Does the myth of the ‘suffering artist’ still ring true today?

Should artists suffer for their art? The myth of the tortured artist is debatable on this day in age.

SOFIA: What does it take to make a hit? Genius? Money? Trauma? I spoke with Carmen Maria, an independent artist based in Mexico City, about where mental health stands in the music industry and whether an artist needs to suffer to be great. She is the backup singer, guitarist, and dancer of Ximena Sariñana, one of Mexico’s biggest artists.

SOFIA: So, do artists need to suffer to be great?

CARMEN: I don’t think suffering is something that you need as an artist. I think it’s a very dangerous belief and it’s been very like integrated into culture and people have gone into like drugs, big depression, thinking that it’s the normal, it’s the norm, and it’s just a huge lie. Like I when I’m really, really sad, I can’t even create like, I don’t have that spark.

SOFIA: Artists such as Michael Jackson and Kurt Cobain both had this ‘spark’ but their health was at risk. How far does an artist have to go to keep the spark and is it the record label’s responsibility to provide a therapist?

CARMEN: Luis Miguel is this huge Latin American Latin star and I’m a huge fan and we were talking about how come he never toured with a therapist like that speaks so poorly about labels and how much they care about their artists. I can’t imagine the pressure he felt. Every person needs therapy. Like we say in Spanish: Huevos, leche y terapia. You like eggs, milk and therapy are like basic needs for life.

SOFIA: As mental health is prioritized in the entertainment industry agenda, therapists might find a new job opportunity traveling with artists around the world.

CARMEN: You have so much energies coming at you all the time. Expectations and other artists like media comparison, I think there should be something that is normalized into the industry, but I haven’t seen it.

SOFIA: Hollywood runs off the phrase “only the good die young” but Mac Miller and Jimmi Hendrix could have had a longer career if they had the right resources.

CARMEN: We all experience darkness. But yeah, it became like something that you adored or like you looked up to. And I just feel that what we really admire about those artists is the vulnerability, but not necessarily that they are dying young. You know, being vulnerable is different to being in love with suffering.

SOFIA: Gustavo Cerati, lead singer of Soda Estereo, underwent a stroke that left him paralyzed for years due to respiratory complications caused by large amounts of drugs, alcohol, and stress.

CARMEN: He used to go like make himself pass through very like torturous situations in order to create. And then he realized he didn’t need to do that. And he created like the best albums of rock in Spanish of all time.

SOFIA: Without mental health as a priority, the rocking and rolling can only happen if you’re going down in Hollywood.

CARMEN: I think it’s just adjusting our belief system and creating our own life, our own future without living by the integrated and toxic aspects of our culture.

SOFIA: For Annenberg Media, I’m Sofia Gonzalez