Once again, another young music legend passed away. Mac Miller was found dead in his Los Angeles home on Friday, September 7th, 2018. The medical examiner has listed his death as “deferred” and needs more investigation to determine the cause of death.

Mac Miller struggled with substance abuse for years. He had made progress in becoming healthier until Ariana Grande broke up with him after dating for two years. After their break up in May 2018, Ariana Grande started dating Pete Davidson from SNL and shortly after got engaged.

Weeks later, Mac Miller was arrested and faced hit and run charges for drunk driving. Despite his recent struggles, he channeled his emotions into his music (listen to the playlist below for some of his most emotional music) and released the album, “Swimming,” on August 3rd, 2018. In an interview with Vulture on his new release, he addressed depression and his own struggles with mental health. He said, “I really wouldn’t want just happiness and I don’t want just sadness either. I don’t want to be depressed. I want to be able to have good days and bad days… I can’t imagine not waking up sometimes and being like, ‘I don’t feel like doing s**t.’ And then having days where you wake up and you feel on top of the world.”

He was only 26; Mac Miller now joins “the club” of celebrities who have died young. Just this year, XXXTentacion, 20, and Avicii, 28, also passed away after only a few years in the music industry. The significance of these celebrities’ deaths brings up two sides of the story: do their deaths demonstrate that there are fatal consequences to irresponsibility or that children shouldn’t look up to pop stars at all?

Juice WRLD, a new, young rapper who was heavily inspired by XXXTentacion, answers this question in his single, Legends: “They tell me I’ma be a legend / but I don’t want that title now / ‘Cause all the legends seem to die out.’”

Many parents believe that celebrities offer a bad influence on to their children. In an article by the Huffington Post entitled “7 Worst Role Models for Teens,” Richie Frieman, a father of two children, described numerous pop stars’ attitudes. He said, “What’s even stranger than this cavalier attitude toward the fairly reasonable laws of our society, is that these infractions are forgiven in a matter of days, as if nothing ever happened. Not only are celebrities pardoned for their obnoxious behavior, their stock seems to rise. That’s right, the more they screw up, the more they win.”

XXXTentacion was murdered after he was seen withdrawing $50,000 from his bank, which possibly shows his irresponsibility with money. After years of substance abuse caught up to Avicii, he could no longer perform and took his own life on April 20th, 2018. Although these celebrities’ actions resulted in fatal consequences, some may argue that they were just living their lives. Celebrities are constantly criticized for every move that they make. That’s a lot of pressure, which is why the resort to drugs, fun, and risky moves.

While fans mourn the death of Mac Miller, criticism and gossip about another celebrity will circulate through the media. To escape the hate, celebrities abuse substances and “have fun.” So, will their fame and passion for their talent result in another funeral?