Marcus King talks about how his guitar helped him get through depression
Marcus King says his guitar was what got him through his darkest season.
Marcus King is one of the celebrities who has opened up about his mental health challenges.
The Grammy-nominated artist released 'Mood Swings' on April 5.
In the album, the musician opened up about his mental health challenges.
He addressed overcoming depression, body image issues, and abandonment in the album.
READ: Artist fights for men's mental health: "Go to therapy, my guy!
Speaking to CBS, the songwriter said his guitar saved him when he was going through depression.
"Cause it was my like original safety blanket, to escape everything," he told the publication.
"Music is all I really had to provide any kind of peace and calm waters within this storm going on in my brain and in my heart," he added.
One of the things that contributed to his suffering from depression was his mother leaving him when he was young. However, the musician told the publication that their relationship has improved.
"We've got a better relationship now, but that's pretty difficult for a young boy," he said.
The musician said as a young man he suffered with self-confidence and he aches for his younger self.
He added that his "self-confidence was so diminished by so many people".
The musician revealed that he started following his passion for music at age 14 after quitting school.
"I got on the road as soon as I could. I just, right away, got really into the hustle of it all," he said.
READ: One in four students experience depression - SADAG
'Mood Swings'
In an interview with Variety, the star gave more details about his album.
He spoke about how it is a continuation of the work he started with his previous album.
“I think it is more of an evolved approach, in that, on the last records that you mentioned, I was kind of self-medicating — or maybe self-medicating on top of the wrong medication. I wasn’t doing therapy consistently and I wasn’t treating my vessel, my temple, as well as I should have been, and I was suffering as a result of my own actions and as well as chemical imbalances that I was allowing to remain unchecked. So with a lot of the songs on previous records, I touched on some of my mental health issues, but I didn’t really have the self-awareness or the tools that I needed in order to heal myself — and writing was the only tool that I had," he told the publication.
READ: Seven ways to better cope with suicidal thoughts as a teenager
He added how meeting his wife while working on the new album also helped him.
“In this record, I had more of the mental clarity, because it’s after I’d met my now-wife. I met her the second show I went out after the pandemic. And my whole intention on that tour was to really just drink and drug myself to death.
“I was being really open and really honest on this material about my own actions in my past relationships. So, I mean, it was really like one of the best dates ever for her to hear about how I could have been better in my past relationships and for me to be completely, transparent and completely open about how I would approach another relationship, whether it be with a partner in life or whether it be with my mental health or substances. So it was a really good way for her to learn everything about me, because I’d always been pretty closed off before that in relationships. And just the self-awareness and having her in my life was probably the two main things that helped us dig a little deeper,” he said.
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