Jack Mid — An inner journey
After a psychedelic experience shattered his sense of reality at 19, Portuguese artist Jack Mid spent years navigating panic, trauma, and dissociation. At 25, he speaks with raw clarity about survival, self-forgiveness, and transforming inner chaos into music and image.
Photography Luis Facina
Styling Anderson Vescah
Beauty Everson Rocha
Words Daniela Abranches
Curiosity is almost a rite of passage, the urge to try, to feel more, to escape what we don’t yet know how to name. But some doors don’t open gently. Some lock behind you.
When we are young, curiosity often leads us to experiment — with experiences, with substances — sometimes for pleasure, sometimes as a way to cope with unresolved inner conflicts. What we rarely account for is how easily experimentation can turn into dependence, or how certain experiences have the power to fracture us entirely.
At 19, Jack Mid experienced a severe LSD-induced bad trip after misusing the drug, an episode that felt like death itself. What followed were years marked by flashbacks, panic attacks, hallucinations, and a profound rupture with reality, as if the foundations of perception had become unreliable. With that came the terrifying belief that something inside him had been permanently damaged and an urgent need for change.
Now at the age of 25, Jack is in the process of rebuilding. Through therapy, creativity, and self-forgiveness, he is learning to coexist with his scars, to accept his sensitivity, and to recognize that he is, in fact, lovable.
This editorial captures that process of exorcism and reconstruction, a visual reflection of an inner journey that complements his forthcoming debut album. Together, image and sound form a narrative of survival, self-discovery, and the fragile, hard-won balance of learning how to live again.
ZOOT: For our readers meeting you now: who is Jack Mid? Can you introduce yourself as a person and as an artist?
Jack Mid: Jack Mid is the embodiment of my most raw and intense feelings. As a person I am learning how to forgive himself from making the same mistakes over and over again. As an artist, I am also learning that he can be loveable and there’s parts of him worth being aspirational to others. My hometown is in Oporto, Portugal and I studied Medicine Veterinary.
ZOOT: Before this journey began, how would you describe the person you were becoming?
Jack Mid: I would describe myself as a person with a lot of unfinished business and internal conflicts. I spent my teenage years almost like building up a lot of unspoken traumas and situations, always trying to be though enough to not bother anyone else.
ZOOT: When you first tried drugs, what were you seeking — and when did experimentation shift into a pattern rather than a one-off experience?
Jack Mid: Honestly, I wanted to get fucked up when I first tried drugs. I liked how I felt during that period of time and tried again. And again. And again. And again. Until it insidiously became a part of my life.
ZOOT: You are 25 now, but at 19 you experienced a long “bad trip” on LSD. Can you describe what happened, how it affected your mind, and how it changed your sense of reality?
Jack Mid: First of all, I went on that trip for all the wrong reasons… I wanted to avoid the reality that I was living in where I didn’t accept myself, trying to escape from myself by any means. I was irresponsible. I didn’t pay attention to my surroundings (a ravey and colorful music festival) or to the dose that I was taking (a big drop of pure acid), or to anything.
I thought I needed that to once and for all fix everything that went wrong in my life, and so I licked the drop. It is 1pm, I’m having these crazy, crazy visuals of seeing everything mirrored, my necklace turned into a snake, I’m having this ability of controlling everything around me (the people, the sound…) I remember seeing the dirt kind of bombing its mud into me, like I’m part of this big ‘System Earth’. That’s just the tip of it.
For me, personally, I think I died in those 8 hours. I was just seeing my body wandering around during that festival from above. It was so strange, I was looking at my soulless, empty flesh of a body running care free in the crowd. Last thing I know, it’s almost 9pm, sunset is turning into night, I lost my clock and I was expelled from the festival for stealing a pair of sunglasses of one artist who performed there, eventually I made my way back to the tent where I was.
I was never the same. I didn’t have a hangover but I felt different. I was truly scared by it; I couldn’t process whatever that “afternoon” was for so long. My mind shielded me from almost all of it (THANKFULLY) but my foundations of what is reality were completely shattered.
ZOOT: Months — and even years — later, you experienced flashbacks. How did you navigate that period when it became difficult to distinguish what was real from what was memory or hallucination?
Jack Mid: For me, the afterwards was the hardest. My high from substances with THC changed drastically since my experience with psychedelics.
I remember being in this university thing and someone was smoking weed there, months after the trip, and suddenly I feel this agitating feeling, these intrusive thoughts of nothing being real and start doubting my own existence through my five senses. A full panic attack. I didn’t sleep for days and I was smoking like a pack of cigarettes a day (that was my coping mechanism on those days).
I stopped being a functional person, always locked in. I was in full survival mode, surviving to see me in the next 20 minutes having another cigarette (getting that nicotine rush). I went on a daily basis to those websites measuring how many suicides, in Portugal, have had that day… Usually 4, 5, in a bad day 9, and I was just thinking to myself Be glad, you weren’t one of those.
I couldn’t do longtime goals because I was just passing through the days. I couldn’t drive because I was a liability on the road, couldn’t go to work, I couldn’t do anything. That’s when music started to shape its form to what it is right now to me.
ZOOT: You studied veterinary science, focusing on the cardiovascular system, before your interest shifted toward neurology and eventually music. How do science and creativity intersect in your life and your artistic process today?
Jack Mid: After my experience with psychedelics, I started to see life differently… I became a more self-aware person towards my energy in every way possible. We live in a world where we have wave sounds for music, electromagnetic waves for colors, even ATP for our basal metabolic rate. We’re energy. On the top of it all, there’s the brain. The brain is still a mystery, an enigmatic organ and a blessing for our human condition.
What I can say, first hand, is that my creativity process spiked since this “journey” started, but at what cost? It was almost unbearable for me to keep living at some point.
ZOOT: Why did you decide to create this editorial now, and what does it allow you to express that music alone cannot? How does it visualize your inner journey, and what did working with the team allow you to externalize?
Jack Mid: I am a very sensitive person. To me all forms of art should be felt by as many senses as possible, for a greater experience. Every single image of this editorial gives an imagery as important as the sound I’m creating. Everything is connected. I was very blessed by the team I worked with, because they let my vision come through – recognizing that I was exorcising a lot of trauma – and respected what I was doing with the editorial.
ZOOT: Cigarettes recur as a symbol in the editorial. Can you explain their meaning — as escapism, as a trap — and how they connect to stress and coping mechanisms?
Jack Mid: The cigarette in the editorial has mainly two meanings. On one hand, it is a symbol of escapism, it is a bandage, a fast fix for internal issues and gives you the sense of “setting you free”. On the other hand, it can be seen a as trap, or a bait that makes us hostage. I used cigarettes as a coping mechanism back in the day, as long as it mentally compensated for more than the damage done physically, it was worth it to me.
ZOOT: In some images your body feels loose, almost free, and in others you appear trapped. What does that physical duality represent emotionally and psychologically?
Jack Mid: I love to play with this duality MIND VS BODY, very well described by René Descartes *. My body is still or trapped in one place but my mind is elsewhere or vice-versa.
* The 17th-century French philosopher, physicist and mathematician developed a dualistic view of the human constitution. According to this view, the ‘mind’ is an immaterial substance responsible for thought and consciousness, while the body is a material substance governed by the laws of physics. This presented the challenge of understanding how two substances of different natures could interact with each other.
ZOOT: For a lot of Gen Z, “outside is war” isn’t a metaphor — it’s the background noise of everyday life. How does that reality sit with you, and how has it shaped your mental state, your choices, and the way you see the future?
Jack Mid: Honestly, when I see the news, right now, all I can feel is anxiety. I feel like I don’t have too much time to release my art/story and it scares me. Environmental anxiety is a real thing. I grew up with it. I guess, I just try to focus on myself, in order for me to give the best that I can to others. I think that my reality is a reflection of who I am.
ZOOT: You’ve spoken about years of therapy. How did processing these experiences feel, and what did it reveal about yourself — the “Pandora’s Box” that opened?
Jack Mid: There was a point in my life where it was, literally, unbearable to live. My intrusive thoughts about reality, the sense of myself, time kept appearing in such abstract and scary ways that I, simply, could not live.
In my mind, I had damaged my brain for good, like seeing what’s behind the curtain by the vanity of curiosity, and now I was cursed for live (at only 19 years old…). I had to be medicated, plus I had a lot of therapy sessions to try to deal with this.
It is not linear this healing journey, and ultimately, I have to coexist with this for the rest of my life, like a scar or a traumatic event. I’m at peace with it. This “Pandora’s Box” full of glitter and confetti popped, suddenly, on my head, that day in 2019 in the worst way possible (opening my third eye wide) due to misuse of psychedelic drugs, and I’ve been cleaning the mess since then.
Again, I’m at peace with it.
ZOOT: Music became central during this period. How did writing, composing, and singing help you regain focus, process trauma, and rebuild a sense of direction?
Jack Mid: Music was my ultimate medicine. Now, I see that back then I only had two options:
A) I could simply circle the drain until I eventually got myself killed or
B) become a vessel for my creativity and make art, but meaningful art. The one that holds your hand through the toughest times, and whispers to you “You’re not alone”. Music is so powerful; it moves people and it saved me.
I’ve gone through it, like we all do at some point. The fun fact is that I really rebuilt a sense of direction. My ultimate goal right now is to make music that not only is intense and enjoyable but also helps people. The most rewarding thing anyone could say to me one day is “YOUR MUSIC SAVED ME”. You heard it first.
ZOOT: Your debut album, is structured as a full narrative. How do the 13 tracks reflect different stages of your journey — trauma, escapism, sexuality, creativity, and self-discovery? And how does this editorial visually extend or translate that same story?
Jack Mid: The album is a story. It unveils the ups and downs of a young adult trying to navigate through life. Every song is a different chapter, a piece of this ultimate puzzle that every life is, including mine. It addresses mature topics such as abuse, drug addiction, sexuality and even suicidal ideology. But most important of it all, it gives a raw, intense, real and enticing storytelling that is perfectly extended by this editorial. The editorial visually complements what I convey audibly in the album, throughout the 13 songs.
ZOOT: You’re deeply drawn to literature. Fernando Pessoa wrote that his heteronyms had lives of their own. What does it mean for you to work with a heteronym — and why Álvaro de Campos specifically?
Jack Mid: I first read Fernando Pessoa when I was in high school, and I was instantly hooked. He was an outlier, a misunderstood person in its season, but he shaped Portuguese literature and, even today, he is one of the most relevant faces Portugal has in its belt. Álvaro de Campos was the progressist one. He wanted everything, everywhere, every time until he got tired of it. I feel that Jack Mid is still the first part of him but he’s trying to find a middle term, a balance on it all.
ZOOT: When we read, we have to be fully present so the text can carry us into its own reality. “Tabacaria” by Álvaro de Campos — one of your favourite poems — holds a restless, pessimistic energy and heavy existential questioning, but also a deep yearning for something real and authentic, a kind of relief found in the trivialities of everyday life. When you read it, where does it take you mentally and emotionally? And when you step away from the page — when you go to the window — what do you see?
Jack Mid: It takes me home. I feel seen when I read it. As when I go to the window, I see a glimpse of hope.
LUIS CARVALHO total look.
ZOOT: If you could speak to someone going through something similar right now, what would you tell them about navigating trauma, escapism, displacement, and self-discovery?
Jack Mid: I would simply say, “I’M HERE”. That was what I lacked in my experience, it was, unfortunately, a very lonely process for me, and it shouldn’t have been that way.
ZOOT: The world around us feels increasingly unstable and less empathetic. Social media pressure, constant comparison, and performance culture affect Gen Z deeply. How have these pressures impacted your mental health, creativity, and sense of self — and how do you protect yourself today?
Jack Mid: We live in such weird times… We are surrounded by paradoxes. We have social media that should have brought us together, but we are more disconnected from each other than ever before. We have the news every day that should have made us think better and act better, but instead we are using it as a tool for spreading misinformation everywhere. Honestly, right now, I try to retreat myself from that spaces, not to avoid it, but to prioritize myself. I feel like a have so much to improve every day. It’s already so challenging, why burden myself with stuff that I can’t change?
ZOOT: Can you share something with our readers about your musical debut in May — the kind of singing and songwriting we can expect — and what you ultimately hope listeners and viewers take away from your music and this editorial?
Jack Mid: I made this ID card for my debut single, coming out in may:
Theme: The song describes a Summer Feeling that can only be felt during the Summer time. The clothes are lighter, the air is hotter, the bodies are sweaty and emotions are all pouring out through the skin in a way that is almost palpable. It’s so intense, everybody wants to be everything everywhere. Tension is rising like a fire that can’t be tamed, physical touch starts to be the new currency and drugs are slowly being infused among the warm and agitated crowd
Color: Orange.
Time: SUNSET, the beginning of the night, where the sunset blends perfectly with the bright moon and stars that will unfold during the night.
Place: There’s sand. a fireplace done by sticks and gasoline. The sea can be seen, but there’s also a pool to bathe in and a crashout house owned by someone no one knows who’s very rich.
Taste: Bitter orange
Touch: Feels like a bear hug while spinning fast.
The viewer, or the listener of my art can always expect brutal honesty from me. My art will always be a vessel for me to pour it all out in an intense and raw way, while in reality I’ll be seeking the balance in my life.
Thank you Jack!
FASHION REFERENCES
ALINE BESOURO @besouroaline
ALVES GONÇALVES @m.alves.gonçalves
DUARTE JORGE @hellabuv
GABRIEL BARROS SILVA @_gabrielsilvabarros
LACOSTE @lacoste | www.lacoste.com
LUIS CARVALHO @luiscarvalhoofficial
MARIA MIGUEL @m.m.archive_
MICHAEL KORS @michaelkors | www.michaelkors.eu
RETRÔ CITY @retrocitylisboa
SHOWPRESS @showpress.pressoffice | www.showpress.pt
To boot…
Jack Mid, singer and songwriter
Instagram @jack__mid
TikTok @jackmid13
1414 Portuguese Drug Helpline
If you are living in Portugal and struggling with drug use, or if you need support, you can contact the Portuguese Drug Helpline at 1414 or visit www.icad.pt for confidential information and assistance.
