Final Draft Essay 1

Rhetorical Analysis of Gabbie Hanna’s Song “Medicate”

 American youtuber, author, actress and singer/songwriter Gabbie Hanna in her song ‘’Medicate’’ (February 1, 2019) addresses the topics of chronic depression and other mental illnesses. She argues that doctors are killing “sadness with science.” She supports this claim by stating that doctors don’t disclose the side effects of these heavy drugs such as antidepressants and tell their patients ‘just swallow, it will make you feel better.’ But, does it really? Gabbie’s purpose is to show her audience that being depressed or having other illnesses is normal and not to feel pressured to take medication: She states, “Medication changes the chemicals in your brain…/But I guess that’s the point.” She adopts an emotional tone with her audience when sharing her own experiences with mental illness. In this essay, I will analyze her use of vivid descriptions, personal anecdotes, and emotionally loaded language to effectively persuade her audience to not “just swallow” the pain, but to express yourself and work on your issues.

Hanna’s use of vivid descriptions helps support her argument that medication is not the only way to fix your problems. By sharing her own experiences with medication, she is showing how it gives her feeling of strangeness. She says, “Should I take a pill to numb the pain? / Change the chemicals inside my brain, / I worry I won’t be the same.’’ She is showing her audience that when she was going through this, that she felt pressured into taking the medication but that she is scared to because she doesn’t want it to change who she is. Anti- depressant drugs are supposed to change the neurotransmitters in the brain to change your emotions and mood. But if that is not how you normally act, then is it changing, fundamentally, who you are? She also states in the song over and over again,” Can you medicate a broken heart?” By saying this she is claiming that the fact that being sad or ‘having a broken heart’ can’t be fixed by taking medication; it is all about you and your needs and doing what makes you happy. 

  Hanna’s main use of personal anecdotes in her song comes into play when she says ‘’Is this the way to fix this /or is this a quick fix, /I couldn’t say.” By using her personal story to make claims about the usefulness and limitations of using anti-depressant, she makes a powerful appeal to the audience’s emotions and logic, as well as building her ethos for talking about this topic. She indicates her experience that medication can help improve your mood, help with concentration and to increase your appetite, which is what she means when she describes them as a quick fix; however, it is short term- you can’t take anti-depressants forever. If you are truly unhappy, she is indicating that it’s important to get therapy. Hanna talks a lot about mental illness in some of her other songs such as ‘’Butterflies’’ and ‘’Broken Girls’; by doing this she also builds her ethos by showing she has a lot of experience with this and that she truly wants to spread a message. In the United States, about fifteen million people are taking medication for mental illness. Hanna wants her audience to know that it is okay to be going through it and make whatever you have been through something to actually be proud of, share your wisdom with the world and maybe help someone else: She effectively persuades her audience because she’s done what she is telling them to do; by using her own stories she shows her wisdom and indicates her own survival.  

 Hanna’s song ‘’Medicate’’ is full of emotionally loaded language; that is her main rhetorical appeal used to persuade her audience. Her lyrics are very purposeful and used to make you feel a certain way about what she is singing about. She uses metaphors such as ‘’build your walls up just to rip them apart,’’ meaning that everyone has imaginary walls they build to protect themselves and with medication it breaks down those walls and makes you more vulnerable. She is not saying that it is a bad thing, she is just sharing her experience and trying to paint a picture for her audience. “Make your tragedies a work of art” in particular stood out to me as a listener. When Hanna is saying this, it is very impactful to her piece of work. She referring to anything that a person goes through, can help someone else; don’t look at it as a bad thing it makes you into the person you are today. 

A lot of Hanna’s audience are teenagers and in America about fifty percent of teenagers by the age of forteen have a mental illness. Hanna’s platform on Youtube has over two million subscribers; furthermore, she has a big impact on American teenagers. She is using her influence for good and is letting her listeners feel empowered to do good and be themselves and not to be silenced because of their mental illness. Hanna’s effectiveness of rhetorical appeals gives the audience a new outlook onto the subject of mental illness. Her purpose was to spread awareness and to give people struggling hope, I think she fulfilled that purpose because as a listener, I was moved and wanted to help others. This piece of work affected me because for someone who is depressed and takes anti-depressant medications I could relate to her experiences and feelings. Hanna’s song has a real impact on the world, her vivid descriptions and emotionally loaded language gives her audience a vision on what mental illness is and how to help.

She has a great impact of the world and a useful message, she has an amazing way with her audience, and I believe, that she could change lives. Hanna’s intended audience was mainly American youth and anyone that struggles with mental illness, however being someone that has chronic depression it is a very personal thing and sometimes speaking your mind scares me, but living with such sadness and hopelessness it is terrible and this song can make you feel like you are not alone. I was persuaded tremendously by this song and I would recommend this to anyone even if this doesn’t apply to you, we can spread more awareness and become more enlightened about this taboo topic.