Music can be a powerful tool that can show us that someone once went through what we're feeling, and remind us that we're not alone. When we can’t find the words ourselves, music gives them to us. It helps us feel seen and even understood. For Mental Health Awareness Month, our team wanted to put the spotlight on the music that has saved us over the years. These aren't just tracks that we love, but songs that held us together when everything seemed to be falling apart. This is our love letter to the music that saved us.
There were two times in my life where I was at absolute rock bottom mentally and emotionally. The only thing that was really able to help me through it and feel seen was The Greatest Generation by The Wonder Years. I owe my life to that record and I even have a tattoo of the opening track’s title on my arm so it will always be apart of me.
-Hayley Knight, Photographer
The artist as a whole got me through a very toxic, damaging relationship, but this song in particular always hit home. It was very hard to leave behind this relationship and move on in life to something unknown rather than what was familiar and wasn't going to change and get better, only change for the worse.
-Ashlyn Sipes, Spotify Manager
Her 2001 Misundaztood got me through some of toughest times of my youth!
-Brittany Chavez, Photographer
I was someone that grew up hiding my anxiety, depression, and being trans from everyone, even myself. Hearing this song reminded me of the simple fact that I know who I am and thats enough. Its my life and I need to be happy with myself and thats it. You will waste your life if you live for other’s opinions.
-Beau Lewis, Journalist
Brooke Hartman, Social Media Intern
ELO was one of my moms favorite bands. She would belt out the lyrics and sing their songs enthusiastically. She would play these songs for my kids which ultimately led them to like the band as well. My mom passed away in 2021 and whenever we hear a ELO song on the radio we are connected to those times with her. On a really strange note, those songs seem come on at the most appropriate times... when we drive near a special place she liked or thing she liked to do. It seems she is there with us and us...
-Sean Maciejewski, Photographer
A few years ago I was starting to feel sick all the time, but had no clue why. I had to even take a few semesters off from college which was hard and didn’t help my mental health at all. After many doctor appointments and a hospital visit, I was diagnosed with a chronic autoimmune disease and also Celiac Disease(goodbye gluten!) It was difficult at first to get use to this new lifestyle and it did mess with my mental health quite often. Today, I’m definitely in a much better place physically and mentally, but I still get days where I’m not feeling the best and my depression seems at it’s worse. Music has honestly been the one thing that kept me going through those hard times when all I wanted to do was give up or felt so alone. It still keeps me going and helps me feel like I have a purpose in life.
-Melissa Azevedo, Interview Editor and Journalist
I listen to this song every new year or birthday or big change in my life. The lyrics are “I am gonna make it through this year if it kills me,” and it reminds me of every year I did in fact make it through.
-Cole Kubizne, Photographer
Austin Fitzroy, Photographer
Anonymous, Copy Editor
I had someone very close to me take their own life and I struggled to deal with that. My friend took my iPod and put a bunch of albums on it and TAA's 'Chasing Ghosts' album caught my attention due to the album art. I probably listened to that album in full everyday for about 2 years straight.
-Matt Benton, Assistant Editor
Dylan Wallace, Photographer
Mell Breaker, Journalist
I don't remember how or when I discovered this album, but I do remember that "Young & Sad" was the first song off it that I heard, followed by "Lonely" and then the rest of the album. "Young & Sad" and "Lonely" really resonated with me, especially since Noah is only a year older than me and brings a fresh perspective on our generation's struggles with mental health. She was so vulnerable and honest in the lyrics, and this album really helped me through a rough patch in my life.
-Gabby Groves, Journalist
It is the only song from their discography that speaks to me, but when I first heard it, I truly felt like I was being pulled into an embrace. That even in the grand scheme of the universe, I am still vital and was created for a greater purpose and that the cosmos have bigger plans laid out for me.
-Kevin Young, Journalist
I’ve always had a hard time mentally, and dealt with a lot of anxiety and depression since kindergarten but when it got to the lowest and darkest point when I got older, especially dealing with thoughts like no one actually cares about me or loves me, thinking I was always going to be alone in this hole till it just swallowed me whole (if you are reading this and feel the same, absolutely none of it is true I promise you). That’s when I truly discovered my place and purpose when I found their music and fully immersed myself within the genre and found myself. After that, I truly found my place and I am forever thankful for those bands that pulled me out and made me feel like a human again.
-Dakota Winters, Graphic Designer
The emotion with which Vessel delivers that performance, helps to unlock some feels in me, allows me to empathise with whatever he is going through and, in turn, help me to start processing whatever it is that I've got going on.
-Anonymous, Photographer
This song serves as a reminder that I am not alone. Whether I am running low on faith, confidence, or even energy... this song is always a comfortable reminder that you can get through anything.
-Abby Crabill, Journalist
2006 was potentially one of the worst years of my life. I was hit with three massive events- traumas that I have carried through the rest of my life. 2006 was the year I turned 16, and it was also the year that I was absolutely certain I would not live to see the end of.
And then October rolled around and I begged my father to take me to Best Buy to purchase a CD before school. I carried that CD with me the entire day, opening it up just to admire the lyric book and the design on the disc. I opened up the poster and read the names of the songs on the back until I had them all memorized, even before I had ever listened to it.
My very first girlfriend and I RAN the second the final bell ended. We were so excited we didn't even bother walking around the sidewalk to get into her apartment complex, we simply scaled the fence. Our shoes were barely even off before we were pulling out our CDs, rushing to her room to settle down on the floor and put that CD into her stereo.
I don't think anything in the world could have properly prepared me for the way that listening to My Chemical Romance's The Black Parade from start to finish made me feel for the first time. I could write a full master's degree length dissertation about all of the things that I love about the album. The ways the songs impacted me, the lyrics that meant the most, and the musicality that entranced me.
The easiest thing to say, though, is a classic phrase used by music lovers around the globe. "This album saved my life."
Last year at When We Were Young Fest, I was fortunate enough to have a random stranger extend me unimaginable kindness to put me on his shoulders so that I could properly see the stage to scream my favorite song at the top of my lungs (as well as I could between sobs). I held hands with my friends and I sang the words to that song and meant every single one of them for the first time since I first heard that song at 16 years old. The year I never thought I would see the end of.
Something about coming around full circle- getting to hear that album in full all of these years later- it healed some part of me. Some very scared child who didn't know how to survive was able to feel alive in that moment. I owe so very much to this band, and this album specifically. It's not a debt I'll ever be able to repay in any tangible way, but I feel like continuing to stay alive all of this time- living to be over twice the age of when I first heard those songs on that October afternoon- I think that might be a good start.
-Ollie Connelly, Journalist
