Rachel Plattem, “I Am Rachel Platten.”

Rachel Platten built her identity on ideas of self-love and perseverance. These principles guided her music from her early independent years to the success of “Fight Song,” which remains a popular anthem thanks to TV syncs and reality competitions. Since 2017’s Waves, her last album, Platten had two daughters and grew, sometimes painfully, into the role of “mom.”

But her guiding principles remain the heartbeat of her newest offering, I Am Rachel Platten, again as an indie artist. Across 13 songs on this her fifth album, Platten traverses motherhood, relationships and mental health in a strikingly uncovered way. The personal nature and intense emotions often lend a rawness to the music that bleeds into her singing at times, but the strength in her writing tends to make up for it.

Platten has been vocal about her struggles with postpartum depression, an obvious inspiration on the album. “Bad Thoughts, ”a piano-driven ballad about feeling hounded by mental darkness, is one of the more direct examples. It’s kind of a meditation, as Platten repeats messages about mindful breathing and mantras like, “I’m bigger than the bad thoughts/ I’m brighter than the light they’re trying to steal,” and, interestingly, sometimes interpolating the vocalizations of Kendrick Lamar’s “Alright.” She doesn’t try to forget the dark days; she actually admits that getting through the tough times is about more than pretending that they don’t exist.

“I Know” is another piano-forward song that tackles the nonlinear nature of healing. While Platten submits to the trope of “this too shall pass,” she also remarks on the distortion of time during grief and the idea that even when you don’t think you have tears left to cry, you probably do and that’s all right. On “Mercy” and “I’ll Be Her,” however, her belting and attempting runs actually detract from the message. The obvious overload of emotions leads to vocal straining. Still, she conveys her pain.

One of the strongest tracks is six-minute self-ballad “The River,” the title of which she uses as a metaphor. Platten sings about giving everything to someone who isn’t ready to accept love because they don’t think they deserve it. “You’re hungry like the river/ And I’m open like the sea/ How can this be love/ When I’m never enough/ I’m not what you need,” she sings. A choir backs her, give the song a rich sound to pair with the instrumentation.

“Girls” speaks to the hopes and dreams Rachel Platten has for her daughters while also reminding them that she will always be there to support and love them.

While most of the songs are slower and have stripped-down arrangements, Platten has a few that harken back to her anthemic pop sound. “First Day” is a sweet love song, full of percussion, a chorus with several acoustic guitars and a subtle backbeat. “Gimme Something” is a sugary, synth-heavy pop tune. It’s a fun and lighthearted counterpart to the rest of the album that tackle much deeper subject matter.

Rachel Platten is as strong an artist as she’s always been, authentic and empowering. The new album adds newfound depth to her music, courtesy of the recent challenges. She’s said that songwriting was a refuge during this time. The powerful songs are evidence of that.