“I think it’s less common here to be very open about it.”
Charli XCX has opened up about the stigma surrounding mental health and therapy in the UK in a new interview.
The musician, whose new album ‘Charli’ was released earlier this week (September 20), spoke to Julie Adenuga on Apple Music’s Beats 1 radio about how she wants to see therapy as a widely accepted form of medical help for mental health issues in the UK.
Whilst never accessing therapy herself, the 27-year-old musician said she had been “nervous” about it previously but now feels it might be something that could help her.
Charli said: “I’m not anti-therapy at all. I’ve never been anti it; I think it’s brilliant and great and I think everybody should have it because it’s like going to the doctors. It’s like you go for a physical checkup and so you should do the same for your mental health.
“But I feel like there is this stigma in the UK about, ‘Oh therapy, it’s a bit LA isn’t it?’ I really do think that. I think it’s less common here to be very open about it. I think there’s also a thought that only really rich people can get a therapist and I don’t think that’s the case.”
She added: “I’ve never done it before, just because it’s felt a bit alien to me, but I’ve never been anti it, I think I’ve just been nervous. Now I’m like, ‘Okay, I think I really want to do that.’”
Charli XCX at Reading Festival
In the same interview, Charli also opened up about how her latest album is her most “personal”, something she believes has in itself proved therapeutic.
She said: “[‘Charli’ is] my most personal album yet. It’s [a record] where I talk a lot more about my insecurities and my thoughts that go on in my head every day about the position I’m in as a person and as an artist.”
In a four star review of her latest album, NME’s Hannah Mylrea wrote: “Though it could be said that ‘Charli’ relies on collaborations, there’s more than enough here to suggest that the link-ups only support a record that stands up on its own merits. The pounding ‘Silver Cross’ is set to be a staple in her live sets, with its euphoric production that climaxes in a huge, rave inducing chorus. And she can strip it back, too, with ballad ‘Official’ a sweet ode to making things concrete with a new partner.
“In the past it felt as though Charli was pushed in certain directions to enhance her clout in the pop game. ‘Charli’, though, sees her at her most comfortable and genuine; everything feels authentically her. Bold, brash and brilliant, this is Charli XCX at her most genuine, and it’s dazzling.”
