Music mental health struggles are at the core of an honest new interview with the singer who draws thousands of fans, Josh Groban. Here, the multiplatinum singer reveals that fame and the pressure of popularity once made music a mental health burden. The singer reveals that at one point “music became a liability” to his mental health.
Groban talks about battling depression, enormous pressure and being labeled a ‘sex symbol’ when he didn‘t feel comfortable with it. He talks about how touring, promotion and the public eye impacted on his music mental health and how he felt like he had been disconnected from himself and his music that had once kept him going. He reminds himself about a ‘middlefinger phase’ in his 30s when he rebelled against the image he had been given.
The interview reveals the impact a music mental health problem can have on artists who may seem to be ‘living the dream’. The pressure to perform,… the fear of failure and the fusion of personal and professional identity… Can lead to a profound inner crisis. Groban‘s openness in the interview helps ‘disprove the myth that success equals happiness’, demonstrating that music mental health help is just as needed back stage as it is in the main arena for fans.
Tim Groban reflects how he has been actively establishing a healthier relationship with his craft such as finding greater boundaries and receiving support. He was able to regain his passion for music and why he wanted to sing in the first place. His statement emphasizes that recovery and mental health improvement through music is not about abstinence from music, the new embrace of the art must be not-pressurizing.
It may hit home, too, for those who make music on the records, on stage. Music-related mental health problems can present as burnout, pre-show jitters, harsh self-judgment, feeling compelled to prove your value through productivity. Listening to Groban be so candid is one way that normalizes human experience: now, you know, it‘s safe to retreat, to seek assistance, to create new parameters for success.
Source: The Guardian – Josh Groban looks back: ‘Music became a liability to my mental health’


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