My research will be about songwriting and how it helped many singers with their lives and struggles but how also making music changed their lives. In my final project from last year, I decided to write my own songs as I used to struggle with coming up with the lyrics because I didn’t have any inspiration but also some songs I wrote before didn’t really make sense. For example, verse one of the song GIVE ME A SIGN was about something really exciting and happy and the second was about something sad. However, throughout this course, I have learned how to structure my songs without having two completely different stories of the song. After I learned this, writing songs became not easy but less difficult and for two of my songs I just improvised and came up with the lyrics on the spot as I was playing them. Most of the songs that I have written are sad because, in my opinion, I think writing songs that are sad is much easier as coming up with something happy and uplifting because most songs are about heartbreak. So for this project, I decided I want to improve as a songwriter because I do enjoy writing songs but also composing them. So I will focus on many singers and songwriters that put their pain into their songs and focus on their lyrics, structure but also the meaning of behind the songs some singers that struggle have.
Singers Songwriters
Demi Lovato is one of the artist that writes her songs about her life experience and how it affects her life. This also shows when she is performing live and sometimes she starts to cry at her concerts.
‘Demi has struggled with substance abuse as well as her eating disorder, entering rehab to battle cocaine and alcohol addiction. The star has also suffered from depression, bipolar disorder, and self-harm. Demi has turned to the gym as a form of ‘meditation’, practicing boxing and jiu-jitsu.’
(Metro, 2020).
Due to this she started to get much better and started making songs again. In my opinion, singers that write songs about their life or something others can relate to because sometimes a song can help others with what they are going through. However, is also a big achievement for the singer to continue her career whilst struggling with many problems. In my opinion, music is like a cure because every musician creates music with passion and each song has its own feelings that can help others with their problems.
“Anyone”
Uh, uh
I tried to talk to my piano
I tried to talk to my guitar
Talk to my imagination
Confided into alcohol
I tried and tried and tried some more
Told secrets ’til my voice was sore
Tired of empty conversation
‘Cause no one hears me anymore
A hundred million stories
And a hundred million songs
I feel stupid when I sing
Nobody’s listening to me
Nobody’s listening
I talk to shooting stars
But they always get it wrong
I feel stupid when I pray
So, why am I praying anyway?
If nobody’s listening
Anyone, please send me anyone
Lord, is there anyone?
I need someone, oh
Anyone, please send me anyone
Lord, is there anyone?
I need someone
I used to crave the world’s attention
I think I cried too many times
I just need some more affection
Anything to get me by
A hundred million stories
And a hundred million songs
I feel stupid when I sing
Nobody’s listening to me
Nobody’s listening
I talk to shooting stars
But they always get it wrong
I feel stupid when I pray
Why the fuck am I praying anyway?
If nobody’s listening
Anyone, please send me anyone
Lord, is there anyone?
I need someone, oh
Anyone, please send me anyone
Oh, Lord, is there anyone?
I need someone
Oh, anyone, I need anyone
Oh, anyone, I need someone
A hundred million stories
And a hundred million songs
I feel stupid when I sing
Nobody’s listening to me
Nobody’s listening
azlyrics (2020)
The lyrics show how lonely she feels and that she needs help. She also talks about her struggles with alcohol. I think that music helps us to explain our feeling in a way we are able to explain how we really feel. When I’m trying to write songs I focus on my life and what I went through but also think what others might be going through and how can I help them to relate to the song, and I think that many people can relate to her song because some people feel lonely and feel like they need someone in their lives.
As I was doing some research on Demi Lovato and her health I found that many singers/musicians struggle with mental health and other problems and one of them is Billie Eilish. She struggles with mental health as she used get suicidal thoughts this was because ‘she was overwhelmed by her own fame’ however, she still managed to make songs and carry on with her music and spoke about her mental health in her song ‘everything I wanted’ where she speaks about her struggles with mental health due to he fame but she also talks about her brother that he’s always going to be there for her. Many singers put all their pain and struggle into songs that can then make also others feel better. In my opinion, sometimes writing songs can express what you feel by sometimes you can’t express your emotions by talking to people because you are struggling to express yourself for 100%.
I had a dream
I got everything I wanted
Not what you’d think
And if I’m being honest
It might have been a nightmare
To anyone who might care
Thought I could fly
So I stepped off the golden
Nobody cried
Nobody even noticed
I saw them standing right there
Kinda thought they might care
I had a dream
I got everything I wanted
But when I wake up, I see
You with me
And you say
As long as I’m here
No one can hurt you
Don’t wanna lie here
But you can learn to
If I could change the way that you see yourself
You wouldn’t wonder why you hear
“They don’t deserve you”
I tried to scream
But my head was under water
They called me weak
Like I’m not just somebody’s daughter
Could’ve been a nightmare
But it felt like they were right there
And it feels like yesterday was a year ago
But I don’t wanna let anybody know
‘Cause everybody wants something from me now
And I don’t wanna let ’em down
I had a dream
I got everything I wanted
But when I wake up, I see
You with me
And you say
As long as I’m here
No one can hurt you
Don’t wanna lie here
But you can learn to
If I could change the way that you see yourself
You wouldn’t wonder why you hear
“They don’t deserve you”
If I knew it all then, would I do it again?
Would I do it again?
If they knew what they said would go straight to my head
What would they say instead?
If I knew it all then, would I do it again?
Would I do it again?
If they knew what they said would go straight to my head
What would they say instead?
azlyrics (2019)
Another singer I’m going to be talking about is Noah Cyrus and how she talks about her struggles with anxiety in her song ‘Lonely’. “Cyrus released “Lonely” in September and explained that the moving piano ballad came from a point in her life where she “felt stuck in this place that I could not get out of.” She continued, “I just needed to get it out; I needed the conversation because I couldn’t take it in my body anymore, I couldn’t take the feeling of anxiety circling in my chest. I couldn’t take that anymore, or I was gonna explode.”In her song, she also mentions her family,” miss all my family” as she was struggling to talk to them about it so she had no one to share her problems with. Making this song helped her by speaking about her troubles and helped her overcome her depression.
Verse 1]
I’m slowly killing myself
I’m trying so hard at the back of the shelf
It’s just the same every day
I’m writing these songs that will never get played
I get told what’s wrong and what’s right
I don’t have a romantic life
And everyone’s dying
So I keep on trying to make them proud before they are gone
[Chorus]
Oh, can’t someone help me
Oh, please someone help me
I don’t care anyone, anything
‘Cause I’m so sick of being so lonely
Miss all my family
Oh, I don’t care, anyone, anything
‘Cause I’m so sick of being so lonely
[Verse 2]
I’m spending more than I earn
Drink all the time to forget I’m not her
‘Cause I go to parties sometimes
And I’ll kiss a boy and pretend for the night
‘Cause I don’t know much about me
I’m still ashamed of who I used to be
So I try way too hard, but I still miss the mark to fit in
Fit in
[Chorus]
Help me
Oh, please someone help me
I don’t care anyone, anything
‘Cause I’m so sick of being so lonely
I miss all my family
God, I don’t care, anyone, anything
‘Cause I’m so sick of being so lonely
[Outro]
I don’t care, anyone, anything
‘Cause I’m so sick of being so lonely
azlyrics (2020)
Throughout doing research, I found out Eminem has struggled with many things like alcohol and drug addiction, depression, and bipolar disorder. He made 2 whole albums about his mental health called Recovery and Relapse. One of his songs called ‘Beautiful’ talks about him being lonely and that he stopped socializing as he says in the first lines of his song ”Lately I’ve been hard to reach” ”I’ve been too long on my own” in my opinion this means that he didn’t want to talk about it with anyone and wanted to be alone and not be in contact with anyone. As I was researching more about him I found that he wanted to quit his career because of the pressure he couldn’t take anymore. However, he still managed to carry on with his music and made many other albums but also collaborated with other singers like Ed Sheeran.
Lastly I want to talk about Justin Bieber because as I know people started to hate him from a very young age and mostly because of his song ‘Baby’ that has the most dislikes on YouTube and he was only 16 years old when the published the song and 13 years old when he started his career. After getting so much hate he started to be aggressive and even ended up in prison. He even deleted his Instagram due to the mean comments. Then he even canceled his ‘Purpose Tour’ this was because he wanted to take cazre of himself.
‘so he can do some soul-searching and be more involved with the Hillsong Church. ‘
Elite Daily (2017)
Justin was also very open about the medication he was taking, but also about mental health that he struggles with anxiety, depression, and ADHD. Many singers or even people, in general, stop everything that they are doing and start to take care of themselves. Justin stopped making songs for some time. However, now he has released many new songs and in his newest song ‘Intentions’ he is trying to help others that don’t have enough money. Justin is still struggling till this day but his wife helps him to get through it and carries on with his music. However, Justin didn’t make any songs about his mental health but he created some documentaries about it.
Throughout this project my ideas have changed many times. At the start of this project I wanted to write about song writing in general but as I was doing my research I wanted to find out more information about her mental health and how is she dealing with it and at the same time making songs. I found it very interesting because I can’t imagine how singer or even people in general that suffer from mental health carry on living their life’s as before. So I decided to write about singers that struggle with mental health and still carry on with their music. As I was doing my research on them I found that there are many singers that suffer from mental health and I never knew they do as I listen to them. Overall I think that music can make people feel better because music has been here for centuries and people listen to music to feel better and sometimes if we feel sad or even happy singers tend to write songs about it and others who listen to them can relate to the words of the song and it can make them feel better. So in my opinion, I have learned a lot about certain singers from this project and learned the stories from the songs they wrote about their mental health and other struggles.