Analysis Of Mary Lambert's 'Lay Your Head Down'

The stigmatization of mental illness and the pressure society puts on people to conform to often unattainable standards is an extremely pressing and damaging problem. Singer-songwriter Mary Lambert is unafraid to tackle these issues in a way that many artists shy away from. Mental illness, most notably depression, is a common theme throughout her works and her lyrics are a raw and open account of the difficulty pressure from society can bring to those who struggle to accept themselves. In her songs “I Know Girls (Body Love),” “Sum of Our Parts,” and “Lay Your Head Down,” she references mental illness and the direct impact societal expectations can have on one’s mental health and self-esteem. Now more than ever, mental illness has become a …show more content…
Seemingly inane things such as commercials on television or being unable to understand the vastness of the world become enough to reduce the subject to tears. The lyrics also touch on the difficulty of admitting to oneself that seeking out and receiving help is sometimes necessary in overcoming depression. The line “Or I’m crying for the fact maybe I’m not actually myself/I’m crying because I am myself and that doesn’t feel like enough,” gives a startlingly raw account of the inadequacy one can feel simply for having an illness they cannot control. Depression severely impacts one’s ability to feel as though they are “good enough” for themselves and for others and convinces a person that they are not worthy of receiving help or feeling good about …show more content…
The ability to love one’s flaws and uniqueness is so difficult when society has an unwavering fixation on the notion of perfection. Both “I Know Girls (Body Love)” and “Sum of Our Parts” focus on the ideas of self-acceptance and fighting back against the expectations of society. The lyrics of “I Know Girls (Body Love)” become progressively more defiant and almost rebellious towards the end of the song as Lambert insists that people are defined by more than the shallow standards of society. The worth of a person cannot be summarized by their appearance or by things they have experienced in life. The mantra “I know I am because I said I am/My body is home,” conveys the idea that worth can only be determined by oneself. “Sum of Our Parts” echoes this idea with a similar statement repeated in the chorus of the song. The lines “We are, we are more than our scars/We are, we are more than the sum of our parts,” express the notion that the worth of a person is not bound by their physical or mental conditions and that a person’s self-worth and self-acceptance transcend what can be perceived at the surface