Mental health has been discussed more and more openly in songs over the last few years. Music has always been an art form that allows for a range of expression and there have been many songs that have hinted at aspects of mental health in the past, but it is becoming more normalized to talk about specific struggles and issues. There are so many albums out there that include music that touches on mental illness. In fact, there are so many out there that we can't include all of them; however, the songs mentioned in this article do a great job of talking about mental health and aim to leave listeners feeling like they're not alone.
1. Serotonin by girl in red
This song doesn't hold back at all and talks about the queer Norwegian singer's struggles with OCD. It gained popularity in 2021and can be heard on pretty much any radio station or at any gym. The song explicitly talks about intrusive thoughts like "cutting my hands off" and "jumping in front of a bus." The first time I ever heard the song, I was surprised that it had gained so much traction due to its honesty and rawness, but I felt extremely heard and happy that a song that discusses intrusive thoughts was so popular to the general public.
2. Pretty Much Any Song by Twenty One Pilots
Twenty One Pilots is known for their mental health advocacy and lead singer, Tyler Joseph, has been very open about his battles with depression and other mental illnesses. There are hints at mental health struggles in almost every one of the duo's songs, but the most memorable are "Holding Onto You", "Stressed Out", and "Migraine." I remember the first time I heard Holding Onto You and how the lines, "And the window sill looks really nice, right?
You think twice about your life, it probably happens at night, right?
Fight it, take the pain, ignite it
Tie a noose around your mind, loose enough to breathe fine and tie it
To a tree, tell it, "You belong to me
This ain't a noose, this is a leash
And I have news for you, you must obey me" really spoke to me as someone who dealt with depression. Their ability to discuss mental health struggles while leaving behind a message of strength and unity is inspiring.
3. Wish Me Luck by Wallows
This song may not appear to be about mental health at first listen, but if you take the lyrics literally, it's a song about anxiety and a need to be okay at its core. The song goes, "Can you just wish me luck? I'm always just getting stuck inside of my mind-- I'll be fine if we turn out the lights." If that's not talking about overthinking, I'm not sure what is. Wallows has a few other songs that hint at mental illness such as "Treacherous Doctor" and one of their more recent releases "OK," which has the line "Can we get up and try to feel okay again?" repeatedly throughout the ballad.
4. Patience by Bad Suns
This song is another not so obvious choice but some of the lyrics are undeniably about feeling down, stuck, anxious, and depressed. One of my favorite lines from this melody (and probably from any song ever) is the part where lead singer, Christopher Bowman, sings, "All my dreams have been weighing me down
Like an anchor to my bed
I can live my life instead." To me, this describes having so many dreams that you don't know what to do with but possibly being too depressed to get out of bed and achieve them. There's also a few other lines in the song that say, "I've been writing my thoughts down
To clear my mind
To try and figure out my brain
To confront and set aside my pain." In addition, Bad Suns has "Salt" which is about someone transitioning and "Transpose," which talks clearly about anxiety and overthinking.
5. Overwhelmed by Royal and the Serpent
"Overwhelmed" is all about having an anxiety disorder. It describes perfectly what it is like living day to day with extreme anxiety and the lyrics truly hit home. The entire song is dedicated to talking about what it feels like to be overwhelmed, over stimulated, and anxious and it's also quite catchy. Some of the lyrics include, "I get overwhelmed so easily, my anxiety creeps inside of me, makes it hard to breathe." This is just one line of many that do a great job at describing the sensations and symptoms that people have who deal with an anxiety disorder.
These five songs range from a few lines dedicated to mental health to entire ballads that discuss what it's like to live with mental illness. If you're looking to listen to more songs that mention mental health, I suggest starting with these and branching out. There are so many genres and styles of music and so many ways and opportunities to be an advocate through the music you listen to.
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