Music, Madness, & the Mainstream: The Communication of Bipolar Disorder in the Art and Reception of Kanye West & Mariah Carey

Abstract

Ye (formerly known as Kanye West) and Mariah Carey are two of the biggest stars of popular music. While they have both earned vast amounts of critical and commercial success throughout their respective careers, this has been accompanied by the development of notorious star personas that have labeled each artist as “difficult.” Both artists have also been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. In this thesis, I consider the ways that their star personas interact with the common cliché of the “tortured genius,” how this compounds the lived experience of bipolar disorder, and the different intersectional challenges that arise when considering the gender disparity of the notion of genius. By drawing on scholarship from both psychology and musicology, I aim to analyze the music and public perception of both Ye and Carey to gain a comprehensive understanding of how popular music acts as a framework for communicating the complexity of bipolar disorder.