Decca Records US and the World Federation for Mental Health (WFMH) have announced their partnership for World Mental Health Day (WMHD). Today, Decca US releases a WMHD-themed playlist of calming music, featuring WMHD artist ambassadors Chad Lawson, Cody Fry, Kings Elliot, Balmorhea, Daigo Hanada, Lara Somogyi, Sophie Hutchings, Samuel Mariño, and more. Additionally, Decca US artist and mental health podcast host Chad Lawson has partnered with sound wellness company Endel to release a groundbreaking meditation soundscape album featuring reimagined tracks from his acclaimed album breathe. Artists Balmorhea and Daigo Hanada also release Amazon Original tracks for WMHD.
Listen to the official WMHD 2023 playlist HERE, Chad Lawson’s Endel soundscape album HERE, and Balmorhea and Daigo Hanada’s Amazon Originals HERE.
World Mental Health Day was created in 1992 by the World Federation for Mental Health, a global mental health organization with members and contacts in more than 150 countries. WMHD aims to raise awareness in the global community about critical mental health agendas with a unifying voice through collaboration with various partners. WMHD has collaborated with Decca US to enlist artists to champion the cause, using their broad platforms to raise awareness.
It is heartwarming to observe the global support for the message of mental health advocacy,” said Nasser Loza, President of the World Federation for Mental Health. “We are celebrating 75 years of mental health advocacy with our 2023 World Mental Health Day theme ‘Mental Health is a Universal Human Right.’ Decca Records US has been at the forefront of our supporters, and we are glad to be working with world class musicians to amplify mental health awareness.”
Chad Lawson’s dedication to exploring the intersection of music and wellness makes him a meaningful and fitting ambassador for this year’s WMHD. The new Endel Meditation Soundscape version of his 2022 album breathe aims to create a completely new soothing experience for meditation. breathe (Endel Meditation Soundscape) utilizes Endel’s patented AI-powered technology to create a mood-boosting soundscape designed to support any kind of meditation practice.
The release follows the announcement earlier this year from Universal Music Group (UMG) and Endel setting out a first of its kind strategic relationship to enable artists and labels to create soundscapes for daily activities like sleep, relaxation, and focus by harnessing the power of AI.
“Chad’s beautiful, gentle album was the perfect source material to transform into a meditation soundscape using our AI,” said Oleg Stavitsky, Endel Co-founder and CEO. “Endel’s mission is to empower artists to break into the functional music space using our technology, and ‘breathe’ is an amazing addition to our collection of artist-driven scientifically engineered soundscapes.”
Also out today is a WMHD-themed episode of Lawson’s popular podcast, Calm It Down, which equips individuals with tools to manage emotional and mental challenges through mindfulness, meditation, and focused breathing techniques. To date, Calm It Down has received over 4 million downloads globally and is the ideal platform for advocating 2023’s WMHD theme. The special episode features an exclusive interview with the World Federation for Mental Health’s Secretary General, Gabriel Ivbijaro MBE JP – marking the first time a guest has joined Lawson’s podcast. Additionally, Lawson will be featured in an episode of The Travis Mills Show on Apple Music 1, airing today, where he will chat with Mills about music and mental health.
Says Lawson, “World Mental Health Day feels to me like that moment in a concert just before I lift my hands off the keys, and the room is filled with a collective breath. It’s that split-second pause where everyone—musician and audience alike—is reminded that silence, too, is part of the music. That pause adds meaning to the music, just like today adds meaning to our focus on what really matters inside us.”
Chad Lawson’s 2022 album breathe signaled a new phase in the distinguished career of the official Steinway artist, who consistently tops the Classical Billboard charts. Earlier this year Lawson released breathe (guided breathwork edition), a series of guided tracks that focus on breathing techniques like sama vritti (box breathing). Listen to the album HERE.
Lawson recently delivered a special Breathing session at the first Music + Health summit hosted by Universal Music Group chairman Sir Lucian Grainge and Thrive Global CEO Arianna Huffington in Los Angeles. The focus of the event was exploring the direct relationships between music and health, discussing recent research that has documented music’s therapeutic and medical benefits and introducing some of the new applications of technology that are helping to harness it.
