Sad music is everywhere. More often or not, people will list their favourite songs and albums and they will be littered with music born out of sadness. Why, then, do we expose ourselves to songs that make us sad? Is it simple catharsis or does it go deeper than that? Ever since the Blues jangled its way into the Western musical milieu in the early twentieth century, people realised that sad music can, in fact, make us happy.
Sadness or Nostalgia?
A 2014 study by scientists Taruffi & Koelsch found that a positive emotion was correlated with listening to typically sad music. The study, which had a base of 772 candidates, asked them why they enjoyed listening to negative, whimsical music following a sad event. Analysing the answers and research, Taruffi told The Huffington Post:
“The most frequent emotion evoked was nostalgia, which is a bittersweet emotion – it’s more complex and it’s partly positive. This helps explain why sad music is appealing and pleasurable for people.”
Sad music, then, isn’t wholly bitter, it’s bittersweet, which explains the flashes of happiness people experience when they’re deep into a Cocteau Twins binge.
In a more detail-orientated appraisal of its work, Taruffi concluded that “listening to sad music can lead to beneficial emotional effects such as regulation of negative emotion and mood as well as consolation. Such beneficial emotional effects constitute the prime motivations for engaging with sad music in everyday life.”
Sad music’s place as a regulator of emotion can make us happy by facilitating introversion and reflection which, in the long-term, leads to happiness.
Catharsis and Empathy
Sometimes, we all listen to sad music just to have someone who can empathise with us and vice-versa. Listening to someone articulate what we’re going through lyrically and sonically can act as a type of catharsis, helping us face and work through whatever we’re going through.
At other times, music can help people realise what exactly they’re going through or pinpoint what is bothering them. In the Jungian sense, music is there to express the inexpressible; in real terms, this means listening to a sad song can help us unlock what’s bugging us, thus facilitating the path to happiness. That’s why composers and directors use sad background music – to tap into a feeling that words often can’t.
Music as a Coping Mechanism
As a consequence of what social psychologists call downward social comparison, we can feel better if we experience or witness someone going through worse than us. A side-effect of empathy, by experiencing someone at rock bottom can put our situations in perspective, allowing the listener to take a step aside and create a plan of action from a more objective stance. When people expose themselves to very sad music, they are subconsciously enforcing downward social comparison.
On the flip-side, creating music and art is somewhat made easier by times of hardship and sadness. A popular sentiment is that misery breeds art, meaning sadness can make people more focused and proactive in their creation of music. If sadness can make musicians more focused, then surely this can extend to listeners? For some, the happiness they associate with sad music is merely a boost in focus, productivity and artistic output.
In addition to listening to music, you can also learn how to play an instrument at any age. By creating music for yourself you will feel a deeper connection with it. There are several piano, and guitar music courses online and books that teach you how to play an instrument. You can do a search online, for “piano or guitar lessons near me”, to find teachers, who teach online as well as those who give in-person lessons.
It’s all in the Hormones
It turns out prolactin is one hell of a hormone. The hormone has been blamed for a number of things, but researchers think it could be the key to understanding why sad music and art can make us happy.
After viewing art and music that the brain interprets as negative, it prepares the body for a traumatic event and, if said traumatic event doesn’t happen, the body ends up producing a pleasurable mix of opiates.
For a while, researchers have known that listening to music releases dopamine at specific emotional peaks, so it isn’t too much of a stretch to think the body acts similarly at emotional troughs.
The literature around why sad music makes us tick is growing every day, but presently, it’s clear sad music makes us happy as it presents an avenue for us to experience empathy, whether that be outward or inward.
With more than 45 albums released each month, the Universal Production Music catalogue covers a wide range of genres, emotions and moods. And it’s created by a team of hugely talented artists and composers around the globe, as well as in-house creative teams dedicated to diversity, quality and authenticity.
They produce imaginative music, record in the top studios around the world and form creative partnerships that add depth and individuality to their catalogue, each with its own unique style and heritage. They are dedicated to helping their clients create emotional and memorable audio visual experiences no matter what type of production they are working on. Want to find out more? Then make sure you head on over to their website by clicking here.
Do you find that listening to sad songs make you happy?
Be sure to let me know in the comments below.
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About the Author:
Reuben Moyler is a Music Supervisor at Universal Production Music. He studied Music Business at Uni and is a full-time playlist nerd.
