Music, Creativity, and Mental Health: Portair

This is a conversation with Drew Southwell, better known as indie singer, songwriter, producer and composer Portair. We had a free-flowing and candid conversation about music, mental health and creativity in which we touched on many topics including: Drew’s background as an artist; his drive to create and the factors that nurture his creativity; the centrality of uncertainty and the tolerance of ambiguity in the creative process how the true meaning of what one creates often emerges much later; the foundation of symbol, metaphor and analogy in the creative process; learning to productively co-exist with one’s self-doubt; the primacy of doing or ‘just starting’; the joy ands and benefits of collaboration; Drew’s own mental health experiences and how therapy very positively changed his life; the important distinction between healthy and unhealthy perfectionism; and other topics. It was a delightful and illuminating conversation for me, and I hope you experience it that way as well.