Both Big Mouth and Juice WRLD's Legends Never Die album comment on Mental Health, from anxiety to depression. However, each of them have their own ways of presenting it.
Big Mouth, the ongoing comedy romance animation, took the heavy concept of both anxiety and depression and then managed to create them as tangible beings of their own, writers such as Andrew Goldberg allow the characters to present depression in a way our own minds refuse to let us.
We are first introduced to the Depression Kitty, who is voiced by Jean Smart, as she sinks her claws into Jessi, one of our main characters. However, Jessi, with the help of Connie, her Hormone Monster overcomes the cat, but anyone with depression knows that the cat does and will in fact come back. Telling us that, even the most triumphant and happy defeat is temporary and not the end. Furthermore, we are introduced to another terrorising character called Tito the anxiety mosquito, with a quivering voice, the mosquito perfectly visions the desperate cling of anxiety. Tito believes that they, themselves, are actually helping, and protecting our protagonists from potential failures that may befall them, eg. putting themselves out there. Tito, representing anxiety, reminds the characters that they can do nothing right, everything they do is disappointing, overwhelming them until a storm of mosquitoes that end up casting them into a chaotic, troubling panic attack. Whilst these characters do have their own episodes focussed on them, they do appear between episodes throughout the entire 4 seasons to prove that in some cases, it comes and goes. They aren't present to some of the characters just yet, but there is truly no telling who is the next victim to anxiety or depression.
With the over-exaggeration and the stereotypes within Big Mouth, the writers tackle these hard subjects with a sense of relatability and comedy without it being to heavy or uncomfortable for the audience.
Juice WRLD, the American rapper, singer and songwriter from Illinois, released Legends Never Die just under a year, July 10th 2020, after his tragic death within 2019. As an artist, Juice WRLD was pretty open about his mental health and drug use within his music, he talks about how money doesn't truly bring him happiness, instead "it isn't the answer to all problems."
Whilst there are a few songs within Legends Never Die which talk on mental health, I believe the most significant is Wishing Well. Wishing Well, the 3 minute song with over 550 million streams within Spotify speaks on depression being the cause of his substance abuse. Therefore, he is wishing for is to overcome both of these troubles, the significance of Juice WRLD using the verb “wishing”, is because he potentially believed accomplishing such goals as these seemed unrealistic to him.
He is aware that it is a no-win situation, as the same drugs he is using the rid him of his pain with depression are also the same ones having such a negative effect on him, stating "If it wasn't for the pills, I wouldn't be here, But if I keep taking these pills, I won't be here."
He introduces the song with this idea that he "can't breathe," a typical symptom of an anxiety attack, something that overwhelms you so much that you are physically in pain from it. Furthermore, he adds this personification of depression ringing him to use his "past and memories as a weapon." Usually memories have an artificial recreation at happiness so with the presentation of these being used as weapons truly shows the power depression can hold over people in Juice WRLD's eyes.
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