20 years, so now we’re finally changing the recipe.

A lot of the lyrics came from Ryan on this song, and it’s a lot of anxiety-based lyrics, which is a very common thing in our band. When you’re feeling isolated and alone, and the anxiety of trying to just find yourself like, so alone that you don’t even feel like you’re with yourself and sort of the intrusive thoughts that are at play during that. That’s sort of what ‘Hand Me a Halo’ is all about.”

Miss May I fans have already heard different sides of this new chapter, particularly through “Hand Me a Halo.” The frontman stated that this single is one of the more experimental tracks off this album. The song began with ideas from Ryan, whose approach brought something new into the band’s creative process. Levi also stated that they did decide not to lead the album with this single due to it being an experimental track and not fully knowing how fans would react to it. With “Hand Me a Halo,” it made the next chapter for the band exciting. This single fits perfectly in the emotional landscape of No Place For Me.

Growing With the Fans

“We’re doing meet-and-greets now where there’s 16-year-olds, 18-year-olds, and they say, ‘My parents raised me on you.’ It’s so surreal to hear that because we’ve done it so long. I think the thing that’s happened is that it surpassed being just our band and our project. It’s not even ours anymore. It’s the whole family. When I do things for the band, I don’t think of it as just the four guys trying to grow this band. I think of it as, ‘Hey, what are we gonna do for the entity that is Miss May I?“

The biggest surreal experience for Levi is seeing the younger generations discover Miss May I. At meet-and-greets, he has started hearing something that would have been impossible to imagine when the band first started: younger fans stating that they love the music because their parents raised them on it. Levi looks at Miss May I as not a band, but more of a family within themselves and their fans.

Different Chapters of the Same Story

“I think it’s different chapters. It comes from real-life situations at the time and what we’re feeling from the music. Playing those songs or listening to them all these years, I can see what I went through and remember what I was feeling writing those songs. Since we grew up with our fans, they’re sort of going through the same thing at the same time. A lot of our fans also became parents at the same time, and that’s what that whole album is really about. That was just a cool connection with our fans that I could see that chapter resonated.“

Looking back across Miss May I’s discography, Levi doesn’t necessarily see a single straight evolution. Instead he see’s the journey as chapters. Every record captures a particular moment in the band’s lives. Levi pointed to Curse of Existence as a particularly meaningful chapter because many longtime fans were becoming parents around the same time.

A New Chapter Without Forgetting the Old Ones

“It’ll be equally split. There’s gonna be a lot of old stuff, but it’s pretty equal. We’re not gonna completely abandon the old songs, but we definitely want to get the new chapter of Miss May I rolling and show you guys. As a four-piece, we have a lot more sounds live, and I think that really makes a really cool atmosphere for the performance.”

As Miss May I prepares to bring this new era to the stage, Levi says fans can expect a balance between the band’s history and where they are headed next. The band isn’t planning to abandon the songs that helped build their career. After nearly 20 years, Miss May I are still moving forward, but they haven’t forgotten the journey that brought them here. For me personally, this conversation felt like a full-circle moment. Having followed the band for years and remembering the excitement of meeting Levi during the Warped Tour era, being able to sit down and discuss this deeply personal new chapter was incredibly special. No Place for Me represents vulnerability, growth, anxiety, and isolation. But ultimately, it also represents connection. As Levi’s words throughout our conversation made clear, sometimes the feelings we are most afraid to share are the very same feelings someone else is silently carrying.

And maybe that is what makes this chapter of Miss May I so important. Even when you feel isolated. Even when you feel disconnected. Even when you feel like there is no place for you. You may be far less alone than you think.