Mura Masa Opens Up About Mental Health and Music Production In Candid Reddit AMA

In a candid Reddit AMA (“ask me anything”), Mura Masa has opened up about his mental health journey.

After a fan asked him about noteworthy achievements that have helped his creative process and anything that’s helped his mental wellbeing, Masa said he started going to therapy, fixed his sleep, and started eating healthier and more regularly.

“But to be honest after all that I was still feeling mentally exhausted and ended up getting on Anti-depressants and that’s really changed my life,” he explained. “Anxiety was basically dictating all my descisions/movements [sic]. I can only say to anybody reading, if you’re feeling like things aren’t going right for you mentally then do reach out and make some changes. I had no idea how fun life could be, it’s kind of crazy that normal people are just walking around here chilling like this haha.”

When another fan asked whether it’s therapeutic or “mentally exhausting” for Masa to write about personal emotions in his music, he said that’s part of the creative process. “I find no matter what you do, really you’re writing about your own experience because that’s all u can really ever do,” he said. “So I guess I just view it as part of the process of being creative.”

The “2gether” producer, who is currently preparing to release his third album, also discussed how he selects sounds and approaches instrumentation in his work. By limiting himself to a few sounds for this “era” of sound, he’s able to hone the creation of the songs rather than sifting through thousands of samples to find the right kick or clap. This is a process he’s utilizing for his upcoming album. 

“I settled on this aesthetic that I’m really excited about and then basically spent some time making folders of drums, synth presets, samples that fit that brief,” he wrote. “Basically like a painter mixing a bunch of colours before even touching the canvas.”

You can read Mura Masa’s full December 2021 Reddit AMA here.