Eliza Smallwood
On “A Symptom of Being Human,” Shinedown’s sweeping No. 1 Mainstream Rock Airplay present hit, lead singer Brent Smith sings concerning the all-too-relatable situation of feeling remoted even when surrounded by others: “Typically I’m in a room the place I don’t belong/ And the home is on hearth and there’s no alarm.”
That vulnerability has been a mainstay of the rock band’s profession, which has yielded a record-setting 19 No. 1s on the Mainstream Rock Airplay chart spanning greater than 18 years. On Tuesday afternoon at Hollywood & Thoughts’s “Minds Matter: Highlight on Shaping a More healthy Music Trade” convention at West Hollywood’s London Lodge, Smith talked in depth about musicians and psychological well being and the way communication is the important thing to sustaining a wholesome stability in a artistic, typically unstable occupation.
Smith’s panel was moderated by Ryan Dusick, a founding member of Maroon 5, who’s now a therapist. Dusick obtained the dialogue off to a candid begin, detailing how in 2006, as Maroon 5’s stardom was rising, he suffered a breakdown that successfully ended his musical profession. “I needed to stroll away from it,” he mentioned. “I grieved that loss for one more decade, battling alcoholism and different debilitating results.” As soon as he was in restoration, Dusick realized he had skilled “a thoughts, physique and spirit breakdown. … I’m one of many lucky ones who survived.”
By way of songs like “Get Up” and “Sound of Insanity,” Shinedown has addressed psychological well being points. “I’m in a band that’s been speaking about psychological well being for the higher a part of twenty years,” Smith mentioned. And whereas taking good care of one’s psychological well being is on the forefront of many conversations lately, it wasn’t all the time the case. “Earlier than it was within the mainstream and dropped at the forefront, it was one thing that was checked out as a little bit of a weak spot. Typically individuals would simply say that you just had a case of the Mondays and issues of that nature,” Smith mentioned. “It’s not taboo to speak about your emotions on the highway anymore. It doesn’t make you weak; it makes you robust.”
Essential to sustaining a steady psychological situation is communication. “We’re on the highway 280 days a 12 months,” Smith mentioned. “You’ve obtained to speak to one another. In some instances, the bravest factor you are able to do is get somebody off the highway. In some instances, it’s doubtlessly going to save lots of their life. I would like individuals to dwell to struggle one other day.”
As Smith says within the clip above, the important thing to success within the music business is to all the time have “one other mountain” to climb and to know that life is a sequence of peaks and valleys. “On the subject of psychological well being, essentially the most highly effective factor is to talk up,” he mentioned.
Talking up was a theme all through the day’s 5 intimate conversations, which additionally included growing artist Em Beihold, who talked about the right way to preserve habits that foster robust psychological well being, particularly amid music business pressures; in addition to radio and TV host Matt Pinfield, who prompt an motion so simple as selling artists you want by way of your social media will help alleviate the stress these artists really feel to all the time be pushing their very own work. Different audio system included Lucas Keller, founder/president of Milk & Honey Music + Sports activities; Alison Malmon, founder/government director of Lively Minds; Mary Rahmani, founding father of Moon Tasks, a three way partnership label with Republic Data; Jaclyn Ranere, CMO of Sofar Sounds; Kakul Srivastava, CEO of Splice; Yuli, a Grammy-nominated artist, multi-instrumentalist and producer; and Marshai Iverson, managing director of psychological well being and habit restoration providers at MusiCares. Sponsors included Splice, Lively Minds and Sofar Sounds.
Hollywood & Thoughts was based in 2023 by veteran journalist (and Billboard contributor) Cathy Applefeld Olson to deal with the intersection of the leisure business and mind well being sector, working with executives and expertise throughout a number of sectors, together with music and movie, to raise psychological well being and wellness.
The Jan. 30 occasion was Hollywood & Thoughts’s third since launching with the Hollywood & Thoughts Summit held final Could that featured, amongst others, Demi Lovato discussing psychological well being. In September, the corporate hosted an occasion in partnership with Bumble targeted on our disaster of loneliness that featured Tiffany Haddish, singer/songwriter Rachel Platten, and California first accomplice Jennifer Siebel Newsom amongst audio system. The second annual Hollywood & Minds Summit will happen Could 9 at UTA in Los Angeles.