Despite the fact that more than 300 million people around the world suffer from depression, and over 450 million people will suffer from mental or neurological disorders at some point in their lives, there's still huge amounts of stigma surrounding the topic. Thus, It's definitely unusual for musical or lyrical subjects of choice.

Don't tell that to Delyn Grey, whose new single/music video Battle is completely unafraid, bold even, in its exploration of what depression feels like for someone in the throes of it. This kind of honest vulnerability can be refreshing, revelatory even. Just ask the generations of musicians who grew up listening to artists like Nirvana, PJ Harvey, and Jeff Buckley. Delyn, at the age of 20, is one of them.

Her goal: "I want to make music that's fearless. I don't want people to hear it and think I play it safe. I want people to listen to it and go, 'That was heavy. Didn’t think it would hit me like that’ The cool thing is that I've had 12-year-old Disney-crazed kids and 55-year-old classic rock fans tell me they love it. I think any kind of music fan can find something in my music because it's truthful. I put everything I have into it, man. It's the real stuff."

Vibey, alt-rock Toronto artist, Delyn Grey, is looking to revamp mainstream music trends and break barriers. Grey’s distinct marriage of influences ranging from garage rock to R&B music makes for a revolutionary, angst-tinted, and compelling performance, in-studio and on stage. Cookie cutters need not apply.

From the artist: “When I turned 17, I hit a real low and music quickly became my outlet. ‘Battle’ is the product of my fight against it during that time. Vocalizing my frustration, fear, and anger -quite literally- is what keeps me fighting. My hope is that this song will find people that need it, just like it found me."

ABOUT DELYN GREY

For Delyn Grey, the difference is black and white.

The upcoming release of the dark-hearted Toronto singer-songwriter's bold EP, Disappointment Girl, does more than mark the birth of her latest musical child. It also signals the long-gestating rebirth of her sound, her style and her single-minded approach to her deeply intimate art.

"This sound was a turning point” she explains. “I wasn’t hesitating to harness feelings deeper than ‘wow that guy is cute or ouch you hurt me’. I was going through some rough stuff, man, and this EP is the product of my processing”.

On the advice of producer Justin Abedin — who told her to "stop trying and just let it flow" — Grey went soul-searching. She holed up with her thoughts and the music of artists like Emily Haines and Amy Winehouse, and within a short week later, something clicked.

“The EP came alive over the four following months. I had ten songs-worth of things to say, but EP tracks are the ones that really stuck,” she explains. “I’ve never been one for ‘bulk songwriting’. If I need to say something, it finds a way out.”

Leading with her first single of the year, Battle, Grey explains that this song had more to it than simply finding it’s way out. “This one hurt,” she says earnestly. “The craziest part was discovering how much pain I was ignoring, and how I had accepted that as a norm. I couldn’t package this one up in pop chords and upbeat shit. It had to sound how I felt.”

She continues to say, “Battle is me acknowledging that I was happily drowning in my self-deprecation. It filled this twisted void that ran deeper and deeper the more I gave in to it, but there was always this voice that fought against the heaviness. I eventually let it get louder, and I fought. Fighting gave me purpose, and this song granted me control of the uncontrollable. I wrote this song in the throws of it all. It helped me process all that was happening, and still happens, up in here,” she says pointing to her head. She adds, “music will never be my mask. It has to be me because it’s all that I have to keep that voice in my head from tearing me apart."

It's been that way as long as the trained pianist, self-taught guitarist and former choirgirl can remember. Her artistic fire was sparked as a toddler and stoked throughout her youth by music-geek parents. Dad played guitar around the house — when he wasn't playing satirical songs as Scary Pete on Toronto's long-running Humble & Fred radio show, or leading his own Peter Bloom Band. Both he and her mom raised her on a musical diet of classics from Elvis and The Beatles to Elton and Bowie. When she discovered the monumentally talented and tortured Winehouse, she found a kindred spirit and her main musical model. "She's always been it for me. Not only was her singing so effortless, she kicked ass. She didn't have to be a pristine pop princess to succeed. That's what really stuck with me."

Now it's what drives her. Admittedly, digging deep, probing wounds and sharing the cold, hard truth with strangers does not come easy. But going dark has undeniably helped Grey see the artistic light. And she is reaping the rewards, personally and professionally.

"It's just done amazing things for my relationships with everyone — my family and friends, even people I meet for the first time at shows who come up to me and say, 'That really spoke to me.' Those comments mean so much more now. When I truly gave myself over to the music, everyone else got it. And I understood myself a lot more. It's such a relief to get all that stuff off my chest. I feel like I went to therapy."

And with no turning back, she is driving onward. Her goal: "I want to make music that's fearless. I don't want people to hear it and think I played it safe. I want people to listen to it and go, 'That was heavy. Didn’t think it would hit me like that.' The cool thing is that I've had 12-year-old Disney-crazed kids and 55-year-old classic rock fans tell me they love it. I think any kind of music fan can find something in my music because it's truthful. I put everything I have into it, man. It's the real stuff."

That's as clear as black and white.