On Monday, 24 June 2019, YouTube star and well-known Latter-day Saint music artist, Alex Boyé, held a concert at the Tanner Amphitheater in Springdale, Utah. The concert was part of a national campaign for mental health awareness. According to a press release by JJ Abernathy, the objective of the concert was to deliver a message of hope and understanding to young people and teens struggling with mental illness, and who may be considering suicide. Event host David J. West commented that Alex’s message of hope is more than inspiring. All profits from ticket sales were donated to the Bend Not Break Foundation.
In the press release, Alex spoke about the purpose of his music, stating, “This is more than entertainment — my music is ‘innertainment.’ It’s music that can change lives from the inside. Even if I can save just one life, then we have done something great.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, suicide is a leading cause of death in the U.S., with more than 45,000 lives lost in 2016 and nearly 1.4 million suicide attempts in 2017. Alex’s home state of Utah has the fifth highest suicide rate in the nation, with suicide being reported as the leading cause of death in youths ages 10-24.
In May 2019, Alex released two new original songs from his album Coming to Amerika. The songs, “Still Breathing” and “Bend Not Break” are intended to be songs of hope and encouragement created to save lives. Alex explained, “‘Bend Not Break’ is a song that encourages people considering suicide to look beyond their current circumstances and make a different choice, to bend and not break, and ‘Still Breathing’ shares the thoughts of someone who has overcome a difficult time in their lives and survived.”
St. George Utah.com reports that Alex Boyé is a multicultural, multigenerational, global, independent artist with over 1 billion views on his YouTube channel. His Africanized pop covers have been featured on programs like Jimmy Fallon, Good Morning America, Fox & Friends, Jimmy Kimmel, and more. His music is available on such music platforms as iTunes, Apple Music, and Spotify.
