Like a hero returning from his battlefield victoriously, Scottish singer Lewis Capaldi took to the stage at Glastonbury Festival in England last week. His fans met him with a warm welcome after a forced absence that lasted three weeks, during which Capaldi stopped concerts in order to rest and recover, he said.
But: How can a young artist who has achieved international success, broken records, and amassed a million-dollar fortune recover, while he is not yet 26 years old?
The answer soon came during the ceremony, when Capaldi’s voice gradually began to break until it disappeared completely. As for the cause, it is not a cold or an infection in his throat, but rather a psychological condition known as Tourette Syndrome, accompanied by severe anxiety.
A few years ago, Capaldi was diagnosed with Tourette’s syndrome (Reuters)
Supportive and understanding audience
Capaldi seemed solid during his performance of his first four songs at the concert, but things began to gradually slip out of his hands once he reached the fifth song; As if his voice escaped from him, refusing to respond to him. Simultaneously, the symptoms of Tourette’s were becoming more and more apparent. The singer failed to control his involuntary movements, such as the frequent flickering of his eyelids and the violent nervous spasms in his shoulder.
This surrender to the symptoms of the syndrome had to reflect sadness and disappointment on Capaldi’s features, who spent most of the concert silent and wandering around the stage, leaving the task of filling the void for his band to play, and for the voices of his audience, who did not disappoint him as his psychological state did.
Before he completely lost control of his voice as he sank into his nervous symptoms, Capaldi told the audience: “Glastonbury, I’m really sorry, I’m a little upset with myself. I’ll be honest with everyone… I’m starting to lose my voice. We will try to continue to the end. I just need you to sing along with me at the top of your voice, please.”
The response was unanimous, as the relationship between Capaldi and his audience is solid and with a high degree of humanity. It was no surprise, therefore, that they had rushed to rescue him from the uncomfortable situation. While he was roaming the corners of the stage without guidance, 200 thousand throats were repeating his songs with a unified and loud voice, as if telling him: We love you and support you in all your cases.
The concert ended with Capaldi promising the audience that he would return as soon as his situation allowed him to. He added, “I feel like I’m going to need another break, and you probably won’t see me much for the rest of this year. But when I come back, I hope you will still want to see me.”
The wave of sympathy for Lewis Capaldi spread to social networking pages, where a large number of followers described him as a hero, while others thanked him for sharing his psychological suffering publicly. As for him, he stated through his official accounts that he will stay away from parties indefinitely.
In a statement thanking his fans, he said: “I used to enjoy every moment of those concerts, but in fact I am still learning to adapt to the symptoms of my psychological state. During the last concert, it was clear that I needed to devote more time to arranging my mental and physical health matters.
“How do I feel now?”
In his song “How I’m Feeling Now”, Capaldi admits: “I’m always trapped inside my head…I try to convince myself that my days are the ones to come…I’m not going to lie, I’m a mess… I thought I would be happier.”
The singer has always opened the doors of his soul wide, not only through the lyrics, but through every opportunity. Capaldi has been frank with his fans about the psychological crises he faces, and about the bruises left by the world of fame on his life. He, who entered the artistic scene at the age of 18, was not late in reaping success.
He was 19 days old, and his first song, “Bruises,” collected twenty-eight million streams on the “Spotify” platform. Then, “Someone You Loved” followed her two years later, raising him to the highest ranks of fame. But Capaldi did not enjoy his victory for long, as the Corona pandemic brought him back to the home of his loving and supportive parents; In search of some safety.
There, he obsessed for a long time with a song that could compete with what “Someone You Loved” had achieved. He felt a lot of pressure and this coincided with the first signs of anxiety appearing on him. He later admitted the matter in a documentary of his own, broadcast by “Netflix”, where he said that his anxiety was out of control, and he also spoke openly about his panic attacks, explaining that his feeling of insecurity increases as he achieves more successes, and that he still does not understand why people attend. His concerts and love his “frivolous little songs.”
Capaldi during the launch of his documentary on “Netflix” (Instagram)
Brittle stars…
Capaldi is not the only artist who stood helpless in the face of the struggle between fame and psychological pain. Like him, many have had to undergo regular treatments and to be forcibly removed from the limelight. In the interest of their psychological stability, singers include Justin Bieber, Shawn Mendes, Selena Gomez, Billie Eilish, Demi Lovato, and Katy Perry.
Every time a well-known artist or personality lifts the mask of stardom to reveal the spiritual suffering hidden beneath it, it contributes to erasing the stigma of mental and neurological diseases. It spreads awareness, and inspires others who are experiencing the same thing to have the courage to face what they are.
This is what Lewis Capaldi does, and perhaps the reactions of his sympathetic audience were not only out of love for him, but rather an understanding of a situation that might afflict anyone and deprive him of his energy to confront the world boldly. As if the audience has become aware of the fragility of the “stars”, and is ready to tolerate their psychological bruises and treat them as heroes, as happened with Capaldi.
