The song “Everything is Alright” by Motion City Soundtrack documents frontman Justin Pierre’s experience with anxiety and obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). Pierre recounts cleaning his…
The song “Otherside” by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis narrates a story about drug use and the descent into addiction. As a young man, Macklemore struggled…
Carly Simon’s song “That’s the Way I’ve Always Heard It Should Be” chronicles the painful aftermath of growing up with parents in an unhappy marriage,…
The song “The Handler” by the band Muse depicts the torment the mind undergoes when being forcibly controlled by an external force. The lyrics describe…
The song “Cut” by recording artist Plumb highlights a struggle with self-harm, and the accompanying feelings of numbness and loneliness. As a teenager, Plumb experienced…
The R.E.M. song Everybody Hurts reaches out to those struggling with sadness, loneliness, despair, or thoughts of suicide, asking them to “Hold on”. The message…
The song “Fire and Rain” written by James Taylor depicts his fight with depression and drug addiction early in his music career, along with his…
7 Years’ is a song written by Lukas Graham, which describes growing up. The lyrics touch on the theme of aging and the fear of…
‘Guns for Hands’, a song by Twenty-One Pilots, offers a strong contrast of an up-beat rhythm and dark powerful lyrics. The song follows a story…
‘Happy Little Pill’, performed by Troye Sivan, is a song about loneliness, antidepressants, and different ways that people cope. As Sivan explains, it was written during a…
