ESPN’s Pat McAfee spent his offseason working on his debut album. And like every other thing about him, including the title of his album, it has been met with polarizing responses. In a recent video, McAfee has reemphasized the emotional theme of his album by revealing the emotional ups and downs that went into its production.

“The whole process was cool,” McAfee said in an August 19 video he posted on his Instagram story, answering a fan’s question about the coolest part of making the album. “The writing of it, obviously, I’ve done that for like the last 20 years of my note section; I write every day, try to get something in there: verses, choruses, melodies, things of that nature… So, that was fun. I loved that. Piecing those together throughout different chapters of my life that were kind of in the same vein, that I could wrap around a course that tells the same story, that was a blast.”

“Emotionally, to be honest, going through my life and my notes and the things that I thought. And then, the producing of the record, watching the insanely talented people: the guitar player, bass guitar, drums, keys… Watching the masters work brought an actual tear to my eye. My words were coming alive. I think just learning the whole process was my favorite part, and that’s how this offseason was spent.”

Last December, McAfee decided to unveil another dimension of his abilities to football fans when he released his debut song, Dookie. The 90-second song was the aftermath of a freestyle he did during a College GameDay in Oregon. Fans were quick to listen to what McAfee had to offer, eventually finding it more an amusing, musical expression of his loud and high-spirited personality than a creative masterpiece. Notwithstanding, the former punter was inspired by their response and went ahead to release an album days ago.

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The Diary of a Polarizing Figure is a 14-track album that details McAfee’s personal emotions in relation to the backlash he faces as a public figure. To him, the album is less about himself and more about a relatable theme that misunderstood and heavily criticized people can relate to.

McAfee recounted his steady rise from a working-class background in Pittsburgh to his NFL career and his success as a broadcaster. Bringing together the different pieces of his life was an emotional effort, well complemented by the feeling he got from working with other musicians.

However, McAfee’s reputation may have taken focus away from the emotional aspect of his new album. The ESPN broadcaster is known for his light-hearted personality. Even then, one thing McAfee can trust in all of these is his popularity and network.

Even if the album suffers from the same problem it talks about, McAfee can be confident of enjoying commercial success with his debut album. Already, many of his ESPN colleagues have shared social media posts, made positive comments, and recommended the album to listeners.