English rock band the Hunna want you to know that you aren’t alone with their newest single “Bad Place.”
“Bad Place” is the band’s way of opening a dialogue focused around emotional well-being and mental health. The Hunna have also joined forces with Project Healthy Minds and Mental Health Resources Inc. for the release ahead of Mental Health Awareness Month in May.
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The video for the track follows a young woman facing an internal and external battle. She sees messages telling her “you’re worthless,” “you don’t matter,” “it’s all pointless” and more. The phrases materialize everywhere in her life, from letters in alphabet soup to posters on her walls.
These are thoughts many people battle when struggling with their mental health, and the Hunna want to show that it is a universal experience. Vocalist and guitarist Ryan Potter sings “I know this place too well,” assuring listeners that there are others who share similar stories.
The National Alliance On Mental Illness has chosen the phrase “You Are Not Alone” as their message for 2021’s Mental Health Awareness Month. This sentiment is directly referenced in “Bad Place.” As the end of the video fades to black, the words “You are loved, and you are not alone x” appears, assuring viewers of the importance of this dialogue.
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To coincide with the release of “Bad Place,” the Hunna have also created a TikTok account to share stories about mental health during the pandemic. The account will feature videos shot in a booth in the streets of New York City over the course of one day. People share their stories and describe the challenges they overcame in the last year while living through the COVID-19 crisis. In conjunction with Mental Health Awareness Month, the band hope the account will inspire fans to openly have conversations about mental health with people in their lives.
“Bad Place” will appear on the soon-to-be-released deluxe version of the Hunna’s fourth studio album I’d Rather Die Than Let You In. Originally released last October, the album includes features from phem on “If This Is Love” and Travis Barker on “Cover You.” You can watch the video for “Bad Place” as well as exclusively read about the band’s inspiration and creative process in an interview with Potter below.
Walk us through your creative process, from the initial idea for the song all the way to visualizing it.
With the song’s meaning and raw, honest nature to it, especially for the video, we wanted to make it feel like a fly on the wall and capture real emotions. Sometimes it’s like a loop that is almost impossible to break out of. I’ve had days of waking up and just feeling like I can’t move and can’t face the day—body aches, etc. or feeling dread for something that hasn’t happened yet, and no matter what anyone says it has no effect to break you out.
I’d Rather Die Than Let You In touched on topics from love to loss to societal rejection. What did you want to talk about with “Bad Place”?
Bad Place represents something that recently has become a big change for me in my life and I’m sure a lot of others. Just before we got put into lockdown, my sister sadly lost her husband very suddenly and it obviously rocked our whole family to the core. She [has] stayed with me ever since that night. That, along with the pandemic and lockdowns and not being able to release our record on tour with our fans and just do what we normally do—my mental health took a huge hit.
I think I was pushed into finally realizing and confronting feelings that maybe were there to some degree in earlier years, but I couldn’t recognize it as well or they weren’t as strong. It’s been a real moment in my life and change that I feel is hard to take, but I feel I can understand myself more in times like these.
I’ve had fans from all over the world message me and open up on how they’ve been feeling and their mental health (asking for help or advice). It allowed me to open up some more and really think into myself. So this song I’m hoping will be a message to hopefully help our fans [or] anyone feel they don’t need to hide how they’re feeling. It’s okay because I have definitely felt it difficult to understand and therefore find it difficult to talk about it.
The pandemic has impacted everyone in many different ways, especially mental health and wellness. What do you hope fans take away from “Bad Place” in regards to the hardships the last year has given us?
Unfortunately, there are so many awful things happening around the world that can have a huge impact on someone’s mental health and, just in general, everyday life of dealing with hard moments life throws at you. I think we would like people to hear the song and feel like they’re speaking with a friend and hopefully feel a bit of relief from what they have felt and feel more confident and unafraid to—if they’re going through those feelings—recognize what’s happening in the moment and that it’s natural and you shouldn’t be scared to get those feelings off your chest no matter how wild you think it may be for someone else. Hopefully to take some pressure off people.
What do you hope this track says about the future of the band? What can fans expect from you next?
We hope this track will show another new side to us after the third album and show how we’re developing and growing as people and their favorite band. We have such a close connection with our fans, we just can’t wait to be around them, catching up with all of them and doing what we all do best! We’ve got huge festival news, our own tours booked for the end of 2021—not just in the U.K.—and we’ve got more music in the Hunna bank than we’ve ever had… so lots more ‘hunnamania.’
If you or someone you know is struggling with mental illness, there is help to be found. Please consider these online resources and talk to your regular doctor about your symptoms.
The National Suicide Prevention Hotline is 1-800-273-8255. You can also reach out to the Crisis Text Line by texting GO to 741741.
MentalHealth.gov – Get Immediate Help
ImAlive – Online Crisis Network
International Association For Suicide Prevention – Resources
The Anxiety And Depression Association Of America
The National Alliance On Mental Illness
American Psychiatric Association – Finding Help
National Institute Of Mental Health
American Psychological Association – Psychologist locator
The Trevor Project – A confidential hotline for LGBTQ youth
To Write Love On Her Arms – A nonprofit spreading mental health awareness
Hope For The Day – Suicide prevention and mental health education