On the surface, Maxwell’s “Fistful of Tears” comes off as a song that’s urging a woman to shake her unnecessary insecurities and, in the process, perhaps save him some unnecessary grief. Lyrics like “all you got to do is raise up, face up, stay up, all things will heal” make sense under that context and resonate deeply, so when the sultry singer revealed to our VH1 Storytellers audience that the song’s inspiration was actually drawn from the war in the Middle East, we were taken aback. But as he explains in the above sneak, Maxwell’s song-writing is a “three-prong experience,” alllowing him to apply (1) what he’s going through personally, (2) what he sees going on in the world, and (3) what he hopes the listener will get out of it, and therefore, our previous interpretation may still stand.

Before performing the powerful ballad in this clip, Maxwell candidly opens up about his opinions on the “religious war” that has been waged by the US, advocating a peaceful coexistence for all. “I hate the fact that we’re fighting, I can’t wait for the troops to come back,” said the R&B veteran, adding, “If your God is name this, and my God is named that, I’m cool.” And despite the fact that Max hates to name drop, he delivered this information via a story about being in the studio with Mary J. Blige and Anthony Hamilton, taming his somewhat reclusive mystique and making the story all-the-more juicy. Just as we were nodding our heads in new-found understanding, however, the soul singer brought us back full circle, noting that the song is also about trying to show someone “how great they are, when they can’t see how great they are.” A-ha! Not only was our original theory right after all, but it seems Maxwell also stayed true to his trusty three prongs– touching on both his life and world observations, all while allowing us to decode and evaluate for ourselves.