Whenever I ask myself if music really helps me when I need it, the answer is always yes. Music is indispensable in my daily life. It keeps me active, relaxed, and energetic, although sometimes it makes me sentimental or makes me have mixed feelings. It all depends on the type of song you listen to. That is why I firmly believe that music influences the way we think and the way we express ourselves, as well as the way we behave.
First of all, the music we listen to influences our mood and our thoughts during the day. Certainly, when we listen to a song that talks about love, we feel like we are in the clouds or thinking about our significant other, but when we listen to a song about sadness or disappointment, we quickly feel sad, even if at that moment we are not going through anything sad or disappointing. That’s how powerful music is. According to an experiment from the University of Groningen (2011), “… music turned out to have a great influence on what the subjects saw: smileys that matched the music were identified much more accurately. And even when no smiley at all was shown, the subjects often thought they recognized a happy smiley when listening to happy music and a sad one when listening to sad music” (para. 3).
In addition, music, thanks to its lyrics, allows us to express ourselves through them when words are missing. We composers mostly write our lyrics inspired by our feelings or situations that have shaped our lives, because our goal is for the people who hear those lyrics to identify with them and perhaps express their feelings to others through our song. I always like to say that when words fail, music speaks, because it’s so true. One time, “Enchanted” by Taylor Swift helped me say exactly what I needed to, since I couldn’t get the words out. For this reason, music is magic, and when words are lacking, music will help us express ourselves in the best possible way.
Moreover, music has an impressive influence on the way we behave. Many people think that music is just a type of entertainment that only serves to sing and dance, and that it has absolutely nothing to do with the way we behave, although the reality is that it does significantly influence our behavior. Certainly, not all songs are about love or sadness. In fact, most of today’s famous songs talk about violence, drugs, and alcohol, and even denigrate women in horrible ways. A study in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (2003) showed that music with violent lyrics can incite aggressive and violent thoughts and even contribute to hostile behavior. My dad always tells me that when he went to parties when he was young, the music was about love or having fun, and thanks to that, there weren’t as many fights or arguments in the streets as there are now. Nowadays, when popular music talks about violence, drugs, and alcohol, it is very common to see fights and arguments in the streets, since those songs incite that kind of behavior. For that reason, I honestly prefer the music from before. When Michael Jackson, along with other artists, sang “We Are The World”, or The Beatles brought out “Hey Jude”, even when slow dancing with “Put Your Head On My Shoulder” by Paul Anka. If all the music of today was like before, I’m sure we would see more people united, more friendly, and we would see fewer fights in the streets.
To conclude, music certainly has the power to influence our thoughts, how we express ourselves and our behavior. I think that if we set out to make old music famous again, which speaks of love, friendship, having fun, and being at peace, we would become better people, and as a result, we would see less violence in the streets. I believe that this problem affects everyone and must be resolved in some way, but that change must begin with ourselves. Let’s bring back that music.
Music & Lifestyle 