Whether it’s my daily commute, hanging around the house, or driving with friends, I often find myself listening to music about death, loss, and loneliness. But the thing is, many of us do this. So are we all some sort of masochist listening to words of misery while carrying out our mundane day to day tasks?
Why do we love sad music?
Is it because the words spoken find us as we are? Do these words make us feel better about our own lives?
The truth is we love to feel.
Art and music force us to reflect, force us to find meaning. The sadness we experience listening to music induces a sort of pleasure within ourselves. Although this music is sad- it brings no direct threat to the listener. All of the emotion without any actual loss. This paradox is somewhat of a mystery, how we can be moved to tears but love doing it.
The relief after a good cry, a feeling of comfort and commonality, and a neurological reward system. We’re just exercising our emotional repertoire, baby!
So next time you wanna listen to Soccer Mommy on your drive home-DO THAT SHIT.
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