A NEW ERA OF MUSIC THERAPY: YOUNG PEOPLE OVERWHELMINGLY RELY ON LYRICS TO AID WELLBEING

  Youth Music reveals staggering new research that demonstrates an overwhelming 66% of young Mancunians use lyrics as a therapeutic tool

·         Wider socio-economic issues are having a huge impact on young people’s mental health, who are finding new coping mechanisms

·         73% of young people find that listening to, reading or writing lyrics enables them to process difficult emotions

·         The long-read article can be viewed at: https://youthmusic.org.uk/new-era-music-therapy-young-people-lyrics-

London, December 2023: Youth Music, the UK’s leading youth music charity, releases new research into the positive impact of music on young people’s mental wellbeing, at a time where one in six children aged 5-16 are likely to experience a mental health problem. ¹

Faced with increasing adversity due to the cost-of-living crisis, the impact of the global pandemic, an ever-changing political world and NHS mental health services at breaking point; young people are finding alternative ways to cope. The research showed that almost all of those surveyed (93%) said that listening to, reading, or writing lyrics often serves as a therapeutic tool.

Youth Music gathered additional insights from its ‘NextGen community‘ [aged 18-25 creative career starters], grassroots music projects and academic experts to shed light on the impact of lyric writing on the wellbeing of young people in this current time of turmoil.

Power of lyric writing

Platinum-selling singer songwriter Cat Burns recently spoke about the therapeutic power of lyric-writing ², explaining how it helps her to process events. This was reflected in the research, with 70% of young people stating they often use listening to, reading or writing lyrics to process difficult life experiences or events.

This was also echoed by a group of Youth Music affiliated NextGen artists, including 26-year-old Brighton-based poet and DJ, Erin James, who said: “Writing is a massive vessel to my emotions, it’s how I process my emotions and how I process the world.”

London based rapper, and winner of the Lyricist Award at this year’s Youth Music Awards, TL [18] said: “I feel like it’s a way to escape. Cus other people, when people suffer from things, they need to find ways to express themselves. Some people may dance, some people may [use] spoken word, and I feel like, I feel like lyricism, for me, is a way to show people how I feel.”

Professor Nicola Dibben, science and psychology of music expert at The University of Sheffield, discussed the psychology behind this, saying: “Social-psychological research into music making and listening has highlighted the important psychological functions of performing for adults and young people: the ability to re-experience moods and emotions, recalling memories, finding a connection with music, and with other people through music-making, and feeling as though one is being listened to by a friend.”

Building bonds

Lyric writing can also be used as a tool to bring communities together and provide a way to collectively process traumatic events and social injustices, with over half [54%] of those surveyed confirming that it helps to reduce feelings of isolation of loneliness.

Erin facilitates workshops with young people and commented on how inspirational this process has been for those she supports: “When I enter that space for just half an hour to an hour, [the young people] can just become writers and not be teenagers who have so much weight on their shoulders.”

Youth Music funded partner, Music Fusion, is a Hampshire based project working with young people affected by challenging life circumstances including gang violence. CEO, Jinx Prowse said: “These kids are literally trying to kill each other out there but when we put them on the same track, turns out half of them want to jump onto the next track,” when discussing an album that the group is recording, featuring young people from rival postcodes.

Threats of censorship and prosecution

According to research by the University of Manchester – led by Eithne Quinn, Professor of Cultural Studies and lead on the Prosecuting Rap project – over the past three years at least 240 people in the UK were charged in cases in which rap music was sought to be used as evidence.³

It has been identified that the misuse of rap and drill music in particular can perpetuate harmful racial stereotypes and risk causing miscarriages of justice. Manchester based multidisciplinary artist B!TEZ  [23] agrees, commenting: “I feel like it’s major censorship….If we’re being honest, [the artists and genres] being targeted are heavily related to blackness and poverty.”

Last week, Art Not Evidence – a group of lawyers, academics and music industry professionals who are calling for law reform to stop the criminalisation of rap and drill music, and creative expression more broadly – released an open letter to keep creative expression out of court.

Eithne Quinn said: “When police interpret rap in court proceedings, they tend to discount and deny all the valuable things that music opens for young artists. Creative value, therapeutic value, artistic value, commercial value: all of these things are stripped away in police evidence. Instead, they impose a criminological lens used to infer guilt.”

Eithne continued: “Young people need far more investment, care and to be supported in the development of their creative expression and social identities.”

However, if lyrics and music are used in criminal proceedings, and young people aren’t given the freedom to safely process difficult emotions and trauma through writing and listening to lyrics as evidenced through this research, Youth Music is concerned there could be a decline in its use as a form of therapy and expression.

Matt Griffiths, CEO of Youth Music, said: “The last few years have been a difficult time for many, but particularly for young people who have experienced significant upheaval and instability in such a short space of time, during such pivotal points in their lives. The impact of which is weighing heavily on their mental health. And it’s getting tougher for young people – especially those facing barriers in their lives – to access support.

“This new evidence shows that creativity continues to provide an important outlet for young people in times like these. Which is why it’s crucial we ensure the projects providing the space for this invaluable work are able to survive and thrive, in these challenging economic circumstances.”

Youth Music is funded thanks to the National Lottery via Arts Council England, players of People’s Postcode Lottery, and support from donors, partners and fundraisers. 

 To read more about Youth Music’s work and the impact lyric writing has on young people’s mental wellbeing, visit https://youthmusic.org.uk/new-era-music-therapy-young-people-lyrics-wellbeing. 

Follow the journey on Youth Music’s TikTok and Instagram channels.