Music For Your Mind
April 24, 2024
Writer: Tyler Peterson
Editor: Chloe Robinson
If I had to think of one app I couldn’t live without, no question, it would be Spotify. For the majority of my life, music has been my medicine, my lifeline. Music has helped me and it has hurt me– music gets me. I rarely do anything without music playing in the background; music plays while I’m driving, studying, cleaning, painting, sleeping, and showering. I spend so much of my day listening to music, I began to question my symbiotic relationship with it. The prospect of a day devoid of music was absolutely unthinkable for me, yet the allure of understanding its transformative potential lingered in the back of my mind. Could it shape my mood or my productivity? Was there a particular genre that held the key to unlocking a new dimension of me? These curiosities fueled my experiment for self-discovery through the lens of sound.
For one week straight I listened to only “bad bitch energy” and “happy” music. I created a playlist with a range from “HISS” and “Kitty Kat” by Megan Thee Stallion to “Paper Planes” by M.I.A and “Fashion Killa” by A$AP Rocky. I downloaded a mood tracker and tracked how I felt each day for the week before and the week of my experiment. No matter how I was feeling, or what I was doing, I strictly listened to this playlist. One morning, when the gloom of the previous night’s thunderstorm lingered along with my unwavering drowsiness I slipped on my headphones and pressed play. The pulsating basslines and confident lyrics enveloped me, transforming my mood from apathetic to empowered in an instant. As the week went on, I found myself absorbing the lyrics, sometimes unknowingly singing along, sometimes actively seeking inspiration from the messages within them. Overall, I saw that after only listening to this kind of music I reported having more frequent feelings of happiness, confidence, and productivity day to day compared to the week prior!
As it turns out, the way music makes you feel is a lot more scientific than you may realize. According to Andrea Gray for PPL PRS, the tempo of music can affect your mood as more upbeat tempos increase the release of the “happy chemicals” dopamine and serotonin. Conversely, slower tempos can relax you by decreasing your body’s production of the stress hormone cortisol- the most effective of which is symphony music. Interestingly enough, heavy metal music can actually lower your blood pressure, though Metalica may not be everyone’s cup of tea. These healing effects of music have started to gain recognition, even with the emergence of music therapy!
Sometimes it’s good to soothe your soul with your favorite sad song, a feeling like a friend squeezing your hand and empathizing with your experience. Each melody, each lyric, carries a unique narrative, echoing the stories we've all lived. Yet, amidst the comforting embrace of familiarity, there lies the power to uplift. And sometimes, the best solace comes from embracing a new tempo, propelling us forward from the depths of our emotions.
