HALESTORM's LZZY HALE Opens Up About Her Experience With Anxiety And Impostor Syndrome

HALESTORM frontwoman Lzzy Hale is featured in Sound Mind's signature series "Unmasked", which offers a series of short-form video portraits exploring mental health issues through the lens of music's biggest stars. Each artist opens up about their personal experiences with a diverse array of mental health issues such as substance abuse, depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety, and more.

In the clip below, Hale details her experience with anxiety and impostor syndrome, saying (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I call myself a reformed introvert. Full-on anxiety attacks in school. I didn't have a whole lot of friends. After we started the band, that became this armor that I could kind of put on, because I'm Lzzy Hale. I'm in a band called HALESTORM. This is part of my identity.

"As a grown adult with a musical career, that is a shelter for those who don't feel like they belong — the weirdos, the freaks," she continued. "So it became a source of pride for me to be my truest self, as hard as sometimes that can be, which relates a little bit to my imposter syndrome. 'Lzzy Hale, rock-star character up on stage in control of her life, they're not gonna see that. She's not as smart as she thinks she is. Barely made it out of high school. I know today's gonna be the day that they all find me out.' And a lot of times I have to say, 'No. You are a part of this and worthy of being here.'"

Hale added: "Anxiety, it's very swift with me. When I have an anxiety attack, it usually starts with some type of spiraling out. I have a couple of tools in my tool belt that I use to kind of get myself out of that spiral. A lot of times I will look for a voice of reason, and they will tell me, 'This fear that you have right here doesn't exist.' I'll grab any number of notepads that I have and I'll literally just vent it out to paper. And to be able to see it in a physical form really helps put those irrational fears into perspective. And then a lot of those irrational fears end up in a song somewhere. [Laughs]"

One such song is "Raise Your Horns", which appears on HALESTORM's latest album, 2022's "Back From The Dead".

"I wanted to write a song about my mental health journey that you can work through things that you thought were impossible, to raise your horns," Lzzy explained. 'Give yourself permission to live your life the way that you want to live your life. So this was one of those songs that I was writing it as a pep talk for me, but then as soon as we play it live, you just see the place just go up."

This past December, HALESTORM released a deluxe edition of "Back From The Dead". "Back From The Dead: Deluxe Edition" includes seven previously unreleased B-sides, including "Mine", a 1980s-inspired rocker. "Back From The Dead: Deluxe Edition" is available digitally, on CD, and cassette tape, marking the first time that the album has been offered in those physical formats.

Lzzy (vocals, guitar) and her brother Arejay (drums) formed HALESTORM in 1998 while in middle school. Guitarist Joe Hottinger joined the group in 2003, followed by bassist Josh Smith in 2004.

In December 2018, HALESTORM was nominated for a "Best Rock Performance" Grammy Award for its song "Uncomfortable". Six years earlier, the band won its first Grammy in the category of "Best Hard Rock/ Metal Performance" for "Love Bites (So Do I)".