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Audacy’s eighth annual I’m Listening broadcast is in the books and we’re looking back on some of our favorite, impactful moments from the special centered around Audacy’s mental health initiative and the idea that “Talk Saves Lives.”
LISTEN NOW: 2024 I’m Listening broadcast
Returning to co-host this years’ show was radio personality and co-host of NBC’s TODAY and The Voice, Carson Daly as well as Audacy’s nationally syndicated host, Katie Neal. They were also joined by psychologist, author, scientist, and founder of the mental health nonprofit, The AAKOMA Project, Dr. Alfiee M. Breland-Noble, and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention’s (AFSP) Chief Medical Officer Dr. Christine Yu Moutier.
All four hosts guided listeners through the two-hour special which included honest conversations with artists, athletes, medical experts and more highlighting how having open a conversations surrounding mental health is important. From managing daily struggles, to asking for help and being there to support loved ones, the special covered it all and let listeners know — no matter where they’re at emotionally, they’re never alone.
Take a listen to plenty of personal moments from our hosts and listeners above, and see what some of our favorite artists had to say in their own words.
Katy Perry
"My biggest life hack is transcendental meditation,” Katy shared of her biggest coping mechanism when it comes to her mental health. “It’s this specific type of meditation that you learn. Anyone can learn it, it’s available to everyone, you can go to transcendentalmeditation.org, there [are] people, and places, and centers that teach everyone."
Sharing she learned the practice “about 15 years ago,” Katy admitted it has since “changed my life,” revealing, “It is the biggest hack for me, for my anxiety, depression, mood swings, jet lag, hangover, and it’s where I get some of my best creative ideas.”
“It’s really helped me with my mental health," Katy added. “It just flips a switch, and it’s a hack because you do it for 20 minutes, they suggest twice a day, once in the morning once in the evening. I do it supplementary… I do it once every couple of days. Like after I finish these interviews, right before I go to rehearsal for all these big shows I have coming up, I’m gonna go do a TM for 20 minutes, and it will feel like I had a two-hour nap.”
LISTEN NOW: Katy Perry on how transcendental meditation has changed her life and helped her mental health
Usher
“I know it's against our culture to be able to assess some of the things that we've went through, but you gotta. You gotta get it out, you have to get it out,” Usher said when talking about the importance of asking for help. “And more than anything, you have to hear yourself and then you have to forgive yourself. A great deal of grief that we deal with in our life is the shame that we put on ourselves because we don't have the answers.”
He continued, “Sometimes the things that you may have experienced [or] are going through in your life, it may have not necessarily even been your fault. So to be able to process that and get that out is good for you.”
Sharing the tools he uses to help maintain his mental health, “having a therapist” being one of them, Usher expressed “every day, you know, I start by giving thanks to God and also to even having a personal time for myself. It’s meditation… not religious, it is more personal… not spiritual, but my mental capacity is based off of the space I give myself.”
LISTEN NOW: Usher opens up about the importance of therapy and preserving your headspace
Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins
“I've been through some serious mental health struggles. I almost killed myself multiple times, I'm so grateful I didn't,” Billy revealed. In order to find some kind of path through, the Smashing Pumpkins frontman believes in the importance of finding something that is "bigger than yourself.”
“If that for you is God, if that for you as family, if that for you is community… heck, even if it's an artist that you really, really like, use that inspiration to bring the best out of yourself.”
He continued, “When I was super depressed somewhere in the 2000s, I remember talking to a therapist and I was like, ‘Look, I'm going crazy here. Something bad's gonna happen.’ And they suggested I do charity work.”
Admittedly the idea of helping someone else “seemed completely crazy” to him at the time, questioning how he could possibly attempt to help others when he was unable to get out of bed himself. “But something about the act of charity, or compassion, or giving of another seems to sort of dispel the cloud,” he shared. “One of the greatest things that ever happened to me when I was a youth and going through all this abuse at home and everything was, I started volunteering at the old folks home. I would go there once or twice a week, and all they wanted me to do was sit with the aged who'd been abandoned by their family and would cry because their daughter didn't call them anymore. All they wanted to do was have someone sit, hold their hand, and listen to their story.”
LISTEN NOW: Billy Corgan on the value of inspiration
Meghan Trainor
“Mental health was always very important to me before [my kids] were born, but now that they’re here, mental health is number one for me,” she shared. “I have to think about that visual when you’re on an airplane and you put on your mask first and then you put on the kids mask ‘cause if you don’t take care of yourself, how are you gonna take care of someone else? I want to be the best I can be for them.”
In order to be her best, Trainor has set some personal boundaries for herself, especially when it comes to social media. The “Been Like This,” singer shared she does her best to protect herself from the haters and not give any energy to negative comments by avoiding them all together.
“I don’t go digging for comments, I don’t sit there for a long time going through trying to figure out how people feel about me because I know not everyone is going to love me,” she said. “I don’t search me, I don’t take the time to do that.”
LISTEN NOW: Meghan Trainor on mental health motherhood
Audacy's I’m Listening initiative aims to encourage those who are dealing with mental health issues to understand they are not alone. If you or anyone you know is struggling with depression or anxiety, know that someone is always there. Additionally, the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at 988. Find a full list of additional resources here.