Colman Domingo said bring your love, your hope, and your dedication—with no guarantee it’ll ever work.

This week, I’m spiraling on what happens when you stop chasing the algorithm and start honoring your truth.

Because trying to fit in won’t get you free.

This week, your Overthinker-in-Chief Karmen Michael Smith spirals into a layered reflection on freedom—not just political, but personal, embodied, and spiritual.

From a conversation about emotional well-being, to the joy and tension of DC’s Black Pride, to the cost of sexual liberation in a world that polices Black queer bodies, this episode asks:

What are we calling “freedom”… that’s actually just well-dressed captivity?

Karmen weaves scripture, history, and lived experience into a moving reflection on desire, disruption, and what we’re really chasing when we chase pleasure.

They make us laugh. They make us cringe. Sometimes they make us mad.
But what do Kim Burrell, Tamar Braxton, and Orlando Brown all have in common?

They’ve all been crowned “too much.”
Too dramatic. Too messy. Too unpredictable.
And yet… we can’t look away.

In this episode of Overthinking with Karmen, your Overthinker-in-Chief Karmen Michael Smith spirals into the performance of Black pain—on pulpits, on stages, on timelines—and asks:
What happens when the armor becomes the identity?

From the release of his new cinematic sermon What Survives the Fire, to conversations about persona, prophecy, and perception—Karmen reflects on what it costs to be seen, who gets grace, and who gets discarded.

This isn’t just about celebrity.
It’s about all of us.
And the lies we’ve learned to live out loud.