BY LAUREN RAUSEO
In today’s world, superficiality is the norm. Whether it’s substance abuse to hide the mental health problems we’re not ready to face, or the people-pleasing to keep the loyalty of those who don’t truly know us, superficiality is so unbelievably common, especially in Gen Z.
I’ve noticed many people in my generation’s aversion to vulnerability as they don’t know who to trust or turning to the use of substances to cope with the pain of keeping it all inside. I notice it with friends and family, but especially with my peers. In this case, I chose to write why Gen Z should listen to the song “Something Real” by Post Malone.
On August 2nd, 2023, Post Malone released his new album Austin, focusing on his addiction and how it has affected his personal life. When I first listened to the song “Something Real,” I was in disbelief. The chorus in the background, the lyrics, the layering of the voices, I loved it.
In his first verse, Malone sings “Give me somethin’ real / Light a cigarette just so I can breathe.” Post Malone, one of the most successful musicians today, uses his addiction to cope with his mental health. He needs a cigarette to breathe, because his anxiety makes him so stressed, he believes nicotine is the only solution for him to think clearly. I listened to this song with tears in my eyes realizing just how common this thought process is.
We live in a world so accustomed to party culture we normalize self-medication instead of trying to break the cycle. Especially in college, many students choose to use substances rather than learn how to cope with their mental health. I have watched friends drink themselves to transportation or smoke to forget so often that sometimes I forget it’s abnormal.
With this, the last line in his first verse also holds a lot of meaning. Malone sings, “I’d trade it all just to be at peace.” The truth is, a lot of the “college experience” is a cover-up, a mere fantasy or distraction. Like Post Malone mentions, we would trade it all to be at peace: to be able to sleep soundly at night, or to be able to talk to our friends without fear of judgment. These things are necessary to live an authentic, blissful life, but we’re so busy trying to hide from our reality we can’t see through the smoke.
We live in a very superficial world, that’s for certain, but the more we pretend these issues don’t exist, the more we lose ourselves in the process. The song “Something Real” made me rethink my own unhealthy coping habits to hide the parts of myself I’m afraid to share, and I genuinely believe it could do the same for the rest of the people in my generation.
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