Whole Life Story: Deconstructing Music Journalism’s Coverage of Passion Pit’s Michael Angelakos and Bipolar Disorder

Read the full case study on media coverage of Passion Pit here on Google Drive.

For a final project in a class on Music, Journalism, and Society, I had to do a media case study on an artist of my choosing. Considering how many artists I already obsess over anyway, I knew I could really get lost in just about any artist I chose. With that in mind, I decided to approach this decision from another angle and thought about what I wanted this project to mean to me.

It is awfully easy at times in college to simply go through the motions of the assignments you are given, without really thinking about how the work you do speaks to who you are. However, this class was more than a prerequisite or graduation requirement. I wanted my final project to reflect my journey over the past several years and what matters to me now.

I had just recently taken another course about Disabilities in History which had completely transformed my perception of health and humanity overall. So, I decided to use this final case study as my opportunity to explore the intersection between those ideas on health and the music industry. I considered various artists that could allow me to do this, but a friend mentioned Passion Pit in a casual conversation and, from then on, no other option felt more right for me.

I first began listening to Passion Pit shortly after the release of Manners in 2009 and not many records made me feel quite as safe and understood as their debut album. I continued to follow Passion Pit’s career and can to this day remember having a mini Gossamer listening party with my friend upon its release in 2012. After the release of Gossamer and the news of Michael Angelakos’s bipolar disorder came to light, I felt an even greater kinship to Angelakos’s music and the music industry as a whole. It was not until I began this case study that I truly had a chance to really consider why Angelakos’s work meant that much to me.

Upon starting this project, I emptied myself of everything. All that makes me who I am, I replaced with Passion Pit and the media’s construction of Passion Pit’s Michael Angelakos. For three days, I ceased being a real human being. I spoke to virtually no one, ate, slept, and breathed nothing but this project. After three straight days, I came out of this project the way I love coming out of every project – understanding just how little I understand and asking more questions than I asked in the beginning. I was both emotionally exhausted yet spiritually rewarded, having gained a richer understanding of my connection to Passion Pit, mental health, music, and the media’s limited presentation of humanity in the articles written about Angelakos and his bipolar disorder.

Without a doubt, this project was an adventure of fantastic proportions and as with all my musical adventures, I simply had to share it here so that hopefully you will also join me on the ride and we can discover all of the twists and turns together. This project only lightly scratches the surface of the issues it touches upon, but I hope – at the very least – it makes you think from a new perspective. That is certainly what happened to me.