T-Pain releases a vulnerable song for Mental Health Awareness Month.
The rapper and singer (born Faheem Rashad Najm) debuted his latest single, the ballad “On This Hill,” on Friday with a video featuring T-Pain performing the song live while sitting around a campfire with musicians playing the track.
“Hearts break even worse on Saturdays/And baby it’s Friday night/Honestly, I’ve had sadder days, but for once in my life this one is not mine,” he sings on the first verse of the song, which is about gaining self-confidence to defend against external voices.
“This song is really about not being gas lit anymore,” T-Pain, 39, said in a May 17 press release about the song.
“It’s about realizing that I have to stand up for myself. Over the years, it was something I had to open my eyes to and learn how to deal with. So yeah, I’m gonna die on this hill, huh!”
T-bol.
Giles Williams
The metaphorical hill he sings about in the song is one that people climb to find self-love.
In addition to offering his fans an anthem about finding self-love, the rapper teamed up with Talkspace in May to help fund therapy for someone up to a year old.
“I know things can be tough out there and we all need help sometimes,” T-Pain wrote post on X (formerly Twitter) about the contest. The winners were announced last week.
The PEOPLE Puzzler has arrived! How fast can you solve it? Play now!
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(574x0:576x2)/t-pain-051724-1-cdc6c6872fd84efda325ee909bdaa131.jpg)
T-bol.
Giles Williams
Usher, Snoop Dogg and T-Pain surprise in Las Vegas after canceling the Lovers & Friends festival
“On This Hill” is an R&B ballad, but T-Pain has spent a lot of time in the country music space recently.
At 2024 Stagecoach, he took the stage with Jelly Roll to pay tribute to the late Toby Keith — who died of stomach cancer in February at the age of 62 — with a performance of Keith’s 1993 debut single “Should’ve Been a Cowboy.”
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(665x0:667x2)/t-pain-042724-697ab8b853a545b99dcfa07c83a05c2d.jpg)
T-Pain performs with Jelly Roll on the T-Mobile Mane Stage during Stagecoach in April 2024.
Amy Sussman/Getty
Earlier this year, T-Pain posted a video on TikTok explaining that he’s more involved in country music than people know, but that it’s one of the places where he started asking for his name to be left out of the credits because of racism.
“I wrote a lot of country songs. I stopped taking credit for it because, as cool as it is to see my name in those credits and s— like that, the racism that comes after that is like, ‘I’ll just take the check,'” He said.
If you or someone you know needs mental health help, text “STRENGTH” to the text crisis line at 741-741 to be connected to a certified crisis counselor.
Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education