Without a doubt, J Balvin is one of the greatest exponents of the urban genre on the planet. His music gradually conquered the hearts of millions of listeners in the Spanish-speaking community, beginning with his native Colombia, until expanding his success globally as only few have managed to do.
The Wall Street Journalin which the interpreter of My people details the grueling journey he has embarked on in the last few years of his career.
On the occasion of his participation this Tuesday in the festival Future of Everything of the Wall Street Journal, In which Balvin talked about his mental health initiative, the mental health and wellness app, OYE, the artist revealed why he thinks it’s important to address mental health.
I never thought I would suffer from mental health. I remember seeing people go to the mental hospital and I was like, ‘Why are they going there? They are crazy’.
– J Balvin, for The Wall Street Journal
The 37-year-old Colombian not only revealed the stigma and prejudice surrounding mental health problems, but also referred to the fact that it is something that has been normalized, particularly within the Latino community, and confessed to feeling blessed. for finding “balance” after being prescribed medication:
Because that is a stigma, something that has always been in the Latin culture or even in the whole world, and once I started suffering from anxiety and depression, I understood that it was a chemical imbalance. It depends on the level you have, but I never thought that they would medicate me. Which makes me feel really blessed because it’s a way of saying: you need chemicals to balance your chemicals.
– J Balvin, for The Wall Street Journal
This is not the first time that Balvin addresses the issue of mental health. In 2020, she wrote a moving essay for the magazine People in which he details how meditation has helped him control his problems with anxiety and depression.
What makes mental health universal is that it does not discriminate. Mental health doesn’t care about your age, your race, your background; none of those things. He doesn’t care what you look like, or who you date, or how much money you have in the bank. Of course it is different for each of us. But it affects us all. […] I am just a boy from Colombia who followed his dream and meditation saved my life.
– J Balvin, for People
That same year, during a participation in the podcast In The Room with Becky G, The Grammy award-winner spoke about some of the biggest challenges in his life and how he managed to get through it.
Balvin already said, mental health is not discriminatory; therefore it affects the celebrities like to the rest of the population. However, because the focus is always on them, it is common to hear more about their experiences.
Which makes it clear to us that they are not necessarily more likely to develop these illnesses, but rather, like J Balvin, they feel the need to share their stories in hopes of helping people struggling with some form of mental illness, something worthy of admire, don’t you think?