Raye’s I Know You’re Hurting urged me to confront a lifetime of depression — SkimNews
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- Raye's song "I Know You're Hurting" brought the author — a recording and mix engineer — to tears for the first time via its lyrics rather than melody, while he was driving past John Lewis on the M40 with his wife and stepdaughter.
- The author reveals he had struggled with mental health for roughly 20 years, hiding it from family; recent triggers included Covid, a divorce, becoming a stepfather to teenagers, turning 50, and 80–100-hour work weeks at the peak of his career.
- Although the author had tried cognitive behavioural therapy multiple times without acting on it and feared antidepressants would kill his creativity, hearing Raye articulate his pain "finally allowed me to accept that I was struggling," and two months later he booked a GP appointment and was prescribed antidepressants.
- The author also began music therapy, which he says proved "much more effective… than CBT ever was," and his music therapist encouraged him to write a song — which he completed in an hour.
- He got the musical notes of the lyric "close your eyes and let this music get to working" tattooed on his forearm after contacting the song's producer for the score, calling the tattoo a reminder that music "can be medicine."
- Four months into antidepressants and music therapy, the author says he argues less, lets things go more easily, and his family has repeatedly told him he seems happier — and credits Raye's album This Music May Contain Hope with showing him "hope can be found."
Why it matters: Personal essays like this are being published in mainstream outlets as UK male suicide and antidepressant reluctance remain significant concerns; the detail that CBT repeatedly failed this patient but music therapy unlocked progress may interest clinicians experimenting with arts-based interventions alongside pharmacology.
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