A millennial musician is giving a voice to those living with depression, anxiety, and chronic illness. Welsh singer-songwriter Ren Erin Gill, known professionally as Ren, has found an audience by interpreting the highs and lows of his own health journey. 

The 33-year-old’s work toes the line between rap and slam poetry. While strumming an acoustic guitar in his viral hit, Hi Ren, he rips open his heart to listeners.

Hi Ren details Ren’s traumatic experience in a medical system that, at times, appears to have failed him. His Lyme disease went undetected for years. Instead, he was misdiagnosed with various mental health disorders, including bipolar depression. 

“I wanted to write something which captured the frustration of this journey. I wanted to write something which expressed all the things I wish I’d said to my doctors and therapists at the time, but didn’t have the words,” Ren wrote in a Facebook post. 

“I think the message is of hope and trying to depathologize what’s happening in terms of psychiatry, and that it’s okay to go get care,” said psychiatrist Joe Shrand, MD, Chief Medical Officer of Riverside Community Care in Dedham, MA. “For people living with their own mental health struggles, Ren’s powerful lyrics could inspire them to get the care they need.” 

The singer did not respond to Psychiatrist.com’s requests for comment.