Everything that devours the psychological well being of artists who placed on the brakes: “I’m surprised that more people don’t abandon it” | Culture | EUROtoday

Nobody knew that this might be his final live performance. But there she was. Dusted. Shivering, staggering and crying on stage at Kalemegdan Park in Belgrade, Serbia. Like an unprotected lady. In entrance of 20,000 individuals who booed her. Nobody thought-about that maybe Amy Winehouse was not able to sing on that June 18, 2011. And no one stopped her. The British singer with a raspy voice died only a month later in her mattress, subsequent to a few bottles of vodka. He was 27 years outdated.

The music trade has modified since then. “Now artists are much more protected. They are not allowed to go on stage if they are not fit,” explains Domingo García, CEO of the illustration company Arriba los Corazones and former director of Universal Music. This government has labored with singers resembling Emilia, David Bisbal, J Balvin, Carlos Vives and Raphael, whom he accompanied to the Christmas particular of The Revolt final 12 months, the day he had the stroke. “I raised my hand and told [David] He said that he had to stop because Raphael was giving disjointed answers. “We were scared,” he remembers.

Currently, the bodily and psychological well being of artists has as soon as once more been put on the middle because of more and more frequent short-term withdrawals. The newest, the Argentinians Ca7riel and Paco Amoroso, whose success has skyrocketed within the final 12 months and a half, who introduced final week that they’d determined to placed on the brakes to “rest and heal”; and in addition, on the planet of leisure, Andreu Buenafuente himself, who canceled his schedule, together with the presentation of the New Year’s bells on RTVE, after an episode of stress. “There was a moment when I couldn’t do it anymore, I got out of alignment and my body said, you have to stop, and so I did,” he defined.

Many are confronted with the stress, strain, fatigue or pace concerned in a occupation that’s extra demanding than meets the attention. “This industry is constantly burning a club. That’s why there are so many singers who are in a bad situation with psychologists and psychiatrists. They leave it, they retire for a year… That didn’t happen before,” expressed the singer Álvaro de Luna in an interview in EL PAÍS a number of months in the past.

“I had anxiety and I was exhausted, but stopping is a privilege that not all artists can afford financially.”

I chew, singer-songwriter

Another of the final to remain away for a season has been Rozalén, who joins names like Delaporte, Lola Índigo or Vetusta Morla. The singer-songwriter from La Mancha has introduced an indefinite pause in her profession to take a break because of “emotional exhaustion.” Breaks that Quevedo, Pablo Alborán, Valeria Castro, Rigoberta Bandini or Dani Martín have additionally gone by means of, and people who Mikel Izal or Dani Fernández will undergo in 2026, when their excursions finish.

What you do not see about an “unkind” trade

“The music industry is not kind at all to mental health, but we are raising our voices more and more in public,” explains Julia Medina (San Fernando, Cádiz, 31 years outdated), finalist of Operación Triunfo 2018 and one of many candidates for this 12 months’s Benidorm Fest. Artists often speak about anxiousness, melancholy and addictions, however what’s behind these issues?

“When you fulfill your dream, other things come into play, such as getting on the Spotify lists, the record company forcing you to compete with your peers, having to suck up to the radio stations to be played… The way the industry is organized is cruel. Every day I think about what it would be like if I were a primary school teacher, the degree I studied. I’m surprised that more people don’t abandon it,” the singer acknowledges.

An opinion shared by Diego Arroyo (Toledo, 36 years outdated), vocalist of the rock group Veintiuno. An architect by coaching, he has additionally felt the necessity to cease. “The pressure from constant exposure to statistics, numbers and trends exists. Each artist notices it in a way, and may not even notice it, but that does not prevent this pressure from happening in the background and affecting everyday life,” he explains.

The query of whether or not it’s price it’s common amongst those that don’t prime the charts on the platforms. Among those that don’t fill stadiums. Among those that have been of their careers for 20 or 30 years and need to adapt to a brand new, altering mannequin that they don’t totally perceive. Or amongst those that develop their careers independently.

Communicating a short lived withdrawal is placing a transparent framework to the trade and the general public, nearly a type of self-care.”

David Moya, Director of Communication at Sonde3

This is the case of Muerdo, stage name of Pascual Cantero (Murcia, 37 years old). At the end of November, he had to cancel the last three concerts of his tour. His body and mind told him “enough.” “I had anxiousness and I used to be exhausted. I’ve been combining a number of bands in Spain and Latin America with all the things that it implies logistically, however stopping is a privilege that not all artists can afford financially,” he explains.

Stop or make important decisions, like Julia Medina did. He left Universal Music to have greater control over his career. “In every launch, my solely concern was that the track had good numbers in order that they would not kick me out of the document firm. At some factors they sat me down at a desk and instructed me: ‘Look, that is Spotify’s Top 50 listing. You need to compose the sort of songs’. And, in fact, if it catches you in a second of insecurity it is simple to get carried away…”, he explains.

“My solely concern was that the track had good numbers so they would not kick me out of the document firm.”

Julia Medina, singer

This pressure to create a catchy chorus that goes viral on TikTok and catapults the song to the global charts makes many begin to doubt the meaning of their vocation. “There comes a day when you don’t know if you are making music because you like it or not to lower your levels.” rankings“, acknowledged Álvaro de Luna. Some rankings which additionally arouse suspicion as a result of lack of transparency and the existence of synthetic eavesdropping by means of bots and automatic accounts.

The strain of social networks

Another strain is the requirement to be omnipresent on social networks in order that the algorithm doesn’t penalize them and take away their visibility. “This has reinforced the idea of ​​the artist as a product for immediate consumption,” explains David Moya, Communication Director of Sonde3, an company that organizes festivals resembling Río Babel or SanSan de Benicàssim. “Emerging companies have it especially difficult and the anxiety to achieve quick results often leads them to chase the carrot of virality.”

To keep away from falling into the maelstrom of likesvisualizations and listening, says Muerdo, it’s important to be “well planted in what you want and are as a musician.” “My biggest pressure is the one I put on myself. The fight for survival. The feeling that if you’re not doing things all the time you don’t exist, but this is not real. There is a base of followers connected to me beyond the data,” he provides.

The strain to feed TikTook or Instagram generates lots of stress for them, in line with Domingo García. “Some people get depressed if they lose five followers,” explains the chief. Also, in line with musical psychologist Rosana Corbacho, it disconnects them from their creativity. “I recommend that you do not take your cell phone to the studio. Networks isolate you and many lack physical and real connection.”

These dynamics impression in the identical method on artists with expertise and successes behind them. This was admitted by Nena Daconte, who retired to face her dependancy and melancholy issues, in a dialog with this newspaper. “Numbers are valued more than art. If you don’t have many followers, they won’t hire you at a record company and it’s very sad, especially for those of my generation. We’re not used to being measured so superficially.”

A notion that the psychologist has additionally famous in her periods. “They don’t understand why now they also have to be content creators and be so accessible. A patient told me that they required her to publish photos about her vacation and that she had a hard time because she needed a real break. I recommended that she plan the moment and the hour she was going to dedicate to the networks,” explains Corbacho.

“They don’t understand why they also have to be content creators and be so accessible”

Rosana Corbacho, music psychologist

Female artists particularly endure harassment within the digital world. According to a UN examine, ladies are 27 instances extra more likely to be attacked on-line than males. This October, Valeria Castro introduced that she was taking a break after a wave of hate on X that criticized her visitor efficiency on Operación Triunfo. In basic, a big majority of feedback query their bodily look.

Canadian Nelly Furtado additionally retired. She has left the stage, exhausted from being known as fats. “In consultation, I have only had one male artist with an eating disorder,” says Rosana Corbacho. “The rest were women. They feel that if they do not control their weight and appearance they will not continue in music. Sometimes, they abandon treatment and this, as a psychologist, is hard to see.”

Crusher and self-exploitation

The Korean thinker Byung-Chul Han, this 12 months’s Princess of Asturias Award, explains that we’re immersed in a society of fatigue based mostly on efficiency, multitasking and self-exploitation. Something that results in melancholy. “Here self-exploitation is marked by the crusher that is the industry. We all suffer from it. And we assume, for example, that we have to release a song every two months,” Julia Medina concludes.

The new instances additionally trigger anxiousness. Because discs have a really brief lifespan. They are printed, promoted and disappear. And all the things is for now: actions, filming, collaborations with manufacturers… “If they go a year without releasing songs, people think that they are sick or that something is wrong with them. And this was normal before. We have to get the public used to missing them. Saturation is not positive for anyone,” complains Franchejo Blázquez, Dani Fernández’s supervisor.

“If they go a year without releasing songs, people think they are sick.”

Franchejo Blázquez, supervisor of Dani Fernández

After 9 years of touring, headlining festivals and publishing three albums and a documentary, Dani Fernández can even take a break in 2026. “Announcing it is a way to put a clear framework in front of the public and the industry itself,” concludes Moya, who has introduced artists resembling Rayden, Travis Birds or La Pegatina. “A way to set limits and legitimize rest. It shouldn’t be necessary to communicate it, but, in this ecosystem, doing so is almost a form of self-care.”

Musicians “don’t quit,” stated trumpeter Louis Armstrong, “they stop when there’s no more music in them.” Perhaps that is the principle underlying motive. The must cease to deal with your self, regroup and join with who you’re away from the noise. So that the music returns to them once more.