Why Do Some People Like Sad Songs?

Why do some people like sad songs? Let’s face it, many of us have that playlist in which there is no shortage of voices like Adele’s with her Someone Like You , Eric Clapton’s Tears in Heaven or Chris Isaak’s Wicked Game . Not only do we like them, but they also lead us to an emotional state that, far from awakening grief, comforts us.

Music psychologists and neuroscientists are constantly amazed at this series of mysteries. It is striking, for example, the fact that music is almost that second language from which we understand life and, however, the brain does not have an exclusive region for it as it happens with language. Now, there is something obvious and no less amazing.

Listening to music is the phenomenon that activates the brain the most. It is a channel capable of making people with Alzheimer’s briefly awaken from their cognitive isolation to vibrate again, to smile and even dance. We need this medium to express ourselves, to feel and also to process many of our emotions and experiences.

The paradox of sadness or sad songs is a reality that can be explained and that we understand well. We analyze it.

These are the reasons why some people like sad songs

Aristotle said in his day that music has the power to purge. The Greek philosopher already sensed the relevance of this medium for the mind, body and soul. All good songs combine original music, appropriate lyrics, and excellent performances for one very specific purpose: to evoke strong emotions.

In this way, if we ask ourselves why some people like sad songs, there is a fact that explains it and that is highly striking. Music of sad or melancholic cadence awakens in us pleasant sensations. This is it, at least. This is explained by a study carried out at the Tokyo University of the Arts, in Japan.

Let’s understand more data .

Music and emotional regulation

When our day is bright and things are going well for us, we love to listen to upbeat and catchy music. Likewise, when our days have been exhausting and stressful, something that works for us is having a good time with relaxing music. And what can we say about those times when we are exercising? Nothing is more stimulating than hearing something energetic, intense and with a good rhythm.

• Music regulates emotions and does so to the point of intensifying those of positive valence to make them more vibrant. It is like turning up the volume of our joy and our motivation.
• On the other hand, what it also achieves is to transmit balance and well-being when our emotional state is at a low level. It gives us calm in moments of nervousness and injects us well-being in darker moments.

Sad songs have the unique and powerful ability to allow us to get in touch with our deepest selves. It is like taking a trip to the most complicated moments of our life to see them from balance. We can embrace yesterday to escape unscathed, letting ourselves be carried away by emotions that flow in the most perfect harmony.

It helps us to make a more accurate cognitive assessment of the events of the past

If we ask ourselves why some people like sad songs, we must consider another fact. We already know that music favors a wonderful emotional regulation in us. It balances us, intensifies joy and comforts us in adverse moments.

Now, what it also achieves is the following: when we listen to sad songs, we often experience the same physiological reaction as when we go through a complicated event in our day. Many people even let tears come when they hear that sad song.

However, what we do in turn is apply a new cognitive filter. We review the experience to see it in another way, to interpret it in a more relaxed, wise and accurate way. Music regulates emotions and harmonizes thoughts.

Sad songs are triggers for laid-back nostalgia

The human being is an inveterate nostalgic. We like to remember, our gaze is constantly in the rear-view mirror of memory. Doing so is not always a traumatic or painful act, it is a way of looking back at yesterday to evoke fragments of the past that make up, in the end, who we are.

Thus, another reason why some people like sad songs is precisely in that fact, in the desire to remember. Few things are more pleasant than relaxing with our headphones, closing our eyes and allowing that sad song to allow us to once again travel through yesterday in calm, in well-being.

Why do some people like sad songs? Maybe they are very empathetic personalities

There is another interesting reason why some people like sad songs. Studies such as those carried out at the University of Oxford indicate that people with high empathy are the most likely to enjoy sad music. They are the ones who are most easily moved, the ones who connect, understand and deepen the most with the lyrics, the message and the composition.

There are more sensitive minds and with greater empathic power that see in this musical genre a mode of wonderful delight. Only through this channel and this melancholic cadence, life acquires for them a greater meaning, a higher transcendence and meaning. Likewise, the authors of this work point out that on average, those who enjoy sad music also enjoy sad movies.

To conclude, we are sure that who more or who less dedicates a part of their day to listening to this type of music. The brain undoubtedly appreciates it because it is a way to channel complex emotions, to achieve calm, well-being and serenity …