This is when people search for meaning of the feelings and thoughts they are unable to articulate in songs, and once they immediately relate to them, the experience of listening to it becomes enjoyable for them. While humans experience a vast range of emotions, it is a common phenomenon for most of them to go unexpressed. Research has found that one of the main reasons why people listen to sad music when they are already hurting is because they experience some kind of connection either to the lyrics, melody, or emotions expressed through the song. People like to listen to sad music especially after the beginning of a negative mood. Today, musical cues for hurt and pain are not only depicted in the lyrics of the song but also through a slower tempo and rhythm, lower pitch and lesser energy. which articulate these emotions and find profound happiness in them. It is paradoxical because while most people would go out of their way to actively avoid feelings of grief, loss and sadness, we often turn to forms of art such as music, poetry, etc. This means that even though emotions like anger and sadness are “negative” emotions, we gain some kind of aesthetic pleasure and enjoyment by indulging in them.

It so happens that after listening to a sad song or heartbreaker, your mood actually seems to be better by the time the song ends.

In recent years, the concept of paradoxical pleasure produced by indulging in negative emotions has come to the limelight. Studies also show that music can be helpful in influencing our stress response and reducing anxiety.

Today, the ability of music to guide emotion and reduce distress also finds its application in music therapy by using musical interventions for emotional disorders. While research has shown a wide variety of uses of music in relation to processes like attention and memory, it has also been found that the emotional power of music is one of the main motivators for people to create and spend heaps of time with it. It goes beyond traditional barriers to unite people and find relatedness even in diversity, which explains why we sometimes listen to and enjoy songs in languages we might not fully understand. Music has often been referred to as the “language of the soul” and a “universal language” which is extremely appropriate to its function.

Sad soft music for poetry