Halsey, Selena Gomez, and Pop That Acknowledges Mental Struggle

Whether the example is Ariana Grande’s anxiety bops or Post Malone’s anthems of addiction and paranoia, mental health has become one of the central topics of today’s popular music. But is that really so new? The strangeness of the brain has long been a songwriting muse, and sounds often articulate what’s going on in one’s head better than words can. Folk singers and emo rappers alike have documented the extremes of depression, while an aesthetic of “insanity” has inspired such wild sounds as Pink Floyd’s guitar solos and Nicki Minaj’s cackles.

But the paradigm on the rise today is not simply about, the former Disney star emerges from years of personal turmoil to coo in the terminology of therapy and self-care. On Halsey’s , the newly ubiquitous radio titan journals through her bipolar disorder with kaleidoscopic, if highly stage-directed, musical diversity.