There are reasons why people love sad songs and they must be respected by every human being. Although it might sound awkward, there is a positive side.
Before I start talking about the reasons why most people love sad songs, let me first briefly define what characteristics that sad songs have. What makes a song sad is the sad story, sad events, or sad emotions. Every lyrical content of a sad song includes sad thoughts, things that are the opposite of happiness.
A typical example is “Echo” a song by Jason Walker. Sad music enables the listener to disengage from distressing situations like break up, death, failure, or even sickness and focus instead on the beauty of the music.
Further, lyrics that resonate with the listener’s personal experience can give voice to feelings or experiences that one might not be able to express oneself. Now let’s take note of some reasons why people love sad songs, shall we?
1. ACT AS A MOOD STABILISER:
Sad songs trigger’s the release of a hormone called prolactin, which reduces feelings of grief. Through the power of its general, mellow mood and often reflect, emotionally invested and soul-searching lyrics, people who experience a greater degree of empathy are believed to like sad songs more often because they appreciate their emotional nuances and find them very beautiful.
People tend to listen to sad music when they are in emotional distress or when they are feeling lonely. Sad music can be experienced as an imaginary friend who provides support and literally tells you that they understand what you are going through.
Sad music act as a mood stabilizer in this sense “sad music tricks the brain into engaging a normal and compensatory response by releasing prolactin. In the absence of a traumatic event, the body is left with a pleasurable mix of opiates with nowhere else to go. Prolactin produces feelings of calmness to counteract mental pain.
2. EXPERIENCE CONNECTION:
People like to listen to sad music especially after the beginning of a negative mood. Research has found that one of the main reasons why people listen to sad music when they are already hurting is because of the connection that they feel either to the lyrics, melody, or emotions expressed through the song.
While humans go through a lot of unexplained emotions, it is common for them to search for meanings of the feelings and thoughts that they are unable to articulate in songs and once they are able to relate to, it becomes enjoyable for them.
Having someone, even if it is a stranger, understand and go through similar emotions is enough to make you feel less alone in whatever that you are going through. This can be very comforting for a person who finds it difficult to voice their feelings to others.
A lot of sad songs are often associated with a person, place, or experience from the past and many people choose to listen to music revolving around pivotal experiences in their lives because it helps them to better understand their own emotions.
3. HELPS TO DEAL WITH FEAR AND DEPRESSION:
You might be asking Why would someone who is struggling with depression want to listen to a sad song? Most of us would suggest listening to something upbeat and cheerful! It is not exactly the first thing that we recommend when our friends are feeling down. But there is actually some science behind this suggestion.
And it is related to that same feeling that someone gets when they go to a support group or listen to others talk about their own depression. Like I previously said, it is a reminder that you are not alone and that there are others out there with similar or worse struggles.
There is an actual term for this concept of feeling better about ourselves knowing that someone else out there has it worse. It is called “downward social comparison”. Music is empowering and most sad songs have a message that it will be okay.
We all need to feel like at least, we can find the strength to get through the seasons of our lives that are overwhelming and difficult. Some of these songs are “I will survive” by Gloria Gaynor/ “Normal” by Sasha Alex Sloan/ “Too sad to cry” by Sasha Alex Sloan/ ”Die from a broken heart” also by Maddie and Tae.
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