Powerful Message Behind Logic's '1-800-273-8255'

Have you ever just walked passed somebody with deep, open cuts on his or her wrist and wondered how they got them? The first speculation that would appear would be if the cut was due to an accident by their pets and the following thought would be if they had cut themselves on purpose. Suicide, the reoccurring thought that pops up right when something doesn't go as planned. It seems that self-harm is a popular topic that many people tend to avoid because they are afraid to seek help for themselves. Even Logic, a famous American rapper, dealt with self-harm and suicidal thoughts himself due to his rough childhood. In Logic’s song, '1-800-273-8255', he addresses the issue of depression, self-harm, suicidal thoughts, and reminds people that there is always a National Suicide Prevention Lifeline that one can reach for to obtain help from. Logic portrays an extremely powerful message throughout the song and strongly expresses how suicide is never the answer because there is still a lot in life in store for you. There will always be someone to help you find a solution to your problems if you just take one simple step to seek help yourself.

The title of the song is an attention grabber because it is the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline number which points out that it is going to be related to the meaning of the song. It starts off with a person who had lost hope in life, felt small and depressed, which led to having suicidal thoughts. In the first stanza, Logic says, “I’ve been on the low, I been taking my time, I feel like I’m out of my mind, It feel like my life ain’t mine, Who can relate” (1-5), it describes how one feels discouraged to live anymore and can’t think about anything but killing oneself. Logic explains how the individual has been feeling depressed and unimportant in the world and the reoccurring thought to escape is to commit suicide. Logic’s use of diction in the first stanza has negative connotations to them, such as “low” and “out of my mind” to portray the gloomy mood of the speaker since it means that they feel empty and that they cannot do anything to solve what they are feeling. He then proceeds with the line, “Who can relate?” to try to connect with others who feel the same so the speaker can feel like they don't have to go through this episode of their life by themselves. In the second stanza, the chorus, Logic continues the suicidal feelings by stating “I don't wanna be alive” (10) several times to emphasize how the individual wants to die and disappear from the world. This conflict is external since the person simply does not want to physically exist anymore since it states, “I’ve been praying for somebody to save me...And my life don’t even matter” (19-20). Depression is taking over the speaker’s thoughts and masking it with negative emotions to make them feel like their death would not matter to anyone. The individual is suffering and feels that no one cares enough to save them from their external pain but it is also internal because, in the third stanza, it illustrates that the person is “hurting deep down but can’t show it” (21). The use of “hurt” portrays a negative connotation to add on to the hopeless and gloomy mood and that there is a social stigma of mental illness. In order for the individual to cope with those negative feelings, they decide to do self-harm to distract themselves with external pain or to numb their feelings and or to commit suicide to relieve him or herself. Overall, from the title to stanza one to three, it is able to create a sense of what the individual is struggling with.

From the fourth to sixth stanza, the individual is seeking help and seems to be on a phone call which the other person is trying to encourage the seeker to live instead of committing suicide. The content of the song is a conversation between an individual calling the helpline with thoughts and intentions of killing themselves between the person working on the helpline. In lines 36 to 43, it states “I want you to be alive...you don’t gotta die”, while the other end of the call is trying to say that there is more to life if you keep on living since you can create new memories and experience new things each and everday. When the person in pain pushes through the hard episode in their life, they will see the “light in the darkest things” (50). Logic is trying to describe that once you have found help and you can pass those negative thoughts, you will finally know how much life is worth and the meaning behind it.

In stanza eight and nine, everything positively changes and there is a turning point where the individual finally wants to continue their life after seeking help on the phone from the hotline operator. They have been experiencing all of the depressing and negative thoughts that lead them to their last resort to commit suicide. The words “alive” and “don’t” contradicts the previous stanzas because it has positive connotations of wanting to stay alive opposed to negative connotations where it is all about wanting to suicide. In lines 71 to 73, it says, “I finally wanna be alive, I finally wanna be alive, I don't wanna die today”, and it emphasizes how much the individual “finally” wants to live after finding the light in the darkest times of his or her life. This emphasis gives a strong and powerful message to the audiences who Logic targets and this shows the significance that seeking help is extremely important and will save a life. The song transitions from a depressed and suicidal individual on the suicide hotline to a person who ends up knowing they are willing to live again and wanting to spread positivity to the people around them, as well as portraying and taking this positive message to other suicidal individuals just like him or her on the call.

Logic portrays a powerful message behind the song to express that suicide is never the answer and there is always someone to help you. With context clues, the listener can figure out that the boy or girl wanting to kill him or herself received help from the helpline for them to be able to make the brave move and change their mind to decide they want to live again. He forms a connection with his audience through this song who struggle to seek help themselves by using his platform to spread the word of the National Suicide Prevention Hotline. The title of the song catches the attention of individuals all over the world and it sends a message that they can save many lives with just a phone call away. The repetition of the chorus is also a major factor in displaying the message of the song, “1-800-273-8255” to illuminate the idea that one can get help if they are feeling low and out of their minds. Logic tries to transition the song from feeling very empathic to feeling very uplifting and heartfelt. He begins to do this right with the chorus in the beginning, “I don’t want to be alive, I don’t want to be alive, I just want to die today, I just want to die, I don’t want to be alive, I don’t want to be alive, I just want to die, now let me tell you why” (10-17). This shows how the rapper quickly grabs the attention of listeners and pulls them closer into the subject of his story and as the song progresses, the chorus changes throughout the song, Logic goes from “I don’t want to be alive”, to, “I want you to be alive, I want you to be alive, you don’t gotta die today, you don’t gotta die, I want you to be alive, I want you to be alive, now let me tell you why” (36-43). In the middle of the song, Logic also changes the chorus to express how he wants them to be alive and gives his reasoning and explanations in the following verse for why one should stay alive. At the very end of the song, Logic gives one final chorus, uplifting the listener explaining how he wants to be finally live his life and how he does not feel the pain and suffering that he once felt. It is beautifully ended with, “I finally wanna be alive, I finally wanna be alive, I don’t want to die today, I don’t want to die…” (71-74). The chorus and repetition are able to send a message that life gets hard and it may for a while but eventually, things do get better.