For World Mental Health Day, a check-up on the music industry
Categoria: Musica
Consider it a musical manifesto devoted to mental health
Por Billboard | 10/10/2026
When Olivia Rodrigo dropped her third studio album You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love , it quickly became one of the year’s biggest breakouts, with legions of fans seeing themselves in its melancholy themes of sadness, loneliness and heartache. On the standout track “what’s wrong with me,” she opens the song with a wrenching and telling line: “I’m just staring at the ceiling, can’t describe this feeling.” Luckily, she was fibbing on that last part: Rodrigo has a knack for describing the depths of despair, and making us all feel a little less alone as a result – with Grammy nominations possibly waiting in the wings as a result. Rodrigo’s album would make the perfect soundtrack for today’s World Mental Health Day . An annual tradition since 1992, it’s a moment to acknowledge that, like Rodrigo bravely points out, we’re not alone in our struggles. In Billboard’s latest episode of their Like Minded series in partnership with BetterHelp, Monaleo and Kehlani discussed motherhood and the permission to take care of oneself. “63% of U.S. women struggle to prioritize their health,” as reported in the launch of The Permission Projec t, a BetterHelp initiative focused on women’s mental health. Between giving yourself permission and this year’s theme of World Mental Health Day, Lived experiences heard: real voices, real change, it all coincides with the music industry’s intimate relationship with mental health and giving oneself the OK to seek help. In the past year, the music world saw a genre-spanning slate of artists both wearing their hearts on their sleeves in their art, as well as publicly prioritizing their own mental health like never before. Proving that it doesn’t matter whether you’re a fledgling singer-songwriter playing coffee shops and looking for a break, or the record-breaking artist Ella Langley, struggles don’t discriminate. Langley, who is breaking Billboard Hot 100 records as of late with her No. 1 smash “Choosin’ Texas,” has regularly sung about mental health and feeling less than. Take, for instance, “Be Her,” Langley’s vulnerable single from sophomore album Dandelion . On the song, Langley talks about wanting to emulate a fellow gal she’s idolizing. “I just want to be her so bad it hurts,” she croons with a signature twang, alluding to fretting about being less-than and an empty feeling of longing. But beyond the lyrics, Langley has prioritized her mental health even as her immense success was unfolding before her. In fact, just before the dawn of her record-breaking run, Langley canceled a chunk of her 2025 tour, writing on Instagram : “I want to be fully present for the moments ahead, and I know I can’t do that without taking care of myself,” adding, “Sometimes we have to listen when our bodies and hearts tell us to slow down.” It was a vulnerable choice, and one that eventually paid off for the current superstar: She slowed down in preparation for something better. Prioritizing oneself is something Ariana Grande ha