Ashley Tisdale was able to "speak [her] truth" through her new album.
Ashley Tisdale
The 33-year-old singer and actress released her third studio album 'Symptoms' last week, and has said the record is "the most authentic thing" she's ever done, as it allowed her to open up on issues including her mental health.
She said: "I had never communicated the things that I personally have been through with anxiety and so for the first time ... my fans who know me are getting to really know me for who I am and what I've been through. And then people who don't know me will know where I'm coming from. But I just felt like it's important for me to speak my truth, I guess. To be honest, out of anything in my career, it is the most authentic thing I've ever done."
The former 'Suite Life of Zack and Cody' star says the name of the album came as each one of the songs represents a "symptom [she] had experienced".
She added: "To be honest, a lot of artists do speak of these things I'm speaking about, so it's not like it's crazy unique. But what's unique to 'Symptoms' and to me is that ... this is the overall subject and every single song is literally a symptom I had experienced."
But Ashley insists she wanted to keep the album "relatable and upbeat" rather than making sad songs about her mental health, because she wanted to "take the power away" from words like "anxiety and depression".
Speaking to Billboard's Pop Shop Podcast, she said: "These are the symptoms, but let's kind of flip it. Let's not make it about those symptoms. Let's make it relatable and upbeat and not dwell in those feelings. I feel like the biggest thing for me was just taking the power away from the words anxiety and depression. Just kind of like having fun with it and being like, 'yeah, so I suffer from this sometimes, and other people suffer from this, but you know what? let's just celebrate and it, and be like, this is what we have, and it's ok, and we're gonna get through it."
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