There is a poignant scene towards the end of This is usThe 2013 Morgan Spurlock documentary about One Directionwhere the band members are gathered around a fire and talk about what their lives might look like in the future. “Don’t you think it’s a bit of a ‘Benjamin Button’ thing, that we get to do it backwards?” wondering Liam Payne. “After this we get to have a really normal life and have a wife and kids… that’s what I’m looking forward to.”

At the time, it seemed like a cute throwaway remark. Looking back now, it feels terribly ominous. The boys didn’t know they weren’t supposed to get to have a “normal life” after such a rapid and meteoric rise to fame. From November 2011 onwards, after the release of the debut album Up all nightwould tour for nearly four years while experiencing the kind of fame that was—even by boy band standards—quite extreme. Payne later spoke candidly about the impact such a relentless schedule had on his mental health and addiction struggles: “In child development, as a teenager, the only thing you need is freedom to make choices,” he added. A CEO’s diary podcast 2021. “Although we could do whatever we wanted, it seemed from the outside, we were always locked in a room at night, and then it would be: car, hotel room, stage, singing, locked.”

Following Payne’s death earlier this month, when he fell from a balcony in Argentina after ingesting several substances, a number of leading music figures have come forward and called for better protection for young people entering the industry. Songwriter Guy Chambers narrated The Observer that he thought under 18s shouldn’t be put to work as pop stars, period. “I think putting a 16-year-old in an adult world like this can be very damaging,” he said. Robbie Williamswho was 16 when he joined Take That and has been vocal about facing similar struggles, has called for greater empathy across the board. “Even famous strangers need your compassion,” he wrote on Instagram. “We all let you down”, ex The X Factor judge Sharon Osbourne wrote on the platform. “You were just a kid when you entered one of the toughest industries in the world. Who was in your corner?”

Of course, it’s one thing to call for better protections in the industry, and another to actually implement them. Matt Thomas, co-founder and chairman of Music support – a UK charity supporting those in the music industry struggling with mental health and substance abuse problems – has been advocating for change for almost a decade. He is unequivocal about the need to treat a musician’s mental health in the same way as other aspects of their physical and artistic maintenance. “In the same way that young people are given singing lessons, dance lessons and all sorts of (processes) to develop an artist, the mental health side of things and the prevention side of things should be given equal weight,” he says, adding that he believes that ” it’s possible with the right kind of structure and set-up, but it’s going to take a huge amount of collaboration.”

Sarah Woods, CEO of Help musicians and Music Minds Matter – two more UK charities committed to mental health support within the music industry – echoes Thomas’s sentiment. While there is “no silver bullet,” she says, a more widespread awareness of the very specific struggles that musicians and those in the industry can face is imperative. Late nights, long hours, tight deadlines and a competitive work environment can really take their toll. And that’s without even considering the intense pressure of fame. “As a charity we are proactively working to broaden our services to help prevent crises; doing more to ensure individuals can recognize all the warning signs themselves and working with trade associations to build greater collective understanding,” she says.