[youtube ratio=”0.5625″ position=”standard” ]
THE GOOD NEWS:
Logic’s Grammy performance most likely saved countless lives.
Music gives us energy. It can make us feel free. It’s there help soothe us during times of loss and to celebrate in times of abundance.
Right now, one song is taking the power of music to its limits by saving people’s lives.
On Jan. 28, when rapper Logic performed his Grammy-nominated song “1-800-273-8255” on the Grammy Awards telecast, calls to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline tripled during the two hours after the performance. The phone number in the song’s title connects callers to a network of centers which provide free and confidential emotional support to people in suicidal crisis or emotional distress.
In “1-800-273-8255,” Logic sings and raps from the perspective of someone who’s suicidal:
All this other shit I’m talkin’ ‘bout they think they know it
I’ve been praying for somebody to save me, no one’s heroic
And my life don’t even matter
I know it, I know it, I know I’m hurting deep down but can’t show it
I never had a place to call my own
I never had a home
Ain’t nobody callin’ my phone
Where you been? Where you at? What’s on your mind?
They say every life precious but nobody care about mine
Singer Alessia Cara responds to Logic’s desperate situation as a Lifeline worker:
It’s holding on, though the road’s long
And seeing light in the darkest things
And when you stare at your reflection
Finally knowing who it is
I know that you’ll thank God you did
The song ends with singer Khalid singing from the perspective of someone whose life has been changed after calling the Lifeline:
I don’t wanna cry anymore
I wanna feel alive
I don’t even wanna die anymore
“Logic’s performance during the 2018 Grammys was an incredible moment in suicide prevention,” Frances Gonzalez, director of communications for the suicide prevention organization, told CNN. “By sharing a message of hope and taking the stage with individuals who have been personally affected by suicide, Logic demonstrated on a global scale that healing is happening every day for people in crisis, and that there is help available.”
Spreading awareness about the Lifeline is bound to save countless lives. Research by Dr. Madelyn Gould shows the service has an overwhelmingly positive impact on the lives of Lifeline callers:
- 12% of suicidal callers said that talking to someone at Lifeline prevented them from harming or killing themselves
- Almost 50% followed through with a counselor’s referral to seek emergency services or contacted mental health services
- About 80% said that Lifeline had something to do with keeping them alive
After hearing about the increase in calls to the Lifeline after his 2017 MTV Video Music Awards performance, Logic was happy his art could get through to people.
“That makes me feel so good,” the musician told Newsweek. “It really makes me feel special and makes me smile and get excited to know that there are people out there who are being helped … because of a song that I made that was initially inspired by those people to begin with.”
