Nathan Fleshner’s research explores the portrayal of mental illness, trauma, and therapeutic processes in music, examining songs as narratives of artists’ psychological and therapeutic experiences. His work also investigates the relationships among conscious and unconscious thought, music analysis, therapy, and creative processes, with research spanning artists from Adele and Eminem to Prince, Kanye West, and Townes Van Zandt. He has presented and published internationally across music and interdisciplinary fields and writes a column on music and the medical humanities for The Polyphony.
Associate Dean of Research & Activities, Associate Professor of Music Theory | Natalie L Haslam College of Music