Diandra Interviews healer: The Psychology of Purposeful Music
Sometimes, the title does say it all. For healer, his purpose is clear: to bring some light into this world. This is NOT a small goal and he is aware of it. Finishing up his psych degree, it took learning about why human beings behave a certain way to solidify something he always felt: music can make you do better. A song does change your mood, a lyric can clarify how you feel, and a rhythm can define how you move your very body. THAT IS POWER! In our interview, we discuss taking that power and using it for good.
Diandra: So why healer?
healer: It is something that is always on my mind right now. There are not too many people that are not kind to each other, and it is something we really need right now. I feel like I have to step up and try to fill that role. I’m a psychology student. That is my purpose: I want to help people heal and grow.
Diandra: Is there a behavioral analysis or psych perspective you put in your songs?
healer: I try to make my music as universal as possible. I try to meditate and process on the feeling that everyone has. I don’t like to get specific and say, “Hey! I know these terms.” I really love psychology and I do love to study it.
Diandra: Any particular, favorite terms or topics?
healer: I love multi-cultural psychology. It is a new field, and the old way of looking at things would frown upon it, but this course shows how, on a foundational level, our societies are unjust. It changed my world view, and I want it to come across in my music.
healer – Cat’s Meow (Official Lyric Video)
Diandra: Do you think music feeds conformity or fuels the combat against it?
healer: I think it can do both. Music can show us an ideal, and say, “We don’t have to accept things how they are. We can change it.” I think “Imagine” by John Lennon is the greatest song ever written, and it shows what we are capable of. I think that is what is great about art, it shows us we can love. I think it is comforting, and that can build complacency. But, I do think that when you are in a bad place, you do need that comfort that says, “Yes, there is injustice, but I still have to find some peace and joy in this world. I still am here.”
Diandra: Look at the psych degree getting whipped out! (he laughs) You really feel different from other artists because you seem to have a purpose of healing rather than a purpose of simply creating.
healer: Absolutely! It surprises me that there are not too many people trying to do what I do. There are so many people that are in positions to use there power for good and they don’t.
Diandra: Do you think that is a generational difference? The youth always coming through with desires for healing, and then you add on we are so much more informed.
healer: Yeah! It makes me so excited that young people really care. Kids growing up with all this access of information, I think young people are really ready to embody the change we need right now. Even me, trying to get on Tik Tok, I don’t really understand it, but I think anybody can use it for good.
Diandra: So when did healing become your purpose?
healer: I feel super lucky to have the support systems that I have. It is a universal experience to be critical of ourselves, and when we all can talk about it, I think we can all heal ourselves. Music was my form of self-expression and healing. I wanted to take the self-therapy I was giving myself through my music and give it to other people.
healer – Make You Sad (official music video)
Diandra: How then did music build your identity?
healer: I am only 20. I am building myself as I go. Music helps me build my identity. The minute I decided healer was going to be about healing that made me have to step up as a person. So healer, definitely, made me more empathetic. Healer has shown me that I need to love myself, and that, wherever I go from here, I have to build love.
Diandra: Damn! That is deep.
healer: Every song I make is for processing my emotions. A lot of the time, expression is messy. A lot of times, there is not a lot of words that capture whatever experience we have had. I think, recently, with healer it has been about 2020 and processing all this anxiety we have been feeling.
Diandra: Is there an artist that you admire and whose music makes you feel safe?
healer: That is a great question. It is so uncertain. Everything is up in the air, down to our safety. A lot of my life, Jack Johnson’s music has meant safety. He is really honest and vulnerable. I think he is a healer of this world, and his vulnerability is something I try to embody in my music.
Diandra: Do you ever feel too exposed or too vulnerable?
healer: I feel like if I am helping someone by being vulnerable and it is for the greater cause, then I can push through it. Even when it is scary, being vulnerable, almost always, leads to good things.
Diandra: What book would you make into a concept album?
healer: The Alchemist has been so foundational with how I treat the world. It is such a great story, and it feeds people with these philosophical questions. It is not this “sit in your classroom” kind of growth. It is deep and fun. I think when your message is universal and as wholesome as “Be Kind! Love yourself!” it is hard to not feel like that is relatable. I like that, in the book, Shepherd has a purpose and the universe is conspiring to help him achieve that. I like to think the universe it doing that for me.
