To mark World Mental Health Day 2021, James Blake joins Apple Music’s Zane Lowe for an in-depth conversation. The pair speak candidly about their own mental health journeys—which for Blake involved a three-year break from music. “For a lot of musicians, our first language very often is music, and then it’s whatever our native tongue is,” he tells Zane. “I think we’re not encouraged necessarily to actually speak on mental health or what we’re actually feeling. I think if we do, then the likelihood is that it will make it uncomfortable for somebody around us, whether it’s a manager or an agent or a label. Because at a certain point in our careers, a lot of the time it can grind to a halt and stop us from actually making everybody money.” The UK electronic artist has embraced a spirit of openness for his fifth album, Friends That Break Your Heart—with its dazzling, emotionally raw songs covering topics including anxiety, depression and self-belief. “We do have control, even if there are some things that are going to affect us forever, maybe,” Blake says. “But I do think when we diagnose ourselves as mentally ill or whatever way, we mustn’t let that be a prison or a definition that essentially stops us from investigating ways we could feel better.”