Growing up, I had several celebrity role models, all of which I perceived to have perfect celebrity lifestyles. Honestly, it had never crossed my mind that celebrities were feeling the same pain, heartbreak, and grief that I sometimes experienced as an adolescent. At my young age, I had just assumed that because their money and fame, there was no possibility that they couldn't be happy with their lives.
As I've matured, I've come to realize that everyone experiences the same emotions, feelings, and traumas, no matter how much money they make or how many magazines they're on the cover of. As I've grown a love and passion for music, I've come to admire artists who use their platform to talk to their fans through their lyrics, especially as it relates to conversations about mental illness and mental health.
Nonetheless, this is not a particularly new trend to the music industry, however, hip-hop and rap artists have begun opening up about their struggles with mental illness, allowing fans, myself included, to feel more welcome to discussions about my own struggle with mental illness.
Just as recent examples, Logic's "1-800-273-8255", Lil Wayne's "Mad", and the majority of the tracks on Kanye West's "ye" album discuss different struggles with topics such as being on medication, attempted suicide, and depression. In turn, this has helped normalize conversations surrounding mental health as well as encouraged those who are struggling to seek help.
Mental illness itself has been considered a taboo subject, however, treatment and coping skills have been no exception. Trying to explain to others why you seek counseling or take medication can be so hard to understand, let alone to explain. For me, I was always nervous about the stigma around taking medication, I was so afraid that I would come off to others as "crazy" or "broken." and to this day, I still struggle to explain to others how one small pill can make me feel completely normal.
Music changes one's perspective of the world provides listeners with an ever-evolving outlet and lends a voice to the voiceless. That being said, artists using their song lyrics to discuss mental health has been highly influential to not only the music industry but the mental health community as well.
