essay about sad song

Why Do We Listen to Sad Music?

Scientists investigate the emotional and physical effects of sad music, in an ongoing quest to explain the “paradox of pleasurable sadness.”

Even though pop music has allegedly become more upbeat during the pandemic, there’s something satisfying about queuing up a sad song and letting the melancholy feelings wash over you. This commonplace experience actually raises “ one of the most intriguing questions in the history of music scholarship ,” according to psychologists Jonna Vuoskoski, William Thompson, Doris McIlwain, and Tuomas Eerola: Why do people enjoy listening to sad music?

Scholars have long observed that music has a powerful effect on the body and the brain, dating all the way back to the ancient Greeks, who used music to treat disease and influence the temperament. In 1958, medical doctor Agnes Savill warned that “Music which produces moods of depression, bewilderment, even fear, can be safely studied by musicians and critics who approach it from an intellectual standpoint, but should be avoided by tense and anxious listeners.” It seems intuitive that sad music would make listeners feel worse—and yet many can’t help but listen.

“Although people generally avoid negative emotional experiences…they often enjoy sadness portrayed in music and other arts,” write Vuoskoski et al. This is the “paradox of ‘pleasurable sadness,’” they write, and it has “puzzled music scholars for decades.”

To investigate this paradox, scholars have taken many different approaches. One method is simple: by asking people how different music makes them feel. In their 2012 study, Vuoskoski and colleagues asked participants to rate their emotional responses to sixteen pieces of music. The team discovered that sad music didn’t evoke only negative emotions. In addition to sadness, such music also produced “a range of more positive, aesthetic emotions,” like nostalgia, peacefulness, and wonder.

Emotions aren’t just psychological; scientists can also measure physiological reactions to music. In 2015, psychologists Patrick N. Juslin, Gonçalo Barradas, and Tuomas Eerola measured “skin conductance levels and facial expressions” as participants listened to a selection of tunes. The team proposed an evolutionary reason behind our strong physical reaction to somber music: The voicelike emotional expression of the music activates an empathetic response called “the contagion mechanism.” That’s why violins and cellos sound especially sad: They resemble human voices.

Of course, music and emotion are both incredibly subjective experiences. “This paradox is a complex one that appears to have no single answer,” write psychologists Sandra Garrido and Emery Schubert . Garrido and Schubert argue that enjoyment of sad music is likely based on individual differences in a combination of emotional and evolved traits like “dissociation, absorption, fantasy proneness, empathy, and rumination.”

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For example: Schubert theorizes that in some individuals, negative emotions in the context of an “aesthetic” experience (like music) trigger a dissociative response that “inhibits the displeasure circuits of the brain.” Therefore, “those with strong tendencies to non-pathologically dissociate [can experience sad music] without activating displeasure.”

So the next time you feel the urge to listen to Sufjan Stevens or Fiona Apple or one of Chopin’s nocturnes, don’t fight it. A little sadness might just bring enormous enjoyment.

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Article Contents

I. getting clear about the nature of the paradox, ii. possible solutions to the paradox, iii. the case for musical moods, iv. mixed moods, v. conclusion.

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Sad Songs Say So Much: The Paradoxical Pleasures of Sad Music: Sizer  Sad Songs Say So Much

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LAURA SIZER, Sad Songs Say So Much: The Paradoxical Pleasures of Sad Music: Sizer  Sad Songs Say So Much , The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism , Volume 77, Issue 3, August 2019, Pages 255–266, https://doi.org/10.1111/jaac.12659

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In this article I revisit the question of why people like to listen to sad music. If music can induce genuine sadness in listeners, why would we deliberately seek out such negative experiences? Drawing from work in both the philosophy and psychology of music, as well as work in the philosophy and science of affect, I argue to shift the focus of the question to music‐induced moods, not emotions. This reframes the debate but does not dissolve the puzzle. To understand what is appealing about the affective experience of listening to sad music, I suggest we take into account the unique features of music‐induced sad mood. I argue that sad mood and a certain sort of focused music listening are mutually reinforcing in ways that differ from other mood/music interactions. Sad mood and sad music are, in a sense, made for each other.

Listening to music can be an intensely moving experience. Many people love music in part because of its power to alter or amplify their moods and turn to music for inspiration, comfort, or therapy. It is a puzzle, then, why many of us spend so much time listening to sad music. If music can influence our moods, and assuming that most people would prefer to be happy, not sad, why choose to listen to sad music? Philosophers have wrestled with this question and similar ones about our taste for tragic, horrifying, or otherwise unpleasant art, leading Jerrold Levinson to call it “one of the hoariest [questions] in aesthetics” ( 1997 , 216). In this article I revisit the question of why we like sad music, drawing from work in both the philosophy and psychology of music as well as work in the philosophy and science of affect. My contributions to this debate are, first, to shift the focus of the question to music‐induced moods, not emotions. This reframes the debate but does not dissolve the paradox. There is still a puzzle about why listeners would listen to music that brings about a sad mood state. In order to understand what is appealing about that particular musical experience I suggest we take into account the unique features of music‐induced sad mood. I argue that sad mood and a certain sort of focused music listening are mutually reinforcing in ways that differ from other mood/music interactions. Sad mood and sad music are, in a sense, made for each other.

The paradox about why we like to listen to sad music is an instance of a more general puzzle about why we like any art that deals with negative or unpleasant themes. It also gets tangled up in questions about how we come to perceive and appreciate the affective content communicated or expressed by artworks. The version of the paradox I am interested in is about affective experiences : why do we deliberately seek out experiences that induce negative affects in us? In particular, why do many people spend so much time listening to music that induces or amplifies negative affective experiences? 1 Levinson gives this problem the colorful moniker, the “paradox of musical masochism” ( 1997 , 217).

In talking broadly about affective experiences I am deliberately expanding the scope of the problem to consider affective states other than emotions. The debate has tended to focus on musical emotions, but, as I argue, there is a more interesting and productive discussion to be had by thinking about moods. 2

Sad music can induce or amplify sadness in listeners;

Sadness is an unpleasant, negative affective experience;

We strive to reduce or avoid unpleasant, negative experiences; and yet,

Many people frequently and deliberately listen to sad music.

It seems that one is trapped on the horns of a dilemma. If we enjoy the sadness that we claim to feel, then it is not plainly sadness that we are talking of, because sadness is not an enjoyable experience. On the other hand, if the sadness is unpleasant, we would not seek out, as we do, artworks leading us to feel sad. (1994, 307)

Reject the claim that music induces or amplifies sadness in listeners. Perhaps music qua music (that is, divorced from personal associations and memories) cannot induce real sadness in listeners. Perhaps music elicits only a sort of quasi‐sadness, which is not unpleasant.

Reject the idea that the sad affects engendered by music are purely unpleasant or aversive. Perhaps there are pleasurable aspects to the sadness, or the sadness is mixed with other more positive affects. Or perhaps listening to sad music brings about other pleasant or positive effects or outcomes that makes the negative experience worthwhile.

In what follows I proceed by first rejecting option (1) and demonstrating that music can induce or amplify real sad moods in listeners. While the sad moods elicited by music are perhaps more unalloyed versions of “everyday” moods in being abstracted from specific cares and consequences, they are not different in kind.

I then go on to discuss the role of affect in music listening more broadly and take up option (2), arguing that the affective experiences brought about by music listening have both positive and negative features. I show that all (good) music listening involves some moments of pleasure. Listening to sad music, therefore, is not purely unpleasant. While this helps explain why listening to music in general is pleasurable, it does not yet explain what might be particularly attractive about the experience of listening to sad music—why sad music seems to have a special hold on some. To address this, I turn to the nature of sad mood itself and argue that sad moods and sad music are a particularly potent and self‐reinforcing combination. In other words, the pleasures of sad music are, in part, because of, not in spite of, its capacity to elicit sad mood.

Earlier versions of the debate tended to focus on whether music can induce emotions . Philosophers such as Eduard Hanslick ( 1986 ), Peter Kivy ( 1990 , 2002 ), and Stephen Davies ( 1994 ) have argued strenuously that music cannot induce what Kivy refers to as the “garden variety emotions.” While I think that these arguments are based on a problematic theory of emotions and are therefore not successful (see Robinson 2005 for a thorough discussion of this), a more fruitful strategy is to refocus the debate on moods. In this section I argue that we should talk about musical moods, not emotions. Then I go on to argue that music can induce or amplify our moods .

III.A. From Musical Emotions to Musical Moods

Only on the basis of a number of ideas and judgments (perhaps unconsciously at moments of strong feeling) can our state of mind congeal into this or that specific feeling. … [W]ithout this cognitive apparatus, we cannot call the actual feeling “hope” or “melancholy”; … If we take this away, all that remains is an unspecific stirring, perhaps the awareness of a general state of well‐being or distress. (1986, 9)

Kivy ( 1990 , 2002 ) picks up and expands the argument by saying that music lacks the “logical machinery” to give rise to the specific beliefs, desires, and other propositional attitudes viewed as necessary for generating emotions in listeners. Furthermore, Kivy argues, music cannot provide an appropriate intentional object for emotions. I am always angry at or sad about something in particular; but music cannot furnish us with such objects. Therefore, Kivy concludes, music cannot induce the “garden variety” emotions in listeners. 3

There are well‐rehearsed good reasons to reject the cognitive theory of emotions as an adequate theory of emotions in general (see, for example, Griffiths 1989 ). Other philosophers have used other, more biopsychological, theories of emotion to argue for the possibility of music‐induced affect (Robinson 2005 , for example). These theories of emotion allow that emotions can be induced fairly automatically and without the involvement of specific cognitive states. However, while I agree that these are more successful theories of emotion, I think that the debate over affective responses to music is better framed in terms of moods, not emotions. Moods better capture our affective experiences of music.

The primary function of emotion is to modulate or bias action. … The primary function of moods, on the other hand, is to modulate or bias cognition. Mood serves as a primary mechanism for altering information‐processing priorities and for shifting modes of information processing. (1994, 52)

In other words, as I have argued elsewhere, moods influence “ how we think, not what we think” (Sizer 2000 , 754). A sad mood, therefore, is a diffuse, objectless affective state that subtly modulates our thoughts, but not toward a particular topic or subject matter and not inspiring us to take a particular course of action.

Moods are nonetheless reflective of and responsive to the subject's overall state of well‐being (Morris 1992 ; Prinz 2004 ; Sizer 2000 ; Thayer 1989 ). Edith Jacobson ( 1957 ) described moods as “barometers of the ego.” Prinz argues that moods, like emotions, involve what he calls “embodied appraisals.” An embodied appraisal registers patterns of bodily changes, both conscious and unconscious, that “represent an organism‐environment relation that bears on well‐being” (Prinz 2004 , 77). These appraisals are patterns of physiological change that “convey how we are faring in the world” (78). 4 Different patterns of bodily change come to reflect and be associated with typical general eliciting situations: having what one needs and desires (happy mood) or a loss (sad mood). In this way the embodied appraisals of our moods represent general states of well‐being.

These features of mood have led several philosophers to conclude that when talking about affective responses to music, we should focus on moods, not emotions. Noel Carroll ( 2003 ) proposes that shifting to consider musical moods allows us to better capture the ways that music listening is deeply affecting without running into the problems with musical emotions. Colin Radford proclaims himself more of a “moodist” than an “emotivist” in response to Kivy's arguments (1991, 250). And Jenefer Robinson points to the objectless quality of moods along with their detachment from specific goals and actions as reasons to cast affective responses to music in terms of moods, not emotions (2005).

By shifting from emotions to moods I sidestep some (but not all, as I discuss below) of the prior debate on whether music can induce real “garden variety” affects. 5 However, the shift to mood does not avoid the pull of the paradox. Sad moods are thought to be negative, unpleasant experiences. Therefore, we can still ask why someone would listen to music that can bring about that sort of affective experience.

III.B. How Music Can Induce Moods

In his later work Kivy extends his arguments against musically‐induced emotions to moods. In response to Carroll's ( 2003 ) proposal, Kivy wrote, “the prima facie evidence for absolute music's actually arousing or engendering moods in musical listeners [is] at best very thin. … Moods are in the music, not the man” (Kivy 2006 , 275).

Kivy's principal criticisms here are, first, that there is not sufficient evidence establishing a mechanism by which music could induce moods. In particular, Kivy argues that while music might stir up some vague feelings, “there is no evidence absolute music has specific magic bullets for specific mood arousals” (276). Second, he argues that, to the extent that music could arouse moods, it must be because listeners are engaging in some “mind wandering” that takes them away from the music itself and brings in personal associations and memories that are responsible for the mood change. His worry is that it is not, then, the music qua music that brings about a change in mood.

Sad music can give rise to a real and specific sad mood, not a vague inchoate feeling or quasi‐mood.

It does so in virtue of musical properties of the music, not personal memories or associations. This makes sure that we are addressing the question of why it is sad music that people enjoy, not simply an occasion or prompt for personal reflection.

While one can always quibble over what counts as sufficient evidence, and these questions remain areas of active research on the empirical side, a strong claim can be made that sad music can induce or enhance sad moods. There appear to be multiple mechanisms or pathways by which music can influence affect. These range from fast, automatic, and cognitively impenetrable processes to more reflective and consciously elaborate ones (Bharucha et al. 2006 ; Juslin and Västfjäll 2008 ; Robinson 2013 ). In the next section I review the evidence and show how Kivy's conditions can be met.

III.C. Behavioral and Physiological Evidence

A number of philosophers have suggested that music listening creates an urge to move and that this is one way that music induces affect (see Davies 1994 ; Carroll 2003 ). We sway in time to music, tap our feet, and so on. Indeed, before the creation of that peculiar Western music tradition, the concert hall, which expects music listeners to sit still while they listen to music, music and movement were regularly linked.

Metaphors of movement and gesture certainly make their way into how we talk about music. As Robinson notes, “music can sigh and wail; it can freeze or frolic. It can creep menacingly or stride angrily. It can also mirror autonomic changes, as when an agitated or irregular rhythm mimics an agitated heart or irregular breathing” (Robinson 2005 , 311). Aaron Ridley argues that affect‐expressive music includes “melismas” or “melismatic gestures” that mimic human gestures and movements. We sympathetically mirror the gestures in our own bodies, triggering an affective response (Ridley 1995 ). Davies has likewise described a “musical contagion” or “mirroring response” to music ( 1994 , 2013 ). 6

Robinson's claim is that music does more than resemble affective expression and action; it actually elicits bodily and brain changes that are similar to those associated with affective responses. These can be achieved by creating physiological changes in the listener unmediated by cognition or conscious attention. She labels this the “Jazzercise effect” ( 2005 ).

Robinson cites significant empirical support for this claim. For example, psychologist Carol Krumhansl and her collaborators found that listening to music induced a suite of physiological changes in listeners that are similar to the physiological changes associated with different affective states. Krumhansl ( 1997 ) found that “happy,” “fearful,” and “sad” music brought about distinct patterns of changes in heart and breathing rate, skin temperature, galvanic skin responses, and blood pressure. These changes were dynamic and cued to affectively salient moments in the musical pieces. In particular, sad music brought about relatively slower heart rates, slight elevation in blood pressure, decreased skin conductance, and decreased finger temperature. 7 Krumhansl notes that while some aspects of these patterns of physiological change matched the physiological changes associated with full expressions of those emotions found in other studies (Ekman 1992 , for example), in other respects they did not match. A study by Nyklicek et al. ( 1997 ) met with better results, finding that patterns of physiological change caused by sad music listening did mirror those of sad mood.

Discriminating between basic emotions or moods on the basis of physiology alone has been met with mixed results across multiple different induction methods, however. Better results are found when facial expression is included in the analysis. Witvliet and Vrana ( 2007 ) found that while listening to affectively valenced music, listeners made minute alterations in their facial expressions, consistent with the affects expressed in the music. In addition to the physiological changes described above, they found that sad music induced greater activity in the corrugator muscles—the muscles used for frowning. Subjects are not necessarily aware of these micro‐expressive changes, but they can be measured with facial electromyography. The facial expression results are particularly interesting as other research has established that facial expressions, including unconscious micro‐expressions, are particularly powerful means of influencing and inducing affect (Ekman et al. 1983 ; Strack et al. 1988 ).

Another study found that listeners also unconsciously mimic the vocal expression of music. Using fMRI, Stefan Koelsch et al. ( 2006 ) found that while listening to music, those areas of the brain related to the formation of premotor representations for vocal sound production became active. In other words, even though participants were not actually singing, some areas of their brains were, so to speak, going through those motions.

III.D. Neuroscientific Evidence

If we peer inside the brain, we see more evidence that processes associated with both motion and affect are engaged by music listening, including the early processing of features of musical structure such as meter, rhythm, and contour. This suggests not only that music engages affect, but also that these affective responses are vital parts of how we hear and understand both musical structure and meaning.

Daniel Levitin ( 2006 ) has found that the cerebellum, a brain structure associated with functions such as timing, gait, and other feats of coordinated motion, is active during music listening. The cerebellum, Levitin argues, is crucial for perceiving and understanding rhythm in music. It also projects to areas of the brain involved in affect, including the amygdala, frontal lobe, and nucleus accumbens.

Many of the brain systems involved in affect processing are also engaged during music processing, such as limbic system structures of the amygdala, hippocampus, and cingulate cortex (Blood et al. 1999 ; Juslin and Västfjäll 2008 ; Peretz 2001 ; Trost and Vuilleumier 2013 ). Brain regions associated with music and affect processing are located throughout the brain and overlap and interact. Music processing in the brain involves ongoing feedback loops between brain areas associated with musical structure, affect, and motion (Bharucha et al. 2006 ).

One of the most influential theories about affective responses to music has been Leonard Meyer's ( 1956 ) theory of musical expectancy. This claims that even untrained listeners come to music with a set of expectations—about typical chord progressions or how a passage of music tends to resolve within a particular musical style or genre. These do not require special training; they are acquired simply through experiences listening to music. Listeners are therefore very sensitive to the ways that music can violate, delay, or confirm their expectations about how the music will go, and these violations, delays, and confirmations can elicit affective responses. A violation of expectations can elicit surprise, bewilderment, and tension, which then gets dissipated or released pleasantly when the music resolves. Listeners tend to like music that contains some surprises and puzzles—is not too predictable—but also resolves those puzzles, leaving the listener with the sense that the mystery is resolved.

Psychologist David Huron ( 2006 ) has recently revived Meyer's theory and found evidence that the brain engages in the automatic generation of expectation, reaction to violation, and reaction to confirmation while listening to music and that each of these is accompanied by affective states of tension, release, and, as he calls it, “sweet anticipation,” making music listening a process that is both driven by and saturated with affect. These automatic micro‐affects caused by anticipation, violation, and resolution of expectations use the same brain areas implicated in positive and negative affective experiences and are part of how we attend to and process both the structural and macro‐properties of the music. These affects contribute to our experience of the music as sounding overall happy or sad, but they are not necessarily fully conscious to us; they unfold very rapidly (in concert with the music) and simply become part of our experience of the music. 8

III.E. Cognitive Evidence

Evidence that music can influence affect also comes from psychology studies on the patterns of biases in judgment, attention, memory, and other cognitive systems associated with different moods. Indeed, this area of research assumes that music can induce particular moods. Psychologists studying affect often rely on the Musical Mood Induction Procedure (MMIP) to induce the desired affective state in subjects participating in an experiment. The MMIP, as the name suggests, uses short pieces of usually instrumental music to induce positive, negative, or neutral affective states in subjects before asking them to perform a task. The MMIP is considered to be one of the most effective methods of mood induction and, because the MMIP usually involves purely instrumental music, it avoids unwanted semantic or cognitive priming that may arise from other mood induction procedures (Västfjäll 2001 ). The use and apparent success of the MMIP is predicated on the idea that happy music can induce positive affects, and sad music can induce negative affects, and so on.

This research has found that positive/happy and negative/sad moods bias cognition in distinctive ways. Happy moods are correlated with more wide‐ranging, creative thinking, more far‐flung associations, greater use of heuristic and stereotype reasoning, and greater ease in recalling positively valenced concepts and memories. Sad moods are associated with more narrowly and inwardly focused attention, more detail‐oriented and specific reasoning, and greater ease in recalling negatively valenced concepts and memories. 9 This research provides more detail to Davidson's claim that moods are generally associated with modulations in cognitive and information processing styles and not with particular thoughts or action tendencies.

III.F. The Multiple Musical Mechanisms for Mood

The micro‐affects generated by the music's playing with our expectations is one layer of our affective response to music. As Robinson ( 2005 , 2013 ) points out, they help us understand what the music is conveying, but they do not determine the entirety of our conscious experience of the music. There are multiple mechanisms and layers of affective appraisal involved. We can reflect on and react to the dynamic unfolding of micro‐affects in a variety of ways, pulling from our knowledge (or lack thereof) of the particular piece, reflecting on the narrative flow of the piece as a whole. We can choose to attend more to certain structural properties of a piece (listening for a theme to be picked up and repeated by different instruments, say) or focus on the affective content (the way the piece moves back and forth between sadness and longing). Likewise, Juslin and Västfjäll ( 2008 ) underscore that these multiple mechanisms might be activated simultaneously at different levels or may feed back and feed forward to each other. Our conscious experience of the music is a result of the interplay of these different mechanisms and levels of appraisal.

Pulling together the different kinds of evidence one can see that there are multiple pathways by which music can influence or induce moods in listeners. While all music listening engages a mix of affective responses at multiple levels of activation and analysis, it can generate distinguishable physiological, neurological, and cognitive profiles for different moods, with the differences between happy and sad moods being the most robust and prominent. Furthermore, the affective responses to music are closely linked to intrinsic, structural features of the music itself. Indeed, the initial processing of musical structure, rhythm, and tempo seem to necessarily and automatically involve affect. Affective processing helps us hear and integrate these features of the music. Processing of larger scale structures and musical meaning also involve the sorts of embodied appraisals associated with moods.

III.G. When We Remain Unmoved

One possible counterargument to the claim that music can induce affect is to point to those times when it fails to do so. If music can quickly and automatically induce or amplify affects in us, then why are we not always and instantly saddened or gladdened by sad or happy music? But merely being in the presence of sad or happy music will not automatically bring about mood congruent changes that the listener consciously feels. We are not Frankenstein's monster, in thrall to the music.

To be saddened by sad music, we must first of all be attending to the music and be open to it. But even then a listener's overall affective state may not mirror that expressed by the music. As Robinson and others point out, our conscious experience of a piece of music is a result of the interplay of a number of affective and cognitive factors. The paradox of sad music arises for those cases when listeners are saddened by sad music. The fact that there are cases where listeners are not saddened (or only mildly saddened) or the fact that sadness is not an inevitable consequence of being exposed to sad music is beside the point.

Indeed, some cases where a listener's mood fails to mirror the affective content of a piece can serve to strengthen the argument that music can affect us. Listening to music that does not “match” your mood can sometimes be an irritating experience. Consider the last time you were in a sad or irritable mood and found yourself in the presence of upbeat, cheerful music; in my experience holiday shopping reliably brings about this set of circumstances. While you might, through careful attention to the music, find your mood momentarily lifted, it is more likely that you will feel increased irritation. 10

I suggest that what one experiences here is what I call “affective dissonance.” As I noted above, listening to music and being in a particular mood state are both fully body and brain activities. To be sad is to be thinking, moving, and breathing in certain ways. Happy music plays upon our body and brain in ways that jostle and irritate our current set, however slightly; we are in the grips of opposing forces and this feels uncomfortable. The cases where we are irritated by happy music can be partly explained by and underscore the descriptions of music listening as involving affective and motion processing systems of the brain and body.

If one is happy, however, sad music feels like a drag, a downer. Perhaps it is slightly easier to bear, though, because one is happy. Perhaps the happy person is less drawn into the music and the feelings in his or her own body—a point I elaborate on later. So, while sad music can make the listener feel sad, and happy music can make the listener feel happy, it does not do so necessarily. One must be attending to and listening to the music and be open to the affective content expressed by the music.

This means that the manner and degree to which each person is moved by the music can differ. While affective processing is involved at the earliest stages of music processing, someone who is engaged in Kivy's “canonical listening”—listening focused on aspects of musical structure and form—may not feel that they are being affectively moved. Aspects of their affective response might be dampened and not amplified through attention, whereas other responses (an emotion of awe at the beauty of the artwork, as Kivy allows) might be heightened. How and whether we attend to music, and the features we choose to focus on, will influence our felt experience. 11

I conclude that Kivy's two criteria for musical mood induction have been met. The affects that are induced by music listening are not vague undifferentiated feelings or “unspecified stirrings”; they are specific and identifiable mood states. Most relevant to our inquiry, it is clear that music can induce sadness in a way that is distinct and distinguishable from other moods. Too, when music influences mood, it does so in virtue of formal musical properties of the music itself. A listener may, of course, bring in personal associations and memories, but these are not necessary to induce mood. To paraphrase Kivy, sad music can induce sad moods in virtue of the music's being sad.

Now I turn to the second strategy for resisting the paradox: rejecting the claim that the sad moods caused by music are purely negative or unpleasant. I argue that sad music induces a dynamic mix of affects that have positive and negative qualities to them. In so doing I will have to return to the question of whether these are, then, real sad moods. If it is not an entirely unpleasant experience, is it real sadness?

If Meyer and Huron are correct, then all music listening (at least, to music we find sufficiently engaging) gives rise to patterns of tension, anticipation, and the pleasures of “sweet release.” This explains why listening to good music is pleasurable; it does not explain why sad music is pleasurable or appealing. 12 After all, if all good music gives rise to these moments of pleasure, why not listen to good happy music?

We still need to understand why, if sad music induces sad mood, this is nonetheless an appealing or pleasurable experience. Here is where some version of the second approach is more fruitful. Sad music can induce or enhance sadness in listeners, but the experience is not wholly negative. Indeed, it can be uniquely positive and comforting.

IV.A. The Particular Pleasures of Musical Sadness

Some previously offered explanations for the pleasures of sad music point to various moral or psychological benefits that can accrue to the listener from the experience. Enduring the sad, negative feelings caused by sad music can be cathartic (Aristotle 2013 ), give one a sense of control (Eaton 1982 ), or be an avenue for exploring and understanding the human condition (Davies 1994 ). All of these are interesting suggestions, and some may contribute to making music‐induced sad mood a net positive experience. I do not think they adequately capture the experiences of listening to sad music, however. They all point to goals or outcomes that are a result of enduring the negative experience of music‐induced sad mood. But they do not say anything about why that experience might be pleasurable or attractive. Many people find that the experience of listening to sad music is not something to simply endure in order to get to a good outcome; the experience itself as it unfolds is attractive or positive. This is what we need to understand.

Levinson ( 1997 ) suggests that the sadness induced by music is more pure or unencumbered than the sadness we experience in response to everyday events. He argues that sad music, and other forms of sad or negative art, allows us to experience and explore negative affects uncoupled from real world consequences. We experience sadness, but a sadness divorced from our everyday cares and concerns. We are free to get swept up in the sadness without the anxieties of having to solve a problem or live with a loss.

This is supported by work psychologist Thalia Goldstein ( 2009 ) did looking at how subjects respond to real sad stories versus fictional ones. Narrative artforms (films and stories) can mirror real life events in many more ways than can music. And yet, Goldstein found that subjects responded to fictional sad stories differently than real ones. Subjects reported similar levels of sadness when watching sad films and recalling sad events from their own lives, but in the latter case their sadness was conjoined with anxiety—even when recalling sad events that were long past, such as the loss of a parent or a difficult divorce. Like Levinson, she argues that when we read sad stories or watch sad films we are able to experience what she calls “pure sadness”—sadness without the anxiety that usually attends unhappy events in our own lives.

Furthermore, when one is consuming a tragic story or film one approaches the task with a different attitude than one would take to, say, reading a newspaper story. Rolf Zwaan ( 1994 ) argues that consumers of fictions mute the appraisal system that demands that we ask skeptical questions and integrate the information with other facts. When our information gathering and fact checking approaches are dialed down, we are free to engage with and respond to the story and characters. When we approach stories in this way, Zwaan argues, we pay more attention to the structure and form, the “surface structure of the text” itself, and not just the information it delivers (1994, 922).

Sad and tragic artworks invite the consumer to experience affects that are decoupled from the messy complexities of everyday life. We are free to be drawn into the artwork and engage with its formal aesthetic properties and to experience a pure, unalloyed form of sadness—sadness with all the aching melancholy of everyday sadness but divorced from its anxieties and complexities.

A skeptic might object that the fact that musical sadness differs in this way from everyday sadness is a reason to think of it as mere quasi ‐sadness, not real sadness. In response, let us begin by recalling what the “mere quasi ‐sadness” move is supposed to accomplish. It was proffered as a way to resolve the paradox, but only insofar as quasi‐sadness differs from real sadness in being a not‐unpleasant experience. But the arguments and evidence just reviewed supports the claim that the sad mood brought on by music listening is unpleasant in many of the ways that real sadness is unpleasant. It feels like sadness; it aches and hurts like sadness. So, calling this quasi‐sadness would not dissolve the paradox.

The artistic context of appreciation might strip the emotional response of some of its aspects—desires and the need to act on them, the vitality of the feeling tone of the experience, and so on—but it cannot remove altogether the unpleasantness that is in part constitutive of negative emotions. (1997, 244–245)

There are other reasons for thinking of musical sadness as real sadness, not quasi‐sadness. The moods generated by music share the same physiological and brain mechanisms as everyday moods (Juslin and Västfjäll 2008 ). Too, the mood congruent cognitive biases brought on by music listening (as with the MMIP) are similar to those brought on by other mood induction procedures. Here again the difference lies not in the sadness itself but what it is usually conjoined with in everyday situations. Everyday sadness—sadness caused by perceptions of real loss or failure—is usually mixed with other affects such as fear or anxiety. This is consistent with what psychologists using the MMIP have found: MMIP influences subjects’ sadness and despondency scores, but not their anxiety scores (Västfjäll 2001 , 185). This supports the point made by Levinson, Davies, and others: music can bring on a real (not quasi‐) sad mood. It differs from our everyday experiences of sadness only in not being mixed with other affects such as anxiety.

The suggestion so far is that the unalloyed sadness brought on by listening to music allows the listener to stay with and attend to the music and get caught up in both its structure and meaning. This leads to the play of micro‐affects described by Meyer and Huron that attend the processing of musical expectations and consummations. This account so far gives an explanation of why the sad mood generated by music does not interfere in enjoyment; we are not motivated to respond to real‐world concerns and instead are free to engage with and respond to the music itself. We still do not have an explanation for why sad music is particularly enjoyable for some people. For this I turn to the nature of sad mood.

IV.B. Sad Moods and Sad Music: A Powerful Feedback Loop

My central claim is that the cognitive and attentional biases associated with sad mood actually encourage and reinforce the sort of focused attention on the music that allows us to engage with it fully. Sad moods, as compared to happy or neutral moods, are associated with a narrowing of attention, a turn inward with a greater focus on the self and one's feelings as opposed to events in the outside environment (Wood et al. 1990 ). Sad moods also promote an increase in more detail‐oriented, analytic thinking as opposed to more wide‐ranging heuristic thinking (Isen and Daubman 1984 ; Schwarz and Bless 1991 ). Sad moods, therefore, encourage and promote the sort of focused music listening that enhances the listener's engagement with and experience of the music. Sad mood and sad music listening, therefore, are mutually reinforcing. Sad music enhances the very processes and behaviors that keep one wrapped up in and engaged with the music itself.

This, I argue, is unique to the sad mood/sad music relationship. Insofar as happy music induces a happy mood, it encourages the listener to move, to explore, and to reach out and make connections with others. One's attention is expanded, and thought processes are more likely to move away from the music itself or one's experience of it, to envelop outside events and other people. This does not mean that one cannot stay engaged with and listen closely to happy music or that happy music resists more formal analysis or attention. Our affective responses to music do not dictate all of the elements of our engagement with it. We can choose to attend to the music (or not) in many different ways.

The mood responses to music exert a subtle pull on how we continue to engage with and hear the music. A happy mood brought on by listening to happy music has a tendency to nudge our attention away from the intricacies of the music; perhaps the up‐tempo or expansive, soaring qualities of the music encourage the listeners to move, dance, get “out of their heads” and into the world. But sad moods can pull us in and keep us wrapped up in the music itself and the beautiful unalloyed sadness it conveys. Sad music and sad mood can engage a unique feedback process. This helps explain the findings that people who report the most intense affective responses to sad music also report liking it the most (Vuoskoski et al. 2012 ). 13

There is some interesting neuroendocrine activity that adds another layer to this feedback hypothesis. Huron argues that for some people (people who particularly like sad music), listening to sad music brings about increases in levels of prolactin. Prolactin is a hormone that is released, most notably, during lactation (as the name suggests) but is produced in both males and females after sex and at lower levels during grief, stress, and also during empathetic sadness. 14 Prolactin is present in tears, but only during “psychic crying”—crying due to psychological, not physical, distress. Prolactin produces feelings of calm, tranquility, well‐being, and consolation (Gračanin et al. 2014 ). Prolactin's release during these events is thought to play a homeostatic function similar to the release of endorphins to physical pain—a mechanism to regulate and return the self to equilibrium.

Huron suggests that the sad moods caused by listening to sad music can trick the body into a homeostatic response—releasing prolactin as a way of moving toward consolation and well‐being. Therefore, feeling sad while listening to sad music can induce feelings of consolation and relaxation that are comforting. This is consistent with people's reports that they listen to sad music for comfort or consolation (Hanser et al. 2016 ).

The arguments and evidence suggest that sad music is simultaneously saddening and comforting. It allows the listener to experience a pure, unalloyed sadness that modulates the processing styles of the listener in ways that keep attention engaged with the formal and structural properties of the music itself. It also engages mood repair mechanisms that help listeners feel comforted and consoled, encouraging them to stay with and within the music. The engagement of mood repair mechanisms that bring on feelings of comfort and consolation seem to be unique to the sad mood/sad music relationship.

I have argued that sad music is uniquely pleasurably affecting in a number of ways. Sad music that plays with our anticipations and relief in the ways that Meyer and Huron described is pleasurable. The sort of sadness we can experience while listening to it is unalloyed in the sense that it is divorced from the stress and anxieties that attend real world negative events. And yet it is sufficient to engage the homeostatic mechanisms that work to make us feel consolation and tranquility. The sad mood brought on or enhanced by listening to sad music also tends to keep us focused on and engaged with the music itself. This is the sense in which sad music and sad mood are made for each other. They engage feedback loops that reinforce each other. We can be drawn into the music and kept there by our moods, which further enhances our engagement with the music. Listening to sad music therefore is a uniquely rich, affectively complex, and comforting experience. 15

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People differ in their liking for sad music; some people particularly like or are drawn to sad music. See Huron ( 2011 ), Garrido and Schubert ( 2011 ), and Vuoskoski et al. ( 2012 ).

Throughout the article I use the term ‘affect’ to refer to feeling states broadly or to be neutral between something being an emotion or a mood. Throughout the literatures I am drawing from, a distinction between emotion and mood is not always maintained or consistently applied. In the psychological literature, for instance, the term ‘emotion’ is often used fairly broadly and does not necessarily imply a state that involves conscious reflection, cognition, or appraisal.

Kivy ( 1990 , 2002 ) does think that music can move us to feelings of awe, but these are reactions to the beauty or positive aesthetic properties of the piece and are not related to the affects expressed in the piece.

By using the term ‘appraisal’ Prinz does not imply that deliberate judgment or elaborate cognition is required. Embodied appraisals are fast, automatic, and relatively cognitively impenetrable. See Robinson's (2013) application of this construct to musical affects.

Some of the philosophers who argue against the claim that music can cause everyday emotions might be willing to agree that music can cause everyday moods but maintain that these cannot capture the affect expressive character of music (see Davies 1994 , for example). Since I am interested in musical affect experience , not musical affect expressiveness , I do not take up these issues.

Kivy ( 1990 ) has also argued that music can resemble human gestures, utterances, and movements, what he calls the “contours” of human emotion expression. This, for him, is part of how music can express emotions. But he does not allow that music qua music can induce emotional responses in listeners.

For example, excerpts from Barber's Adagio for Strings and Albinoni's Adagio in G minor for Strings and Orchestra .

This is why we can listen to the same piece of music repeatedly and experience the same patterns of affective response. The generation of these expectations and affective reactions are automatic and not available to conscious control.

See Isen ( 1984 ) for overview.

Here, the quality of the musical work and performance makes a difference. Muzak renditions of holiday classics are unlikely to stir up anything but irritability. However, some pieces of music it seems cannot fail to influence my mood if I attend to them and allow myself to be taken up by them.

I made a similar point in Sizer ( 2007 ).

‘Good’ here could be cashed out as being sufficiently complex to be interesting but not so complex as to be confusing and hard to understand.

Vuoskoski et al. ( 2012 ) found that listeners who scored high in personality traits of openness and empathy tended to have the strongest affective responses to and liking for sad music.

Sadness experienced while watching a sad movie, for example.

Thanks to the Five College Philosophy of Art Reading Group and the audience at the Canadian Philosophical Association Meeting for helpful responses to earlier versions of this article. And, of course, thanks to Elton John.

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What Makes a Song Sad

Where does sad music get its sadness from? And whom should you ask—a composer or a cognitive psychologist?

Scientific American recently reported on a Tufts University study that purportedly lends experimental reinforcement to the widely accepted, albeit vague, notion that the interval of a minor third (two pitches separated by one full tone and one semi-tone) conveys sadness, in speech as in song.

From the Scientific American article, by Ferris Jabr:

Almost everyone thinks "Greensleeves" is a sad song—but why? Apart from the melancholy lyrics, it's because the melody prominently features a musical construct called the minor third, which musicians have used to express sadness since at least the 17th century. The minor third's emotional sway is closely related to the popular idea that, at least for Western music, songs written in a major key (like "Happy Birthday") are generally upbeat, while those in a minor key (think of The Beatles' "Eleanor Rigby") tend towards the doleful.

While there might be a loose correlation—reinforced by our particular musical tradition—between minor scales and "sadness," it's a mistake to think that the moods evoked by music can be confidently reduced to tonality in and of itself. Indeed, those recalcitrant minor key songs that defy generalization about the link between tonality and mood may tell us something more important about music than the ones that conform.

Don't forget: The main reason "Happy Birthday" sounds "upbeat" and "Eleanor Rigby" sounds "doleful" is that their composers intended that they should. And because that's what their composers obviously intended, that's the way the songs are typically performed. But there's much more than tonality that goes into evoking those moods.

Take "Eleanor Rigby." It's actually a very bad example of the idea that minor key tonality is inherently sad. The best evidence for that view would be minor key songs that are stubbornly, ineffably sad despite other song elements—lyrics, arrangements, tempo, etc.—that are emotionally neutral or positive. The worst kind of song to adduce in support of minor key determinism is one in which any sadness intrinsic to the melody gets a lot of "help" from the other parts of the song. And "Eleanor Rigby," remember, was considered a breakthrough for the Beatles precisely because it was one of their first songs of this kind, one that combined song elements in mutually reinforcing ways to create a unified artistic whole.

The dank pall enshrouding the Beatles' original recording of the song depends on a musical context broader than simply its chord progression and melody: Bleakly atmospheric story-song lyrics, obviously, and more subtly, George Martin's production, especially the chilly, staccato strings, implacably clocking the flight of time with their tick-tocking rhythms.

Still think the song's emotional valence is largely reducible to its minor tonality? Try a thought experiment. Don't change a pitch in the song's melody—but imagine it performed by a good-timey band, say Madness or the Specials: Speed up the tempo, put a ska beat under it (amazing how this change alone can transform the vibe), add steel drums, lots of horns. Substitute some lyrics that convey an un-self-conscious, slightly libidinal joie de vivre . Have a chorus of exuberant male voices sing them in unison. I tried something like this. My substitute lyrics were too embarrassing to include here, but they proved their experimental worth: The reductive view that in music the minor third is inherently sad doesn't pass the Ska Rigby Test.

It doesn't look like the interval is inherently sad in speech either. I raised the question with Gideon Rosen, a Princeton philosophy professor (and the unofficial musical director of a band I once sang in called the Mystery Dates.) As he pointed out, "The schoolyard taunt—Nah, nah na-nah, nah—begins and ends with a minor third ... but it's not sad: it's sort of hostile."

Gideon's schoolyard speech example suggests another from music, the similar melody (probably no accident) from the chorus of a famous Queen anthem: "No time for losers/Cause we are the champions ... of the world." I count 3 minor thirds here: We are/champions/of the.

"Sad?" Hardly. Try "exultantly, boastfully jeering." Another example just occurred to me as I sat strumming: Jonathan Richman's "Egyptian Reggae." Inspired by an earlier reggae song, this simple instrumental novelty is plain funny, and part of its humor seems to spring from the exotic, vaguely "Egyptian" associations its minor key melody mysteriously evokes in Western listeners. (It's even funnier if you suspect, as I do, that the source of the melody's "Middle Eastern" redolence lies in its resemblance to a ditty called "The Streets of Cairo, or the Poor Little Country Maid"—sometimes known as "The Snake Charmer Song"—composed by American entertainment impresario Sol Bloom for the popular Egyptian attraction at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893.)

And then there's the interesting, equivocal case of Rodgers and Hammerstein's "My Favorite Things." If this minor key standard exuded a dominant sadness despite the feelgood self-talk of its lyrics, it would be powerful evidence for minor determinism. But most would agree that the song is, instead, on its surface at least, almost therapeutic in its inventory of heart-gladdening pleasures like crisp apple strudel and schnitzel with noodles. (Maria has so many favorite things she has the luxury of cherry-picking ones that rhyme to sing about.) At the same time, there is a hint of melancholy shadowing the song's overtly happy face. But that shadow probably derives at least as much from Oscar Hammerstein's words as from melody and harmony. For me at least, it emanates from the lyrics' catalogue of wintry comforts like "bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens," which evoke a particular range of snug feelings that presuppose vulnerability—a sheltering, fortifying happiness salvaged from an enveloping Alpine harshness.

The shakiness of the reductive position might be more immediately apparent to anyone with even a spotty exposure (like mine) to Jewish religious music and its folk cousin, klezmer. Despite its characteristic minor tonality, this music encompasses a vast range of human emotion. How could it not? It has to cover everything from prayers for the dead to adoration of the deity.

The clinching example of minor-key mirth-compatibility just might be that jolt of delirious energy familiar to anyone who's attended a Jewish wedding ... or a baseball game: "Hava Nagila"—a Prozac sundae, ethnic folk music's answer to the umbrella drink.

Other good examples, anyone? We can compile and post here the definitive, crowd-sourced list. Better yet, if there are any musicians out there with too much time on their hands, I invite you to perform your own "Eleanor Rigby" tests: Keep the melody—alter anything else (lyrics, tempo, orchestration) at will to produce a non-sad result. Polka and zydeco settings seem especially promising to me. Email us your musical rebuttals, and we'll upload them here.

The complementary principle in tonal determinism—major key songs are "upbeat"—seems even flimsier than its minor key counterpart. Two extremely sad major key songs immediately occur to me—Charlie Rich's abject confession of failure and despair, "Feel Like Going Home," and "Boulder to Birmingham," in which a depleted Emmylou Harris seeks relief from her apathy and emotional isolation following the death of Gram Parsons by trying to commune directly with him.

The myriad exceptions to the "sad minor third" rule illustrate a perhaps banal but basic truth about music: It's irreducibly emergent. All its elements act reciprocally, and their infinitely variable interplay produces a correspondingly variable range of emotions. Obviously, if every chord came out of its original factory packaging charged with its own specific, predictable emotional valence, we wouldn't have much need for composers or musicians. Musical composition would be reduced to translation, instead of creation, and pretty much anybody could do it. Literal-minded cognitive psych professors could write music.

In a less reductive intellectual climate it might not need saying, but the emotions evoked by music can't be simply reduced to correlative harmonic or melodic intervals, and sad songs can't be reduced to intrinsically sad building blocks. "Eleanor Rigby" isn't sad because it's constructed of sad chords built from sad intervals—any more than Albert Einstein was a genius because his brain was wired with uniquely smart neurons.

If a cognitive psychologist tries to tell you the minor third interval is intrinsically, universally "sad," it's not true. If, on the other hand, she says that, well, in the right musical setting and cultural context it can help evoke an ultimately elusive range of sad or mysteriously unresolved emotions—then it's not exactly new.

Sad music and depression: does it help?

NHMRC-ARC Dementia Research Development Fellow, Western Sydney University

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Sandra Garrido does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

Western Sydney University provides funding as a member of The Conversation AU.

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Depression and suicide are major concerns in the 21st century. The World Health Organisation estimates that over 800,000 people die by suicide each year, with the 15-29 age group particularly affected .

Interestingly, it is also when we are in our teens and twenties that music seems to play its most important role in our lives. Studies show that adolescents listen to music for approximately two to three hours per day, especially when feeling distressed .

This link between music use and depression in young people has led to music being blamed for the suicide of several youths. For example, in 2007 two teens in Melbourne committed suicide after months of posts on a social media site that documented their fascination with emo music along with their downward trajectory of negative thinking.

For most people, listening to music – even music expressing negative emotions like sadness or anger – can be an effective way to deal with their emotions. Across several studies involving more than 1,000 people, my colleagues and I have found that there are many ways that people can use sad music to help themselves feel better .

Some seem to just really get into the music and enjoy the emotional journey. Others can use the music for catharsis, to feel emotional connection with others, to help them work through feelings of sadness or think about how to overcome difficulties. Sadness is, after all, a healthy emotion to experience in response to sad events in our lives. It motivates us to think carefully about our situations and to make changes to improve our lives.

Depression is different, however. Instead of feeling motivated to make changes, depression tends to cause people to lose motivation. Rather than making them think more clearly, people with depression show diminished cognitive functioning on several domains.

The evidence suggests that people with tendencies to clinical depression also respond to music differently. We conducted experiments in which we asked people to listen to a self-selected piece of music that made them sad and another that made them happy. We then measured their response to the music .

We found that rather than feeling better after listening to sad music, people with high scores in rumination reported feeling more depressed.

Rumination is the tendency to become stuck in patterns of negative thinking and to find it difficult to shake negative thoughts about events or one’s feelings. It usually goes hand-in-hand with depression. Our research shows that when people are ruminators, listening to sad music seems to perpetuate these cycles of negative thinking, often prompting sad memories and negative thoughts.

For example, a person who has had a recent break-up might listen to Adele’s Someone Like You , have a good cry, and then walk away feeling better, focusing on thoughts of moving on and becoming stronger through their experiences.

A person with a tendency to depression, however, might listen to the same song but focus on thoughts of how love never works out for them, or how they will never be able to fall in love with anyone else. Thus, instead of feeling better, their negative thought patterns are only deepened by listening to such a song.

In our study, all participants felt more depressed after listening to the sad song they had nominated.

For a healthy person this feeling is probably no more than a minor blip in their day and may even help them obtain some important psychological benefits along with way. For a person who is already severely, possibly clinically depressed, listening to music that makes you feel worse could be quite dangerous.

On the other hand, when we then asked our participants to listen to a piece of music that they knew made them feel happy, even those with high levels of depression felt much better.

For instance, one participant who suffered from a negative body image and negative self perception found that listening to the song What Makes You Beautiful by One Direction, made her focus on positive aspects of herself.

Why don’t we just listen to happy music when we feel depressed then? Our study showed that even when people reported feeling more depressed after listening to sad music, they still tended to argue that the music had helped them. Other studies too have shown that some people persist in listening to music that is actually making them feel worse .

A lack of understanding about the effect of behaviour on mood is quite common in people with depression. In fact, people tend to argue that they are benefiting from ruminative behaviour in general, despite the strong evidence that it exacerbates depression.

However, our studies have found that some people – especially young people for whom music is so important – may benefit from therapies that help them become more conscious of the effect that music can have.

What this research shows us is that when we feel depressed, we may need to be careful about the music we listen to.

Pharrell Williams might be the last thing we feel like listening to when we are feeling down, but finding music that connects us with happy times in our lives or that emphasises positive messages could be just what we need to renew our energy and help us cope better.

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How to Write a Sad Song That Tugs at the Soul

There’s something about a sad song that just tugs at the soul, isn’t there? A good sad song can make you feel all of the emotions, from heartache to sadness to loneliness. It can be a powerful tool for expressing emotion. We will discuss how to write a sad song that really hits home. We’ll give you some tips and tricks on how to create an emotional ballad that will leave your listeners in tears.

What makes a good sad song

The structure of a sad song, tips for writing lyrics that pack an emotional punch, recording and production tips for capturing the right feeling, marketing your sad song to the right audience, playing live with a sad song.

A good sad song is one that can make you feel the full range of emotions associated with sadness: from the initial pain and disbelief, through to anger and resentment, and finally to acceptance and understanding. The best sad songs are those that capture this emotional journey, offering both comfort and catharsis.

They should also be able to tap into our shared experiences of loss and heartbreak, resonating with listeners on a deep, personal level. In addition, a good sad song should have a strong melodic element , capable of cutting through the noise of everyday life and transport us to a different place entirely.

When all these elements come together, the result is a powerful and unforgettable musical experience.

A sad song doesn’t just make you feel sad – it can also take you on a journey of emotions, from anger and frustration to acceptance and hope. The best sad songs are those that capture the wide range of feelings that come with heartache, and the best way to do this is through the structure of the song.

A typical sad song will follow a three-part structure, beginning with the pain of loss, then moving on to anger and regret, before finally arriving at acceptance. This journey mirrors the process of grieving, which is why sad songs can be so therapeutic. They remind us that we are not alone in our sorrow, and that there is light at the end of the tunnel.

When it comes to writing lyrics, there are a few things you can do to make sure they pack an emotional punch. First, try to evoke specific emotions in your listener. Whether you want them to feel happy, sad, nostalgic, or hopeful, make sure your lyrics reflect that. Second, avoid cliches like the plague.

Emotional lyrics should be original and honest; cliches will only make them seem trite and insincere. Finally, be sure to back up your words with emotion in your performance. The best lyrics in the world won’t mean anything if you don’t deliver them with conviction.

One of the most important aspects of writing a song is capturing the right feeling. Whether you want your track to be energetic and lively or slow and reflective, the way you record and produce it will play a big role in shaping the overall tone. There are a few key things to keep in mind when it comes to recording and production.

First, pay attention to the tempo of your song. A faster tempo can add excitement, while a slower tempo can create a more relaxed and introspective mood.

Secondly, think about the instrumentation you’re using. While acoustic guitars and pianos are often associated with mellower vibes, electric guitars and drum kits can give your song a more upbeat energy.

Finally, consider your vocal performance. A soft and delicate delivery can convey intimacy, while a powerful and emotive vocal will add drama and intensity. By keeping these factors in mind, you can ensure that your song has the right feeling.

If you’re a musician, you know that writing a sad song is easy. What’s hard is marketing that song to the right audience. After all, there’s no point in writing a heart-wrenching ballad about lost love if your target audience is pre-teens who are more interested in upbeat pop songs. So how do you make sure that your sad song reaches the right listeners?

Here are a few tips :

First, take a look at your existing fan base. If most of your fans are teenagers or young adults, they’re likely to be more receptive to a sad song than older listeners. This is because young people are generally more open to new experiences and emotions, and they’re also more likely to relate to the themes of lost love and heartbreak.

Second, consider promoting your sad song through channels that reach a young audience. For example, if you have a music video for the song, post it on YouTube or another video sharing site. You could also promote the song through social media platforms like Twitter or Facebook.

Finally, don’t be afraid to experiment. There’s no harm in trying out different marketing strategies for your sad song. You never know what might work until you give it a shot.

Despite the fact that songs are often written about painful experiences and heartbreak, there is something strangely satisfying about playing them live. Perhaps it is the cathartic release of emotion, or the feeling of solidarity with fellow sad song lovers. Whatever the reason, there is no denying that playing live with a sad song can be a powerful experience.

For many musicians, the opportunity to play live is one of the most cherished aspects of their career. It is a chance to connect with fans on a personal level and to share their music with the world. Playing live also allows musicians to experiment with their sound and try new things.

However, live performances can also be nerve-wracking experiences. There is always the risk of forgetting lyrics, or of making a mistake . Nevertheless, performers often say that the thrill of playing live outweighs any fear or anxiety.

Whether it is belting out a ballad in front of a packed stadium or strumming an acoustic guitar in a small club, playing live with a sad song can be a truly moving experience. It is a chance to connect with others who have experienced similar pain, and to turn that pain into something beautiful.

Writing a sad song is easy, but marketing it to the right audience can be tricky. The key is to identify your target audience and to promote the song through channels that reach them. Playing live with a sad song can also be a powerful experience, so don’t be afraid to experiment. Who knows? You might just create the next great sad song.

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Open Access

Peer-reviewed

Research Article

Memorable Experiences with Sad Music—Reasons, Reactions and Mechanisms of Three Types of Experiences

* E-mail: [email protected]

Affiliations Department of Music, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland, Department of Music, Durham University, Durham, United Kingdom

Affiliation Department of Music, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland

• Tuomas Eerola, 
• Henna-Riikka Peltola

• Published: June 14, 2016
• https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0157444
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Reactions to memorable experiences of sad music were studied by means of a survey administered to a convenience (N = 1577), representative (N = 445), and quota sample (N = 414). The survey explored the reasons, mechanisms, and emotions of such experiences. Memorable experiences linked with sad music typically occurred in relation to extremely familiar music, caused intense and pleasurable experiences, which were accompanied by physiological reactions and positive mood changes in about a third of the participants. A consistent structure of reasons and emotions for these experiences was identified through exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses across the samples. Three types of sadness experiences were established, one that was genuinely negative (Grief-Stricken Sorrow) and two that were positive (Comforting Sorrow and Sweet Sorrow). Each type of emotion exhibited certain individual differences and had distinct profiles in terms of the underlying reasons, mechanisms, and elicited reactions. The prevalence of these broad types of emotional experiences suggested that positive experiences are the most frequent, but negative experiences were not uncommon in any of the samples. The findings have implications for measuring emotions induced by music and fiction in general, and call attention to the non-pleasurable aspects of these experiences.

Citation: Eerola T, Peltola H-R (2016) Memorable Experiences with Sad Music—Reasons, Reactions and Mechanisms of Three Types of Experiences. PLoS ONE 11(6): e0157444. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0157444

Editor: Lutz Jaencke, University of Zurich, SWITZERLAND

Received: March 5, 2016; Accepted: May 31, 2016; Published: June 14, 2016

Copyright: © 2016 Eerola, Peltola. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Data Availability: All files from the three are available from the Harvard dataverse ( http://dx.doi.org/10.7910/DVN/GLSIXB ).

Funding: This work was financially supported by the Academy of Finland Grant 270220 to TE (Surun Suloisuus). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Introduction

The experience of sadness in musical listening is a conundrum that has been pondered by numerous scholars. The phenomenon presents seemingly conflicting emotional experiences: music typically induces a range of positive emotions [ 1 ] but sadness as an emotion is considered in psychology to be negative [ 2 ]. Sadness is an emotion commonly associated with music [ 1 ], in which context it is often paradoxically related to pleasurable experiences [ 3 – 5 ]. Surveys not involving music listening suggest that people link sadness with a wide range of emotions [ 6 – 8 ], including nostalgia, peacefulness, and tenderness, while lab-based listening experiments portray a similar multifaceted picture of sadness in music [ 9 ]. Yet, music-induced sadness has been shown to generate similar negative biases in cognitive processing to those produced by real, autobiographically-induced sadness [ 10 ], and the emotions induced by sad music can be discriminated from several other emotions through psychophysiology [ 11 ] including from liking using neural responses [ 12 ]. Most cultures have a special role for music (laments, funeral songs) used in the contexts of mourning and loss [ 13 – 17 ]. Such examples suggest that sad music may be linked with actual negative experiences in addition to the positive experiences often cited. Indeed, a recent qualitative study of Western listeners found out a range of intense experiences relating to grief and low-intensity depression to be associated with to music-induced sadness [ 18 ], and also offered a tentative typology of such experiences ( grief , melancholia , and sweet sorrow ).

One possibility is that studies involving music and sadness may not differentiate the emotions experienced in sufficient detail, thus conflating inherently incompatible emotional experiences that have distinct mechanisms, outcomes and reasons. Failure to address the key moderating variables such as the focus of the emotions (expressed or experienced), the emotion-induction mechanisms [ 11 ], (particularly the role of the episodic memories, or selection and familiarity with the music [ 19 ]), may have led the field to consider only a limited range of emotional responses to sad music: responses from individuals who actually enjoy and derive pleasure from it.

Here, we aim to clarify the relevant reasons, mechanisms, and emotions involved in musical experiences associated with sadness. Although Taruffi and Koelsch [ 6 ] have recently provided an overview of the contents of the emotions related to sad music, we are still far from finding the answers to the basic questions: their study focussed on generic semantic aspects of the experiences instead of episodic memories, but the latter are known to be richer than semantic knowledge [ 20 ]. The study, focussing only on the rewarding aspect of listening to sad music, utilised a generic self-report instrument on emotions (the Geneva Emotion Music Scale , GEMS) that contains predominantly positive and aesthetic emotions without direct utilitarian functions [ 21 ], which might have prevented their participants from providing nuanced details of emotions. This is particularly problematic since the study showed that the most prevalent type of situation in which participants chose to engage with sad music was that titled emotional distress (breakup, grieving, etc.), examples of which are likely to involve a range of negative emotions, as suggested by an in-depth analysis of free responses relating to participants’ engagement with sad music [ 18 ]. These analyses have suggested that strong and clearly negative emotions such as fear, anger and grief are not marginal emotions in the context of sad music, particularly when the music is linked with autobiographical events and associations. Moreover, the sample in the study by Taruffi and Koelsch [ 6 ] was an uncontrolled internet sample, leaving issues of prevalence, self-selection bias and expertise unanswered.

Our aim is to elucidate what are the general characteristics of music-induced sadness. More specifically, we aim to answer the following questions:

• What are the characteristics of music-induced sadness in terms of the situations, changes in physical and mental states and physical reactions?
• What are the dominant psychological mechanisms and reasons behind the experiences involving sad music?
• What are the typical emotions associated with such experiences and the specific structure underlying these?
• How prevalent are the different types of experiences previously identified in association with listening to sad music?

These questions were considered to be best explored through a structured survey, using both existing instruments and a new series of questions derived from previous findings on music and sadness. We differentiated between generic and specific questions, the latter referring to a specific memorable example that the participants are asked to specify, since this is known to provide more accurate and definitive information than generic questions [ 20 ]. Collecting data from different samples enabled us to carry out exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses of the main conceptual structures (reasons, mechanisms, and emotions), and offered a better estimation of the prevalence and relevance of these themes for sadness in music.

Survey items and procedure

University of Jyväskylä Ethics Committee approval was obtained for the study. The data collection was anonymous and carried out online which meant that no full informed consent statements were signed by the participants, although a statement at the beginning of the survey explained the voluntary nature of their participation and the use and handling of the data.

In addition to basic background information of the respondents (age, gender, education, interest in listening to music, and how often they listen to sad music) a number of key themes were identified for the survey. Sad music was defined as “music that can be described as sad by the listener; sad-sounding, sad atmosphere in the music, music disseminates sad narrative, etc.”

The first section dealt with broad attitudes towards sad music, implemented through an existing instrument, Attitudes towards Sad Music [ 22 ] that assesses six different types of attitudes linked with engaging in sad music. The rationale for employing this instrument was to establish links between the attitudes towards sad music and the memorable sad music experiences.

The second section explored the importance of 24 reasons to listen to sad music, as well as the emotional functions of listening to sad music, derived from previous studies [ 6 , 19 , 22 ]. These 24 reasons, shown in Table 1 , were provided as checklists from which the participant could choose all that applied.

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https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0157444.t001

The third section focussed on a participant’s chosen memorable sad music experience. This question was modelled after Adult Crying Inventory by Vingerhoets and Cornelius [ 23 ] and was designed to probe the situation, feelings, functions, and mechanisms involved with music-induced sadness using an episodic memory rather than relying on generic semantic memories that often have biases [ 20 ]. First, the participants had to briefly describe the situation, then provide answers to structured questions about the situation, chronology and duration, music choice, motivation for choosing to listen to sad music, familiarity with music, autobiographical relevance, and the emotions or feelings experienced during the episode. For the last question, the participants could choose terms from a list of 36 emotion terms relevant for music and sadness that was partly derived from previous research [ 18 , 21 ] and supplemented with terms from pilot studies.

The participants were also asked to nominate the relevant emotion mechanisms involved using a 10-item checklist [ 24 ]. Furthermore, answers to a short series of questions about participants’ mental and physical reactions before and after the episode were collected, and they were requested to indicate the overall intensity and pleasantness of the experience using 7-point likert scales. Finally, based on a previous study that examined both negative and positive emotions experienced in relation to sad music [ 18 ], we asked the participants to rate the frequency of three broad categories of emotion using a scale from 1 to 5 (1 = never, 2 = rarely, 3 = sometimes, 4 = frequently, 5 = very frequently). These broad emotion categories were as follows: grief , consisting of deep hatred, grief, or loss; sadness consisting of depression, melancholy and apathy; and relief consisting of comfort, relief, fulfilment, and feelings of elation.

The survey was implemented in an online service, in which the order of the items within the sets of questions was randomised. Participation was voluntary and anonymous, although the participants could leave an e-mail address if they wished to participate in a prize draw including two 50-euro vouchers.

The survey instruments were identical for all samples but were translated into English (except for Attitudes towards Sad Music where the original English version was used) first by authors and an independent back translation was carried out by a native speaker of both languages. Also minor changes made to background questions relating to education, income and geographical location. The items within the questions were randomly ordered for each participant but the order of sets of questions remained the same (attitudes, reasons, and memorable experience).

Three samples were used in the present study. The first was a convenience sample from a single country (Finland), hereafter S1. The second was a representative sample of the UK population to qualify and expand the findings of the convenience sample (S2). The third sample (S3) utilised quota sampling of the Finnish population to provide a selection of listeners similar to the representative UK sample in terms of gender and amount of listening to sad music in the representative of UK sample. The purpose of this was to facilitate the comparison between the two countries. A numerical summary of the samples S1-S3 is given in S1 Table .

Convenience sample (S1) A convenience sample was utilised since the aim was to obtain a large number of responses on this specific topic. The national media in Finland agreed to circulate the call for the survey. This is a similar recruitment technique to that used in previous studies [ 6 , 8 ], and has the potential problem of appealing particularly to people who are likely to be positive about music or music and sadness. 1596 participants completed the survey, out of which 71% were women, and this proportion was constant across age range (18-74, M = 36.08 SD = 12.71). The participants were better educated than the Finnish population, 58.8% of the participants possessed BA/MA equivalent or higher level education (29.3% in Finland), and 21.7% reported Basic education or less (30.6% in Finland). On average, the participants were highly interested in music; 19.4% classified themselves as non-musicians, 40.7% as music lovers, 31.1% as amateur musicians, 5.5% as semi-professionals, and 3.3% as professionals. Most participants listened to music at least once a day (42.6%), or several times a day (42.4%), or multiple times a week (11.3%). The frequency of participant’s experiences of listening to sad music is shown in S1 Table , which support the notion that these participants do engage in listening to sad music (47.4% often or frequently).

Representative sample (S2) To explore the reliability and generalisibility of the findings of the convenience sample, the same survey was administered to a representative sample from a different country. A stratified sample of UK citizens was taken, in which region, age and gender formed the individually controlled strata. The sample was obtained from SurveyMonkey Audience ( www.surveymonkey.com/mp/audience ), and consisted of 445 participants. 53.3% of the sample were women, and age range followed the UK age distribution (18-24 9.19%, 25-34 17.26%, 35-44 22.42%, 45-54 25.56%, 55-64 22.87% 65-74 2.24% 75+ 0.45%). The frequency of listening to sad music by the representative sample is shown in Supporting Information ( S1 Table ).

Quota sample (S3) The third sample utilised quota sampling to create a sampling in which there were equal numbers of each gender and those listening to sad music (5 categories) as in the representative UK sample. The purpose was to seek a balanced representation of men and women who would not be especially keen on music and sadness in order to compare the findings with other samples that will vary in this respect. This data collection was, of course, carried after the representative (UK) sample was made.

As expected, the S1 and S2 differed in terms of several background variables such as age distribution ( χ 2 (5) = 146.6, p <.001), gender ( χ 2 (1) = 71.4, p <.001) and the frequency of listening to sad music ( χ 2 (4) = 215.8, p <.001), see S1 Table for details. However, the S3 sample was not different from the S2 with respect to gender ( χ 2 (1) = 0.56, p = 0.46) and frequency of listening to sad music ( χ 2 (4) = 7.6, p = .11). The S2 and S3 were inherently different, since they were collected from different countries, and were sampled in a different fashion. Hence, the details in the samples did not match (for example, there is an age difference between the S2 and S3, χ 2 (5) = 62.5 p <.001). However, using such separate samples allows us to disentangle the contribution of the sample differences to the results. We will explore other sample related differences more closely within the main research questions.

The analysis strategy consists of providing descriptive summaries of the main questions with all samples. The structure discovery of the reasons and emotions was carried out with Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) using the largest sample (S1) after which the identified structures were tested with the two other samples using Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA).

In the S1, outlier screening revealed four participants that gave flat responses to the 25-item ASM instrument with 7-point likert scales, and these individuals were eliminated. Another fourteen participants had a reverse ( r > -.40) response pattern to the mean ratings in the same instrument, suggesting a possible confusion in the labelling of the statements. These participants were also discarded, leaving 1577 participants in the analysis.

For the S2 (representative sample from UK) and the S3 (quota sample from Finland), no outliers were found in the screening stage. It is also worth pointing out that the EFA and CFA analyses were carried out with binary data (choices of emotions, reasons, and mechanisms) using polychoric correlations which has been shown to be less prone to produce over-dimensionsalisation than product-moment correlations [ 25 ], and we also employ simulation and optimisation for factor retention in EFA [ 26 ] to avoid overfitting.

Reasons for engaging with sad music

The 24 statements related to reasons for engaging with sad music yielded a different overall number of reasons across the samples (an average of 9.95 reasons in S1, 4.62 in S2, and 8.33 in S3). The rankings of the reasons also vary between the samples, but there is an overall agreement of the most important reasons. Within all samples, the top five reasons include To listen to music privately (#2, #1 and #1 for S1, S2 and S3 samples, respectively), closely followed by beauty of the music (#1, #2, #3), and to get comfort (#3, #4, and #5 reason across samples), and to reminisce (#5, #2, #5). It is also apparent that some reasons were infrequently chosen, including those relating to sharing emotions or choosing sad music because it produces feelings of belonging. A full list of the ranked frequency of the 24 statements related to reasons for engaging with sad music across the three samples is given in Supporting Information ( S2 Table ).

Looking at frequency of reasons and background variables, gender seems to play a large role here. Several themes under reasons were more likely to be nominated by women in all samples; Women tend to favour statements relating to reminiscing ( χ 2 = 21.0, p <.001), as well as social and nurturing reasons such as comforting ( χ 2 = 22.8, p<.001), channeling ( χ 2 = 12.5, p <.001), to be closer to loved ones ( χ 2 = 10.4, p <.001), or to share emotions with others ( χ 2 = 12.6, p <.001). In comparison to women, men favour strategies that involve experiencing new emotions ( χ 2 = 12.0, p <.001), or sharing music preferences ( χ 2 = 12.6, p <.001), which possibly highlight the more cognitive reappraisal strategies in general [ 27 ].

To explore the possible structure within these statements, the factorability of responses across the statements was conducted using the polychoric correlations and carrying out the EFA with the largest dataset (S1). Healthy Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measure of sampling adequacy (0.84) was obtained. Subsequently, Velicer’s MAP reduction algorithm, which is one of the most robust ways to determine to determine the number of components [ 28 ], was utilised to find the optimal number of components to extract. This offered 3 components and the factor analysis with oblimin rotation was utilised to increase the interpretability of the loadings. This model explained 36% of the variance and obtained a decent fit to the data (RMSR = 0.07).

Improvements were examined by looking at the items obtaining loadings below 0.32. This led to removal of three items (“to avoid negative thoughts/feelings”, “to gain a more realistic perspective”, and “other”). This improved the model slightly ( χ 2 186 = 1234.2, CFI = 0.824, RMSEA = 0.057). Next, the items containing high cross-loadings were eliminated using alpha factoring criterion (item alphas < 0.60 within each factor are eliminated). This removed two conflicting items, (“I want to listen privately”, “I want to be closer to my loved ones”) and yielded a more parsimonious model ( χ 2 101 = 689.2, CFI = 0.869, RMSEA = 0.058). This pruned version of the model is shown in Table 1 . The overall variance explained remained modest (39%) due to the binary nature of the data. The first reason could be labelled as Reflection , the second factor as Belonging , and the third factor as Relaxation . The contents of the three-factor structure that was consistently rated across the participants is shown in Table 1 . It is worth observing that several putatively interesting explanations such as “to gain more realistic perspective” [ 29 ] lie outside of the main reasons given for listening to sad music. It should be acknowledged that listeners may not be able to articulate all of the reasons they have for listening to sad music, and, therefore, our list, though culled from a range of past studies, is not guaranteed to be comprehensive.

CFA of the final three-factor model obtained with the S1 with S2 produces a plausible fit with the data ( χ 2 (167) = 334.3, p <.001, CFI = 0.886, RMSEA = 0.047, CI 90 0.040-0.055) and CFI = 0.779, RMSEA = 0.071, CI 90 0.064-0.078 with S3. Again, the confirmatory model seems to be overspecified in terms of the incremental fit index (CFI) that penalises the fit for a high number of parameters. To simplify the model whilst retaining the identified structure, the three items scoring the highest alphas within the factors was taken from the S1. This model, consisting of 3 factors with 3 items each (indicated in the Table 1 with α labels), yielded a good fit for S2, χ 2 (24) = 53.2, p <.001, CFI = 0.937, RMSEA = 0.052, CI 90 0.033-0.071 and an excellent fit for the S3, χ 2 (24) = 38.7, p <.05, CFI = 0.969, RMSEA = 0.039, CI 90 0.012-0.060. Thus, the simple three factor structure seems to account for the responses of all samples.

To explore the notions behind the factors underlying the reasons for engaging with sad music in more detail, the responses to the specific statements associated with theory-driven list of six categories of affects (pleasure, nostalgia, hurt, melancholia, comfort, and pain) are shown in S3 Table . For broadly positive emotions (pleasure, comfort, nostalgia), the most frequently nominated reasons are similar to the general reasons outlined in S2 Table , consisting of beauty, reminiscing, and relaxing. For the negative emotions (hurt, pain, and melancholia), which were generally less frequently nominated, the pattern of the most often mentioned reasons is perhaps more interesting, since it highlights the importance of personal losses and being reminded of loved ones that have passed away, emphasising that music often conveys a tragic or hopeless narrative.

To expand the reasons underlying choosing to listen to sad music, the relevance of various mechanisms responsible for music-induced emotions were explored. The list of mechanisms, though largely derived from Juslin and Västfjäll [ 30 ], also included additions such as beauty of the music [ 24 ], sharing emotions with others, and expectations of re-experiences the emotion. It is clear that the emotional expression of the music itself (#1, #2, and #1 ranked reason for S1, S2 and S3), the beauty of the music (#2, #3, and #2), and memories (#4, #1, and #3) are the most often implicated mechanisms. These have already been implicated in several studies [ 6 , 10 , 19 ]. Interestingly, most of the mechanisms linked with music itself such as surprising events, strong captivating rhythm or expectations about how it will unfold, seem to play a relatively minor role here (from 6 to 16 percent of the nominations across the samples), as can be seen in summary provided in S3 Table .

To simplify the list of ten mechanisms for the follow-up analyses, the mechanisms were subjected to principal component analysis with the largest sample (S1) using the same parameters as the analysis of reasons and affects (polychoric correlations, promax rotation with the elimination of loadings under .32). This yielded a three-component structure that explained 43.3% ( χ 2 = 2336, p <.001, RMSR = 0.14) of variance in the nominations of the mechanisms in S1. In the model, visual imagery, which did not fit any of the components, was eliminated, but otherwise the model provides an intuitively plausible reduction of the separate mechanisms into three broad ones, as shown by the last column in S3 Table .

Typical reactions to memorable experiences with sad music

After the generic and unspecific questions about attitudes towards sad music and reasons involved in listening to sad music, the remainder of the questions addressed a memorable experience with sad music.

Turning now to the largest sample, the open responses of the participants were analysed using a thematic content analysis by one of the authors (HP). This is a qualitative analysis method for identifying and analysing patterns within textual data [ 31 ]. The analysis of the present study represents critical realism paradigm , which aims to explain and make objective predictions about reality, but recognises that objective reality is only imperfectly comprehendible [ 32 ]. The aim of the analysis was to provide an accurate semantic description of the entire data set in order to explore the content of the predominant themes.

The initial inductive analysis resulted in 11 thematic categories that contained differing amount of sub-categories. A 10% random sub-sample of these textual responses was recoded using the proposed thematic categories by another author (TE) unfamiliar with the initial coding. This resulted in 92% match in the thematic categories, suggesting a credible content validity of thematic assignment of the open responses. After a negotiation between the coders, the final identification of nine themes took place. A proper reporting of the content and meaning of each theme is beyond the scope of the present article, but a short description of the prevalence of important themes is provided below.

The descriptions of the situations indicated that these experiences were typically (49.9%) related to Difficult situations of life , often connected to significant personal trauma (e.g. death, divorce, breakup), mental health problems (e.g. depression, insomnia), illness (e.g. cancer), separation from the loved ones (while travelling alone, being abroad for longer periods of time), being especially lonely (e.g. being bullied, disconnected from another person) or having suffered personal failures (e.g. unemployment). 2.6% of the participants did not want to give any details about their experiences, as they felt the topic was too private to be shared, even anonymously. These accounts were removed from the qualitative dataset.

Often the music was sought for Comfort and emotion regulation purposes (11%), but people also experienced memorable moments related to sad music in Unexpected situations (12.8%), such as hearing music from the radio whilst commuting, or in public venues. On the other hand, the other kinds of experiences were related to Reminiscing (11.6%), Aesthetic experiences (8.6%), moments of Introspection or meditation (6.3%), and Pleasure (2.9%). Although listening to sad music was frequently reported to take place home alone, a noteworthy proportion (19.1%) of participants’ accounts described public events, such as concerts or religious events, or even intimate moments of Social sharing (5.3%) related to music listening. Also, memorable experiences were linked with moments of rest or recovery (3.0%), such as listening to sad music after a long day of work, or in bed before falling to sleep.

According to the responses, these experiences had typically occurred more than a year ago (41.9%), involving music chosen by the participants (71.8%) that was extremely familiar (48.7%) or at least very familiar (26.1%) to the respondents. In the situation remembered, the participants listened to sad music for a wide range of durations (from less than 5 minutes, 15.1%, to 5-10 minutes 21.0%, 10-30 minutes 23.6%, 30-60 minutes 19.0%, and more than 60 minutes 20.4%). The exact structure of the emotions experienced whilst listening to sad music in this memorable example are analysed in detail in the next section, but their emotions were typically highly intense (M = 5.56, SD = 1.20 on a scale of 1-7) and pleasurable (5.35, SD = 1.57), although these differed across samples, see Fig 1 .

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Between 20% and 50% of the participants reported reacting to music physically, mainly by having “chills or goose bumps” (approx. 35% in the S1 and S3, 20% in the S2), by “crying a little (just wet eyes)” (30-45% across the samples), “I cried a lot” (wet eyes and sobbing) (10-50%), or other physical reactions (less than 20% of the time), see Fig 1 .

Other physical reactions such as dancing, being immobile, and singing were mentioned in the open comments. When participants were asked to compare how they felt mentally after listening to the music compared to how they felt before, most of the samples indicated that they felt better than before, although again, samples differed in proportion of answers given to each category (see Fig 1 for details). A related question about the changes in physical states painted a similar but more subdued picture, since a only those keen on sad music (S1) reported feeling physically better than before whereas the other samples commonly reported having similar physical state after listening as before the episode. It is also worth highlighting the proportion (11.8% and 11.7% for S2 and S3) of people reporting that their mental state actually worsens after these memorable experiences, suggesting either that these experiences are not entirely pleasant or that they may also lead to rumination [ 33 ].

The physical and mental reactions and changes also exhibit strong gender differences; for physical reactions, women report more crying than men in all samples ( χ 2 >14.1** for S1-S3), which is consistent with crying in general, where women have been shown to be higher in crying propensity and crying frequency [ 34 , 35 ]. There are also gender, musical expertise, and sample differences across the ratings of intensity and pleasure of the memorable experiences. Samples themselves differ in intensity, F (2,1953) = 8.499, p <.001, where sad music listeners (S1) report, rather unsurprisingly, higher intensity ratings (M = 5.6, SEM = 0.03) than the other samples (M = 4.29 SEM = 0.05 and M = 5.42, SEM = 0.06 for S2 and S3, respectively). Women generally report higher (M = 5.45) intensity than men (M = 5.20), F (1,1953) = 5.4, p <.05, but this is only evident in S1. Moreover, musical expertise displays a clear main effect of intensity, where higher expertise yields higher intensity ratings, F(4,1953) = 12.9, p<.001. None of the factors interact, however. The ratings of pleasure display a similar story; significant main effects of sample ( F = 21.7, p <.001), gender ( F = 15.2, p <.001) and musical expertise ( F = 10.7, p <.001) emerged without any significant interactions between them. The ratings of pleasure are highest in S1 (M = 5.5, SEM = 0.03), and lower in the two samples less interested in sad music (M = 4.4, SEM = 0.08 and M = 5.1, SEM = 0.08 for S2 and S3, respectively). Contrary to the gender differences in intensity, ratings of pleasure are actually higher for men than for women (across all samples, men M = 5.3, SEM = 0.06 and women M = 5.1, SEM = 0.04), although this is again driven by the S1 and the comparison within the other samples (S2 and S3) show no gender differences in pleasure.

Structure of emotions in memorable experiences of sad music

The participants were asked to characterise the emotional quality of their memorable experience using a list of 36 emotion terms. The response frequency of each term across the three samples is shown in Table 2 . The top rankings across the samples are held by sadness, being moved, and pleasant melancholia, comfort, and peacefulness, which all have slightly different emphases and emotional meaning. There are noteworthy differences between the UK (S2) and Finnish samples (S1 and S3): The amount of terms indicated differs across the samples, S1 indicated a mean of 8.78, S2 4.7 terms, and S3 7.8 terms. The largest differences are related to nostalgia (3rd most important for the S2, 10th in the other samples) and wonder (rarely—7%—mentioned in the S2, mentioned by 30-38% of the S1 and S3). Whether these discrepancies are due to language and culture or other sample related differences (age, etc.), it is difficult to know at this point. Otherwise, there seems to be a general consensus on the terms and their suitability for describing the emotions induced by memorable sad music experiences.

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As predicted by past studies [ 6 , 36 ] using GEMS to assess the emotions relevant in sadness related to music, there is large diversity present in the responses. However, there seems to be pattern where similar terms that refer to negative aspects (e.g. “being grief-stricken”, “being downhearted”, “anxiety”) and positive aspects (e.g. “comfort”, “nostalgia”, “wonder”, “relief”) of the emotional experiences frequently co-occur. In the case of some of terms (“powerlessness”, “being moved”, and “indescribable feelings”), it is difficult to determine whether they are positive or negative in this context. For subsequent analyses, it is also interesting to note that the terms in the GEMS scale (9) are well spread in their frequency of use (these are marked with asterisks in the Table 2 ), possibly implying a good coverage of the experiences.

To explore the possible structure behind these indicators of emotions in sad experiences linked with music, a factor analysis was applied to the response matrix obtained from S1. Before applying the factor analysis, the terms that were not helpful for the interpretation were removed (“don’t know”, “other”), and those terms that were rarely mentioned (less than 15% of the time, see Table 2 ) were discarded. The factorability of the ensuing matrix was sufficiently high using polychoric correlations between the columns of the binary data (MSA = 0.82, all items > 0.74, well above the suggested limit of 0.60). Velicer’s MAP analysis was utilised to determine the number of factors extracted, which suggested an optimum of 3 factors that capture the underlying responses in a satisfactory manner ( χ 2 (133) = 1282.5, p <.001, fit = 0.689, RMS = 0.069). To clarify the interpretations of the components across the factors, principal components analysis with promax rotation was used in the final estimation of the loadings. To further prune and improve the model, items with loadings below 0.32 (“humiliation”) and those obtained lower than 0.60 alphas within the factors (“relief”, and “being moved”, “nostalgia”, “indescribable feelings”) were removed, resulting in a slightly better model ( χ 2 (63) = 1080.2, p <.001, fit = 0.753, RMS = 0.081).

The final three-factor model explained 46.0% of variance in the nomination of the emotion terms (PC1 19%, PC2 14%, PC3 13%) and the intra-factor consistencies were high (Cronbach α s of 0.87, 0.80, and 0.75, for PCs 1 to 3, respectively). See Fig 2 for the rotated loadings. There is one curious cross-loading, namely the most popular term in the list, “sadness”, which loads both onto first and second factors, suggesting that it can be interpreted to be either a negative (factor 1) or a positive experience (factor 2). Since the survey concerned sadness in association with music, it is no surprise that this term is frequently chosen, but the way it was interpreted can vary considerably. Removing this item would slightly improve the consistency of the model, but sadness is now retained at present.

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The three factors can be interpreted to represent “Grief-Stricken Sorrow”, “Sublime Sorrow”, and “Comforting Sorrow” with clearly distinct profiles in terms of the core affect dimensions such as valence and arousal. The first factor, labelled as Grief-Stricken Sorrow , has all the negatively valenced terms. Factor 2, titled Sublime Sorrow , is the most positive, containing “joy”, “transcendence”, and “wonder” and factor 3 titled Comforting Sorrow is also positively valenced but a low arousal variant with items such “tenderness”, “comfort”, and “sad but elated”. An additional validation of this simple core affect interpretation of the factor solution can be achieved by comparing the terms with the valence, arousal, and dominance ratings of the same affect terms [ 37 ]. In such an analysis, the factor loadings of the first factor correlate negatively with valence ( r (15) = -.80, p <.001), the third factor negatively with arousal ( r (15) = -.43, p = .078), and the second factor loadings are positively correlated with dominance ratings of the terms ( r (15) = -.518, p <.05).

To understand the factor structure better, the factor correlations were checked for consistency across the datasets. This three-factor model was also applied to the other samples (S2 and S3). This revealed that the factors are not perfectly orthogonal since oblique rotation (promax) was utilised; however, the correlations are in general small and consistent across the datasets. The first factor ( Grief-Stricken Sorrow ) is negatively correlated with the Comforting Sorrow ( r of -.11, -.08, and .19 for S1, S2, and S3, respectively), whereas Sublime Sorrow exhibits slightly higher negative correlations ( r of -.36, -.37, and -.17 for S1, S2, and S3, respectively). Comforting and Sublime Sorrow do also show positive albeit small correlations with each other ( r of .31, .27, and .23 for S1, S2, and S3, respectively).

EFA with several sadness-specific and theory-driven models

The three-factor solution shown Fig 2 is perhaps the optimal one for this dataset; nevertheless, it is prudent to formulate alternative structures to explore how much variance is being explained either by removing or adding factors, or by comparing these sadness-specific models to other theory-driven models such as GEMS or affective circumplex model.

For the purposes of the comparisons, the data containing the frequent terms was analysed using structural equation models (SEM).). This was achieved by constructing 1 to 4 factor variants of the sadness-specific models from the terms, in addition to several theoretically-driven models such as the GEMS and affective circumplex models. Since the structural equation fit indices are sensitive to model parsinomy [ 38 ], an attempt was made to keep the models comparable with respect to the number of terms. Since our implementation of the main contender, GEMS, has nine terms, all other models were also applied using nine terms. The terms were chosen by selecting those that were most reliable within each factor of the model according to interrater agreements (Cronbach α s).

Two pruned, sadness-specific GEMS models were created. These were based on an optimal reduction of the nine terms in the GEMS model either to two or three factors based on the principal component analysis with the present data. A three-dimensional, sadness-specific GEMS had “feeling moved”, “wonder” and “transcendence” in Factor 1, “sadness”, “powerlessness”, and “tension” in Factor 2, and “joy”, “tenderness”, and “nostalgia” in the Factor 3. This is akin, but not identical, to the second-order factors in [ 21 ], in which the UNEASE factor consists of “tension” and “sadness” factors (similar to the Factor 1), VITALITY contains “power” and “joyful activity”, and SUBMILITY comprises “tenderness”, “nostalgia”, “peacefulness”, “transdence” and “wonder”, which form new combinations of structures obtained in the principal component analysis of the sample S1. A two-factor version of the GEMS was similarly implemented, by forcing the nine terms into two factors (Factor 1 consisted of “joy”, “being moved”, “wonder”, “transcendence”, “tenderness”, and “nostalgia” and Factor 2 contained “sadness”, “powerlessness”, and “tension”).

Four theoretically inspired models were added to comparisons to critically assess the goodness of the sadness-specific models. First, we adopted the original formulation of the GEMS model by representing the nine emotions with three second-order factors [ 21 ]. Models relating to affective circumplex [ 39 ] were created by first associating all the 36 emotion terms with the normative ratings of valence and arousal for these terms [ 37 ]. Then a two-factor valence model was formed by dividing terms into positive and negative designations according to mean valence values and taking the nine most reliable ones (highest Cronbach α s within the factors). This model had “joy”, “wonder”, “transcendence”, “rapture”, “peacefulness” as positively valenced terms (factor 1) and “powerlessness”, “self-pity”, “anxiety”, and “being downhearted” as the negatively valenced terms (factor 2). In a similar fashion, a two-factor arousal model was created, which consisted of the most consistently used high arousal terms (“anxiety”, “indescribable”, “powerlessness”, “anger”) and low arousal terms (“sad but elated”, “comfort”, “pleasant melancholia”, “tenderness”, and “relief”). All the models thus postulated are comparable in terms of model parsimony, since they have from 2-4 factors represented by 9 items, yielding comparable though not identical degrees of freedom in the model evaluations.

The models described were used to predict the evaluations given by the S1. The results concerning the four sadness-specific models, displayed in the upper part of the Table 3 , are—as expected—consistent with the first analysis of the optimal structure for this dataset, showing highest fit for the three-factor solution. The model fit (RMSEA) for 2 to 4 factor models are decent, although the incremental fit index (CFI) suffers from overspecification since the models have 4-7 items that overlap considerably within the factors. For this reason, the models pruned using the within-factor alpha trimming principle (retaining highest alphas), as explained above, provide a more sensible point of model comparison.

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Of the three pruned models—the best model from the sadness-specific analysis (three-factor sadness model) and the two sadness-specific GEMS models—the pruned three-factor model reaches acceptable fit in terms of both RMSEA and CFI indices [ 38 ]. It is also significantly better than the best unpruned sadness-specific model from the previous analysis ( χ 2 difference = 1156, p <.001). The two-factor models using the GEMS terms optimised with this data fail to reach acceptable fit (CFI<.85), whereas the three-factor model with the GEMS terms fares better by obtaining a marginal goodness-of-fit (CFI = .884) and acceptable error rate (RMSEA < .057). Both GEMS models are, however, significantly worse than the three-factor sadness-specific model ( χ 2 difference = 89.4 and 20.7, both p <.001).

The three theoretical models, which are not specific to sadness except by choice of terms from within the 36 term vocabulary, produce a spread of fit with the data. The theoretical formulation of GEMS with three factors fails to capture the correlation matrix of the responses (CFI<.85 and marginal RMSEA value, see Table 3 ). This is perhaps to be expected, considering that the range of emotional experiences differs to that which the original instrument was designed to capture. The two-factor valence model reaches acceptable fit (CFI>.90 and RMSEA<.08), suggesting that simply dividing the terms into negative and positive designations allows the capture of an essential aspect of sad experiences, although the three-factor sadness-specific model provides significantly better fit. The two-factor arousal model, however, is not appropriate for explaining the underlying correlation matrix of emotion terms, since it fails in the incremental index (CFI<.90), although the RMSEA values are acceptable.

To summarise, two different types of models seem to account for the responses given on relevant emotions in memorable experiences, one derived from the data itself (three-factor sadness-specific model) and the other from the affective circumplex (the two-factor valence model). The models derived from GEMS terms seem to have an insufficient number of negative terms that are needed to account for the kinds of experiences often encountered in these situations. A model constructed with arousal also fails to capture the essential aspects of the experiences. However, these exploratory factor analyses can only provide ideas and materials for a more rigorous comparison, best carried out with separate data and CFA.

CFA with the best models from EFA

From the EFA analysis stage, three plausible models were taken into CFA: the best sadness-specific model (the three-factor pruned model), the best affective circumplex model (the two-factor valence model), and the best GEMS model (three-factor GEMS terms model). These models were applied to the two unused datasets, to the S2 and S3. The purpose was to ascertain which models retain the predictive capacity to new datasets and how well they generalise across the materials that have been collected in two different countries. The CFA analyses were carried out with Lavaan (0.5-18) [ 40 ] of R [ 41 ]. Table 4 summarises the model performances across the two new samples.

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The sadness-specific model appears to have an acceptable fit to the new datasets, considering both incremental and error indices (CFI >.90 and RMSEA<0.08), whereas the valence and the GEMS models fail at least in one of the fit measures (all CFI are <.90). Looking at the results more closely, the sadness-specific model is more successful in explaining the responses from the S2 than the S3. This is surprising, considering that the model was developed with the S1 consisting of Finnish participants, which might be assumed to more closely approximate the S3, which was a quota sample from the same country. This best model does not appear to suffer significantly from applying it to either of the new samples, since the fit indices are nearly at the same level as those in the first evaluation of the model with sample S1 (ΔCFI is -0.0185 and ΔRMSEA is +0.005 between EFA and the average of two datasets in the CFA).

The valence model outperforms the GEMS model in the both new datasets and also suffers little loss from EFA to CFA (ΔCFI = -0.0135 and ΔRMSEA = +0.011). The GEMS model is particularly weak for the S2 and is visibly impaired when the model is taken to the new datasets (ΔCFI = -0.1395 and ΔRMSEA = -0.02). Even though the GEMS model was optimised with sadness in mind in the EFA stage, relying on a compact pool of terms seems to constrain the model in an unfavourable fashion in this context. Switching the language between the datasets (Finnish and English) is unlikely to be the sole reason for the failure of this model since the most effective models (the sadness-specific and the valence model) do predict the responses across the countries in a reliable fashion.

Having established that the three-factor sadness-specific model is adequate in explaining the range of affective responses in the available datasets, the influence of demographics on the model factors is explored next.

Individual differences in the three factors of sadness

To explore whether the structure of sadness is similar across participants in all samples, the scores representing the three components from the best model (three-factor sadness-specific model using the original, 15-item formulation shown in Fig 2 ) were subjected to ANOVAs across the participants’ gender, age and musical expertise. Broadly summarising the results (displayed in Table 5 ), the S1 displayed the largest differences for all factors, the S2 had no significant main effects except gender for the first component, and the S3 exhibited mainly gender effects. Looking at the factors separately, Factor 1 ( Grief-Stricken Sorrow ) showed significant main effects of Age ( F (5,1524) = 20.8, p <.001) and Gender ( F (1,1524) = 12.7, p <.001) but not Musical expertise ( F (4,1524) = 1.1, p = .37) in the S1. Young participants obtained higher scores (highly significant negative linear contrast for age, t = 8.5, p <.001) and women scored higher (M = 0.051, SEM = 0.029) than men (M = -0.147, SEM = 0.052), suggesting that these negative feelings linked with episodes of sad music are more prevalent in younger people and women. This is also true for the S3 concerning gender ( F (1,366) = 19.3, p <.001), where women again scored higher (M = 0.11, SEM = 0.067) than men (M = -0.30, SEM = 0.062), and the S2 obtained a similar gender difference ( F (1,432) = 8.2, p <.01) in this factor. Again, this is line with the past research showing women reacting more strongly to negative emotions than men [ 42 ].

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Factor 2, which captures the feelings of transcendence and joy (labelled as Sublime Sorrow ), exhibited only significant main effect of Expertise for the S1 ( F (4,1524) = 5.8, p <.001) and the S3 ( F (4,1524) = 4.4, p <.01). The more musical expertise the participants possessed, the higher the scores for this factor (fitted with highly significant linear contrast, t = 3.5 and 2.7, p <.01, for S1 and S3, respectively). There was also an interaction between Gender and Age in the S3 ( F (4,366) = 2.7, p <.05) which mainly highlights that Finnish men over 65 years obtain particularly low scores in Sublime Sorrow (M = -.77, SEM = .25 whereas the mean for the similar aged women is.11, SEM = .38).

For the third component ( Comforting Sorrow ), S1 exhibited significant main effects of Gender ( F (1,1524) = 98.4, p <.001), Age ( F (5,1524) = 3.0, p <.01) and Musical expertise ( F (4,1524) = 5.4, p <.01). Women obtain lower scores (M = -0.14, SEM = 0.027) than men (M = 0.40, SEM = 0.052) and age shows differences in the older year categories (highest scores in the 65-year and older participants). Musical training was positively related to factor scores ( t = 5.3, p <.001 with a linear contrast). This suggests that the experiences of tenderness and comfort in relation to sad music may be more common among musically trained people than amongst those with less training, at least in those who do prefer to listen to sad music (S1). The S3 did show a main effect of Gender similar to that of the S1 ( F (1,366) = 12.6, p <.001) where again women display lower scores (M = -0.31, SEM = 0.061) than men (M = 0.00, SEM = 0.068). Everything considered, there are significant differences in emotions experienced that relate to simple demographic variables, although the relevance of these differences observed in large samples remains to be explored in future.

Gender displays the most differences in the analysis, which is in line with other studies of emotions induced by music. For instance, women tend to favour different regulation strategies related to negative emotions than men [ 1 ], score higher for contagion as a principle for accounting negative emotions [ 6 ], and generally use music more for mood regulation [ 43 ]. Such patterns do not seem to be specific to music, since gender differences in self-reports of emotion has been observed repeatedly across the affective sciences [ 44 ], although neural indicators seem to underplay such differences [ 45 ]. The key component here is assumed to be empathy, which is multidimensional ability to understand emotional states of the others. Although empathy needs to be divided into different subcomponents, such as cognitive or affective [ 46 ] and their exact nature is still undefined, empathy seems to be consistently different across gender [ 47 ]. The present study cannot pursue the putative explanations, but at least the gender roles and emotion recognition advantage by women [ 48 ] are consistent with the differences observed.

Prevalence of broad emotion types related to musical sadness

In the final question, we asked respondents to answer “how often have you experienced the following feelings in the context of sad music”, and offered them the three broad categories of emotions relevant for sadness and music that were obtained from the previous study [ 18 ]. This question was phrased to be independent of the memorable experience and addressed the issue of prevalence.

The emotion categories were explained with several labels. The category titled Sweet Sorrow was expressed with “feelings of comfort”, “relief”, or “joy”. Melancholia consisted of “depression”, “gloom”, and “sadness” and Grief was defined as “feelings of deep hatred”, “grief”, or “loss”. Whilst these three emotion categories were not identical to the three factors identified in the analysis of structure of sadness in the memorable experiences, they bear strong similarity to them. The first one, Sweet Sorrow is similar to Comforting Sorrow (Factor 2) although the term joy itself is here associated with Sublime Sorrow . Melancholic sadness bears closest similarity with Grief-Stricken Sorrow since the terms (“depression”, “gloom”, and “sadness”) correlate best with this factor. The third category, Grief , of course, relates to Factor 1 labelled Grief-Stricken Sorrow . Thus, the factors identified in the present analysis classify sadness-related experiences into two different types of pleasure and one more aversive group of emotional experiences, whereas the previous analysis illustrated more the different qualities of negative experiences [ 18 ].

Although we can observe the frequencies of the emotion terms relevant for memorable experiences in Table 2 , the summary question provides a way of validating the relevance of different types of emotions in the context of music in general. Fig 3 summarises the proportion of responses to each of the three emotion categories for all samples. The majority has frequently experienced Sweet sorrow (“frequently” or “very frequently”, 68%, 20%, and 57% for S1, S2 and S3, respectively), whereas the Melancholic variety seems to be rarer (35%, 16%, and 29% of the samples S1, S2, and S3 answered “frequently” or “very frequently”) though not uncommon. The deeply negative feelings of sadness, involving feelings of hatred, grief and loss, are the least common emotional experiences in the context of music. 21% of the S1, 10% of the S2, and 18% of the S3 answered “frequently” or “very frequently” to this question, which is also consistent with the frequency of similar terms in the memorable experiences (being grief-stricken 36.3%, anger 10.4%, and depression 12.0%, see Table 2 ). Although these emotions form the least common broad category of experiences in the context of music and sadness, a fifth of participants reporting that they frequently encounter these emotions still renders this an important class of experiences.

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Characteristics of three types of sadness experiences

To understand whether the three identified types of emotions in memorable sadness experiences are distinct from each other, and how they are connected to the reasons, mechanisms and reactions, these components were subjected to regression analysis. To minimise the overfit, the largest sample (S1) was used in building a lasso regression model where 50% of the observations were used in the training phase with 10-fold cross-validation and the remainder of the data used for testing. The lasso was chosen to eliminate redundant variables [ 49 ] and the evaluation scheme provided a robust measure to identify which combinations of variables would explain the three sadness scores of each participant. In order to probe the model developed and assessed with the S1, the model was also used to predict the scores of the samples S2 and S3.

As indicated by Table 6 in which the regression analyses are summarised, the three types of sadness experiences display reasonable prediction rates ( R 2 adj 0.24 to 0.44) with the 8 to 10 predictors. Grief-Stricken Sorrow is associated with reflective reasons, high intensity and physical reactions, and lack of pleasure and changes in mental state (negative coefficients in the latter two). Given the free responses to these experiences which highlighted their links with funerals and exceptional situations of coping with loss, the pattern of significant coefficients matches these and accentuates the negative emotional impact of these experiences. Comforting Sorrow is linked with the mechanisms of beauty and memory, with belonging as the reason; these experiences are highly pleasurable and lead to positive mental and physical changes. Again, the coefficients are connected to the contents of the experiences obtained in open responses; such experiences often relate to rest, meditation, and introspection. Finally, experiences of Sublime Sorrow are characterised by beauty, aspects of the music itself, relaxation, pleasure, and positive changes in mental state. Six of the significant features for Sublime Sorrow overlap with Comforting Sorrow with the main exceptions being the music as a mechanism for these experiences, and the fact that reflection and intensity operate in the opposite way in Sublime sorrow when compared to Comforting Sorrow . The experiences of Sublime sorrow are strongly characterised by beauty and pleasure, and linked with the actual music.

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When these models are applied to the other two samples (S2 and S3), they generalise fairly well. For Grief-Stricken Sorrow , there is a 20% decrease when applied to the S2 and 5% dip in the variance explained when the model is applied to the sample S3. For Comforting Sorrow , the model applied to the new samples shown an increase (+6% and +1%) in prediction rates. In the case of Sublime Sorrow , there is a decrease in the fit (-9% and -2%, for S2 and S3 samples).

When other relevant variables—such as Attitudes to Sadness in Music (six factor scores)[ 22 ]—are inserted to the regression models developed with the sample S1 and shown in Table 6 , a small amount of additional variance can be explained (+4% for Grief-Stricken Sorrow , 0% for Comforting Sorrow , and +1% for Sublime Sorrow ). When the question of whether the participants had experienced grief, melancholia or sweet sorrow is added to the models, the variance explained for each factor show substantial improvements (+9% for Grief-Stricken Sorrow , +2% for Comforting Sorrow , +2% for Sublime Sorrow ). These improvements also carry over to predicting the factor scores in other datasets, improving their fit ( R 2 adj increases from 0.01 to 0.06). It suffices here to conclude that the main reasons, mechanisms and reactions to these memorable experiences explain the underlying emotional experiences, and prior experiences and attitudes may be particularly relevant in explaining the experiences of Grief, where the most significant improvements were observed.

The final analyses examined the extent of differences between the three sadness factors in terms of the underlying descriptors. A linear discriminant analysis of the factor scores converted into categories by taking the maximum score for each participant addresses this question. This analysis was carried out with a partitioning and cross-validation scheme similar to that of the regression analysis and the number of observations for class was fairly balanced (39%, 31%, and 30%, for Grief-Stricken Sorrow , Comforting Sorrow and Sublime Sorrow factors, respectively). The overall classification accuracy of the three factors using multiclass ROC [ 50 ] was 0.781 (Wilks λ (2,22) = 0.62, p <.001), where the Grief-Stricken Sorrow is best predicted (78.3% classification accuracy on the test set), Comforting Sorrow (65.4%), and Sublime Sorrow (71.3%). With the baseline rate at 38%, these are good prediction rates and driven by few variables such as Pleasure (ROC = 0.73, 0.69, and 0.73 for three factors) and Reason—Reflection (ROC = 0.69, 0.64, and 0.69 for Grief-Stricken Sorrow , Comforting Sorrow , and Sublime Sorrow , respectively). Again, this discriminant model also delivers above chance level prediction when applied to the other samples; an equal rate of classification for sample S3 (ROC = 0.784, Wilks λ = 0.56, p <.001), and a slightly lower rate for S2 (ROC = 0.680, Wilks λ = 0.72, p <.001). In summary, the succesful discriminant analysis of the factors based on the underlying reactions, reasons and mechanisms defends their role as independent, separate experiences.

Reactions to memorable experiences of sad music were studied by means of a large-scale survey that explored the reasons, mechanisms, and emotions of such experiences. Memorable experiences linked with sad music typically occurred in relation to extremely familiar music, that caused intense and pleasurable experiences, which were accompanied by physiological effects (such as moist eyes, chills, and tears) and positive mood changes in about third of the participants.

A consistent set of reasons for these experiences was identified, one relating to relaxation, another to reflective processes, and the final one to belonging, findings that bear similarities to previous accounts of reasons for engaging with sad music [ 6 , 18 , 19 ]. However, findings related to the discovery of a finer structure of emotional experiences within this broad category of sadness diverge somewhat from those of previous accounts, and so will now be discussed at length.

Structure and prevalence of sadness associated with music

The results identified a consistent structure of three types of sadness experiences relevant to memorable events associated with music-related sadness. The structure discovered was carefully validated across three samples and contrasted with pertinent current models accounting for the same experiences. Each of the factors identified— Grief-Stricken Sorrow , Comforting Sorrow , and Sublime Sorrow —has a distinct profile in terms of the underlying reasons, causal mechanisms and reactions elicited. None of the alternative accounts such as GEMS [ 21 ] and valence and arousal framework prevailed in the comparisons with the simplified three-factor model of sadness. Moreover, the discovered structure is congruous with qualitative accounts of sadness induced by music [ 18 ] and also bears some similarities with other descriptive frameworks used to explain the reasons for listening to sad music [ 19 ].

In a previous study of music associated sadness [ 18 ], Joyful sadness experiences were reported frequently (61-92%) by all the samples, whereas the genuinely negative experiences (feelings of grief, deep hatred, or loss) were less frequent, but not uncommon in any of the samples (40-56% of participants had sometimes experienced this type of emotion). The former observation is perhaps not surprising in the context of music and fiction in general, which is inherently pleasant, voluntary, and does not have any direct real-life consequences. The latter observation of genuinely negative experiences is unforeseen, at least with respect to the extant research literature, which is devoid of such descriptions. The true prevalence of the different types of emotions is of course difficult to estimate reliably using retrospective surveys, but this is the first time such estimations have been offered with representative and large sample and carefully constructed questions. Experience Sampling Methods would be needed to establish a more accurate account of the everyday prevalence of such emotions [ 51 , 52 ].

Defusing the paradox of pleasurable sadness

The results help us to contextualise several of the conflicting results obtained in the previous studies of music and sadness. First of all, the paradox of pleasurable sadnesss is actually less puzzling if one acknowledges that there are different types of “sadnesses”. Past empirical studies have put particular emphasis on the pleasurable experiences induced by sad music [ 5 , 6 , 9 , 53 ], which could be close to Sublime Sorrow or at least Comforting Sorrow identified in the present study. Only few empirical studies have acknowledged the fact that the experiences induced by sad music might actually be genuinely negative, harrowing and unpleasant [ 18 , 22 ] although such experiences are acknowledged by ethnomusicological field studies [ 15 , 54 ]. The third factor in this study ( Grief-Stricken Sorrow ) seems to portray such affective experiences, wherein the thematic analysis of the experiences’ content revealed themes of bereavement, mourning, and loss.

Secondly, there seems to be a clear difference between an aesthetic emotion, such as the one labelled here as Sublime Sorrow , and the other type of positive experience, Comforting Sorrow . The latter is related to other people, to social relationships, and is typically more reflective than the experiences induced by moving music, which is one of the hallmarks of Sublime Sorrow . When looking at the qualitative data, lyrics seemed to play a crucial role within the experiences relating to difficult situations of life. This observation stands out in interesting light when comparing it to a finding by Brattico and her colleagues [ 12 ], who discovered that lyrics (or vocal information in general) may be crucial for defining the sadness of a musical piece. Furthermore, in their study, participants judged instrumental sad music as more pleasant and beautiful than music containing lyrics. Thus, it might be that Sublime Sorrow is more relevant for the experiences of listening to instrumental music, whereas Grief-Stricken Sorrow and Comforting Sorrow are induced by vocal music with meaningful lyrics. However, since our participants did not consistently identify the type of music they were describing, this connection can only be speculated.

If the differences related to sadness are unacknowledged, this could lead research to either focus on mood regulation strategies [ 8 ] if the emphasis is placed on experiences related to Comforting Sorrow , or to aesthetic experiences [ 55 ] when the Sublime Sorrow is the actual object of study. In some cases, both types of experiences seem to be combined [ 6 ], but such strategies need more refined treatment of the experiences involved in sadness before they will lead to genuinely novel insights on the topic.

Sadness as a strong experience

Due to the way the research question was formulated around a memorable example, these experiences—judging by the high intensity of the experiences, open responses, and prevalence of physical reactions—were closer to Strong Experiences with Music (SEM) than the typical results os music and sadness offered by laboratory-based studies. The SEM experiences, which have been extensively documented by Gabrielsson [ 56 , 57 ], are collected by asking people to describe their strong and memorable experiences involving music, which is nearly identical to the somewhat narrower question posed in the present study. It is no wonder that there are strong similarities between the SEMs and the present findings; typically more than a year had passed since both SEMs (about 50%) and memorable sad experiences (42%), and the music is familiar or very familiar to the listeners in both cases (54% in SEMs, 74.8% in sad experiences). Also, strong experiences with music often feature a similar list of common physical reactions (crying 24%, chills 10%, and other reactions such as a lump in the throat etc.) observed in the context of memorable sadness experiences.

Probably the most interesting parallel between SEMS and the memorable sadness experiences with music is that truly negative experiences are not that uncommon in SEMs (23%) ([ 56 ], p.387). This mirrors the frequency of responses to experiences of truly negative emotions ( Grief-Stricken Sorrow , rated to be frequent or very frequent by 10-22% of the participants in the present study, see Fig 3 ). Although space prohibits a more detailed comparison of SEMs and memorable sad experiences, the similarities suggest that memorable sad experiences could be fruitfully interpreted as SEMs, and a closer analysis of the open responses in the framework provided by Gabrielsson could be a useful way to explore the qualities of these special experiences in more detail.

Methodological implications

The findings of the present study have implications for the content of self-report measures commonly employed to measure emotions associated with sad music. The affective circumplex model does not capture the nuances of these experiences in sufficient detail, which has already been observed in the past studies [ 6 , 9 , 36 ]. Interestingly, Kawakami [ 5 ] proposed four emotional factors that are induced by sad music, although unfortunately this was a modest exploratory model since it was based on responses from 44 participants after listening to three nominally sad excerpts of classical music. As such, their study may be considered to have a narrow focus and insufficient quantity of observations for a reliable structure discovery. At the other extreme, the most sophisticated self-report instrument to measure music-induced emotions to date, GEMS [ 21 ], seems to lack sufficient power to distinguish the specialised emotions involved in sadness. GEMS model consists of nine separate dimensions of emotions, and has been properly validated with large samples. It has been utilised by several scholars studying experiences induced by sad music [ 6 , 9 , 36 ], but as it is designed to capture a broad range of experiences induced by music, the present study suggests that sadness seems to be a theme that is too specific to approach using GEMS; nevertheless, it still captures a fair amount of the different emotional experiences associated with this specialised topic.

Limitations and directions for future research

There are several caveats of the present study that need to be acknowledged. First, the findings apply to memorable examples using self-reports, both of which elements have shortcomings. Nevertheless, self-reports are a cost-effective, robust and valid way of capturing emotions [ 58 ], even though the underlying mechanisms and reasons might be less accessible to the participants [ 51 ]. Also, episodic examples have been shown to be less biased than generic semantic memories [ 20 ]. One problem lies in the highly personal nature of music-induced emotions and researcher-chosen music is known to be less effective than any personal selections with autobiographical memories associated with the music [ 7 , 10 ]. For this reason, the emphasis on memorable experiences provides direct, personal insights into the topic in a way that avoids the need to present researcher-chosen music in an artificial situation to the participants. At the same time, it needs to be acknowledged that it is an open question as to whether similar pattern of emotions are evident in unfamiliar, sad-sounding music [ 36 ]. Early findings from laboratory-based listening studies seem to suggest that emotional experiences induced by researcher-chosen music could be best captured by specific sadness-related emotional structure [ 59 ], but this requires for further studies utilising a wider range of measures (e.g. psychophysiology and action tendencies).

Another caveat is the selection and the size of the samples. Here two main ways of sampling, convenience (S1) and representative (S2), were utilised to provide alternative perspectives on the topic. Since the samples were from different countries, no direct effects of the sampling method itself could be studied since the sampling technique was confounded with the sampling country. Despite being unable to study the effects sampling technique directly, there was an advantage in having two countries represented in the study. Also, the third sample (S3) was obtained to explore the age and musical expertise differences inherent in the two samples, which brought additional information about the role of these factors to the results.

It must be noted that all past studies [ 5 , 6 , 36 , 60 ] involving music and sadness have utilised convenience samples and been significantly smaller in size. Only one broad music and emotion survey has been carried out with a representative sample [ 1 ], in which the focus was not on the present topic. Nevertheless, it would be valuable to replicate the survey in a few other Western countries to assess the variability of the results and to obtain better estimations of the prevalence of the different types of sadness experiences associated with music. An even more fascinating issue would be to transport the relevant parts of the survey to a few non-Western countries to learn whether there are any decisive cultural differences within this topic.

The significant individual variation in memorable experiences linked with sad music is an interesting aspect of the findings. Although past studies have either downplayed the importance of individual differences [ 61 ] or emphasised their role [ 1 , 36 ], it was clear that here there was an interaction between the experiences and musical expertise, age and gender, and that differences were more pronounced in samples with higher interest in music. Also, younger and musical trained participants reported stronger emotional responses in general, which is similar to more general trends in emotional reactions across the life span [ 62 ]. Unfortunately the present research could not connect the reasons, mechanisms and experiences to personality traits, which seems to be particularly relevant for sadness induced by music [ 4 , 9 ]. This is, however, easy to remedy in future studies once the right structures and reasons for these emotional experiences have been identified.

Theoretical implications

There have been several attempts of explaining the enjoyment of sadness induced by music and other fiction. Most of these emphasise the beauty and the lack of real-life repercussions [ 24 , 63 , 64 ], and in light of our findings, only pertain to one kind of emotional experiences ( Sweet sorrow ), but more elaborate theories postulate a more specific mechanism at play. Some assume [ 8 ] that whilst sad music and associated memories are painful, these might turn into positive emotions, such as nostalgia, afterwards. Whether such transformations could be characterised in terms of distraction or reappraisal processes [ 65 ], remains to be explored in follow-up studies. It is unlikely that this could be classic explanation often dubbed as catharsis, since such strategy seems to be inefficient coping strategy after induced sadness [ 66 ]. A more plausible explanation is our inherent need to experience different kinds of emotions, which fiction effectively generates [ 67 ]. Finally, going back to functional explanation and biology, Huron has offered a tantalizing explanation, which utilises the ability of fiction to emulate our experience of real sadness, triggering an endocrine response (prolactin) designed to alleviate mental pain associated with significant loss [ 29 ]. This hormonal response is experienced as consoling, even enjoyable, when the real-life consequences of the loss are absent. Indeed, early evidence exists that prolactin levels are modulated by positive and negative emotion induction, at least in women [ 68 ], but the theory is without corroboration yet. The present findings would suggest that experiences related to Comforting Sorrow would be most relevant experiences explained by this theory, whereas the experiences of Grief-Stricken Sorrow might still be relevant for the production of prolactin, but since these experiences generated by music are heavily associated with autobiographical memories therefore characterised by real loss as well, the putative hormonal response is unlikely to be converted into pleasure.

In a similar fashion, neural structures associated with different kinds of sadness experiences associated with music are bound to have different neural correlates. A clear demonstration of this was a study by Trost and her colleagues [ 69 ] who had participants listening to excerpts of classical music spanning nine target dimensions of emotions. The low arousal aesthetic emotions (transcendence, peacefulness, tenderness, and nostalgia) activated the right ventral striatum, hippocampus, and anterior cingulate and medial orbitofrontal cortex, whereas sadness itself displayed activations in right parahippocampal areas. Positive emotions have also been linked with social functions of music, and areas such as superficial amygdala associated with social signals [ 70 ]. An actual grief experience with acute psychological pain is known to activate rather a different set of brain areas, such as left cuneus and posterior cingulate cortex as well as posterior cingulate cortex, cerebellum, and parahippocampal gyrus [ 71 ]. An interesting follow-up to recent neuroimaging studies of music-induced sadness [ 12 , 69 ] would be to differentiate the types of experiences based on mechanisms, reactions, and valenced descriptions of the experience and then dissociate the pertinent neural structures involved in these specific types of sadness experiences.

In sum, the discussion of all putative explanations of enjoyment of music-induced sadness has highlighted the need to differentiate the experiences associated with sadness: it is likely that different types of experiences are governed by different functions, mechanisms and explanations, as discussed above.

Finally, the current results detailing the emotions induced by music linked with sadness bear similarities to discoveries made in relation to the appeal of sadness in other forms of fiction [ 72 , 73 ], and even with other negative emotions such as horror in films [ 74 , 75 ] or disgust in visual art [ 76 ]. Overall, it seems that looking at underlying similarities between different types of fiction and focussing on a emotional reactions such as “being moved” [ 77 ] or “awe” or the experiences identified as Sublime Sorrow would be putting the notions of classical philosophy of aesthetics—as presented by Burke [ 78 ], Kant [ 79 ], Hume [ 80 ], and Schiller [ 81 ]—to much-awaited empirical scrutiny.

Supporting Information

S1 table. sample characteristics..

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0157444.s001

S2 Table. Proportion of participants selecting each reason for listening to sad music in each sample.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0157444.s002

S3 Table. Proportions and rankings of the mechanisms relevant for memorable experience of sad music across the samples.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0157444.s003

Acknowledgments

We thank Jonna Vuoskoski for her invaluable insights in the planning phase. This work was financially supported by the Academy of Finland Grant 270220 (Surun Suloisuus).

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: TE HP. Performed the experiments: TE HP. Analyzed the data: TE HP. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: TE HP. Wrote the paper: TE HP. Carried out the quantitative analysis: TE. Carried out the qualitative analysis: HP.

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Is Sad Music Actually Sad?

Music is everywhere one can think of. From inside grocery stores, to malls, on the radio, and even on television commercials. Music is all around us and surrounds everyone at almost every given time. “92% of people over the age of 12” actually listen to the radio consistently (Are MP3s and Vinyls …). However, the way people interpret music varies from person to person. The occipital and parietal, parts of the brain, work together to control how one “views” and “perceives sounds” (Anatomy of the Brain).

These two parts of the brain work differently in every human being. Making the way one perceives anything and everything different. Many have related certain songs to mean different things in their life and connect with each one, such as a song played at one wedding funeral, or even one’s party. “Sad music isn’t inherently sad” (Is Sad Music …).

Rugnetta argues that “major chords are not happy and minor chords are not sad” (Is Sad Music …), our brain has just been trained to receive them that way from our neurological receptors in our brain.

He goes on to talk about Plato’s Imitation Theory and how “music imitates the movement or characteristics of an emotion’s physical expression or general feeling” (Is Sad Music …). This is why wide-open intervals in movies sound expansive and accepting, upward harmonic motions sound uplifting, and deep slow-to-fast paced sound frightening. There are studies to show that there is something biologically and neurologically that makes certain sounds sound soothing and other tones that sound evocative.

Proficient in: Green Day

“ Ok, let me say I’m extremely satisfy with the result while it was a last minute thing. I really enjoy the effort put in. ”

Therefore the music is not imitating us, it is us responding to what we hear physically from the music itself. There is another study that shows that “children from many different cultures respond positively to the same intervals and rhythms” (Is Sad Music …). He then goes on to talk about what this means to people that make different kinds of music, such as “Georgian folk music or Bulgarian folk music” (Is Sad Music …). And finally wrapping it to modern-day music such as Katy Perry or The Red Hot Chili Peppers. The biology and neurology of people that find these sounds pleasing and meaningful are not different from the people that find Green Day or Twenty One Savage pleasing and meaningful. If that was the case that would be wrong and plausibly unethical to society. But among any of the group’s people explicit concurrence on what the songs mean and feel to each person listening to the songs. There is a place in Romania where they play the same music at weddings that they do at funerals.

The music does not change at all it is just the way the people respond to the music being played that is different. The notion the music makes on one changes based on the social context that is going on at the time the music is being played. “People might be able to recognize emotion in music” (Is Sad Music …). Anyone can tell the intent of what the music was supposed to make one feel. But that does not mean that they feel the emotion themselves. However, it [the song] may affect them just not, in the same way, every time they listen to it. For music to communicate to us or through us is for us to be open to the message that which the song or songs are trying to tell us or make us feel a certain way. By doing this we must be receptive to the music that is at hand. “You can’t have your emotional away message set to unavailable” (Is Sad Music …). This is one of the many reasons that the sound of explosions and brakes that squeal on cars do not affect us. We do not picture these noises to contain any meaning but rather what is going on. Even though some of these sounds sound like musical instruments. Our brain does not receive them as music because our brains are not emotionally receptive to that noise that we hear. Instead, we only view them as what they are, noise. Now there are many reasons that this can happen. “Luckily two researchers Patrick Juslin and Patrick- … -Vastfjall, boiled all of them down to six categories” (Is Sad Music …).

Brain stem reflexes, evaluative conditioning, emotional contagion, visual imagery, episodic memory, and musical expectancy all contribute to the way that we feel while we are hearing things. These six would also be referred to as emotional induction by music. Therefore, sad music is not simply sad. Many factors contribute to how we respond to music. I believe that sad music is not meant to be sad. I think that age does play a role in sad music. Modern-day sad music does not connect to the older generations, such as Bruno Mars. His sad music is written and sung well, but that is beside the point. The point is that older generations hear him and think that he is predictable in what he is going to sing and that the sound has little to no meaning behind what he is trying to say. Which I think is simply not true. He connects with his audience well about breakups and many other things that connect to the youth so well in today’s society. I think it is our past experiences with that music that makes it sad. Such as, if you and your ex-girlfriend had a song and you had been dating for a while. Any time that song would come on, it should and more than likely will make you sad. The same thing goes with a song that you may hear at a loved one’s funeral. I heard ‘21 Guns’ by Green Day on the day of a good friend of mine’s funeral, and now every time I hear that song, it reminds me of the day of his funeral. Now that song is not meant to be completely sad. But every time I hear it, I am reminded of that day.

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Songwriting Advice

Lyric ideas for a sad song.

• March 8, 2024

Whether you're going through heartbreak, dealing with loss, or simply feeling a little down, sad songs have a unique way of providing solace and helping us connect with our emotions. For songwriters, penning a sad song can be a cathartic experience, helping them process and confront their feelings. If you're in the songwriting process, but finding it difficult to come up with the perfect lyrics, this article is for you. Read on for a collection of lyric ideas for a sad song, along with detailed content, realistic examples, and an engaging outro showcasing how Lyric Assistant can make the process even easier.

Lyric Ideas For A Sad Song Table of Contents

To craft the perfect sad song, consider the following components:, lyric ideas for a sad song example, want to write better songs try lyric assistant today, frequently asked questions.

It's often said that sad songs are the most memorable and impactful ones. They possess the power to evoke deep emotions from within, resonating with listeners in a way that no other genre can. A well-crafted sad song can become timeless, providing comfort and solace for generations. But writing a sad song isn't easy. It requires vulnerability, sincerity, and oftentimes, a sobering reflection on one's own life experiences. If you're struggling to find the right words for your sad song, fear not; we are here to provide some inspiration and guidance.

1. Choose a theme

A sad song should have a central theme or message. This could be heartbreak, loss, loneliness, regret, or any other emotion or event that causes sadness. The theme will serve as a foundation for your lyrics, ensuring that they remain focused and emotionally resonant.

2. Be specific

Dive deep into the details of the experience you're writing about. The more specific your lyrics are, the more relatable they will be to your listeners. Rather than simply saying "I miss you," consider describing the precise moments and memories that you miss.

3. Utilize imagery and metaphor

Using imagery and metaphor in your lyrics can elevate your song to new emotional heights. They can help paint a vivid picture of the emotions you're trying to convey, allowing your listeners to truly feel the depth of your sadness.

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Consider this sample verse and chorus for a sad song about heartbreak:

Echoes of Goodbye

In this silent room where shadows dance, I'm holding onto memories, a fragile trance. The clock ticks away, a relentless guide, To moments we shared, now lost in the tide.

Echoes of goodbye, in whispers they lie, In the corners of my heart, where your ghost resides. A melody of sorrow, in the stillness of night, Haunting my dreams, in the soft moonlight.

Photographs lay scattered, a jigsaw of the past, Each piece a story, too beautiful to last. Your laughter, a melody, now a distant sound, In this empty space, where love once was found.

Echoes of goodbye, in the hush of the dawn, Where our song used to play, now forlorn. A symphony of silence, in the absence of light, Holding onto shadows, in the depths of the night.

In the echoes, I find you, a whisper away, In every sunset, at the close of day. But the night brings truth, in its dark embrace, You're a memory, a love I can't replace.

The seasons change, the world turns anew, But time stands still in my thoughts of you. A longing unspoken, a heart torn apart, In the echoes of goodbye, the breaking of a heart.

Echoes of goodbye, in the tears that I cry, In the silence of my soul, where your echoes lie. A ballad of the broken, under the starry sky, In the echoes of goodbye, where our love did die.

In the whispers of the wind, I hear your voice call, A fleeting moment, then into the nightfall. In the echoes of goodbye, I find my release, In the sweet sorrow, I find my peace.

This example demonstrates the use of specific details, imagery, and metaphor to convey the emotion of sadness and heartbreak. The lines are rich, vivid, and relatable, evoking the poignant emotions that make for a powerful sad song.

Once you have a grasp on the necessary components for a sad song, the process becomes more manageable. However, if you need extra help writing the perfect unique sad song, Lyric Assistant is here to assist. Lyric Assistant makes songwriting easy: you pick the genre, topic, structure, and the artists you'd like your song to sound like, and Lyric Assistant will write you the perfect unique song in minutes. Your next sad song masterpiece is only a few clicks away, with the expert aid of Lyric Assistant.

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What Defines a Sad Song?

A sad song typically encompasses themes of loss, heartbreak, or sorrow. It's characterized by emotional depth and often employs minor keys and slower tempos in its music. The lyrics usually convey a sense of melancholy, introspection, or personal struggle.

How Can I Start Writing a Sad Song?

To start writing a sad song , begin by reflecting on a personal experience of sadness or empathy towards a sad situation. Write down your feelings, thoughts, or a specific narrative that you want to share. This raw material can serve as the foundation for your lyrics.

What Are Common Themes in Sad Songs?

Common themes in sad songs include unrequited love, loss of a loved one, loneliness, life struggles, and reminiscing about better times. These themes resonate universally, offering listeners a connection to their own experiences of sadness.

How Do I Choose the Right Words for a Sad Song?

Choosing the right words involves focusing on emotive, descriptive language that evokes the feelings you want to convey. Use metaphors, similes, and vivid imagery to paint a picture of the emotions. Be genuine and avoid clichés to create a more impactful experience.

How Important is the Chorus in a Sad Song?

The chorus in a sad song is crucial as it often encapsulates the core emotion or message. It should be memorable and emotionally resonant, providing a moment of reflection or climax in the song. A good chorus can deeply affect the listener and make the song relatable.

Can a Sad Song Have a Positive Message?

Yes, a sad song can have a positive message . This might involve finding hope in sadness, learning from loss, or cherishing good memories. Integrating a positive message can offer comfort to the listener and add depth to the song.

How Can I Make My Sad Song Unique?

To make your sad song unique , draw on personal experiences and perspectives. Experiment with unusual metaphors, non-traditional song structures, or incorporate influences from other music genres. Authenticity and creativity are key to standing out.

What's the Best Way to Structure a Sad Song?

The structure of a sad song often follows a verse-chorus format, but you can experiment with it. Consider adding a bridge to provide contrast or a narrative shift. The structure should support the emotional journey of the song.

How Do I Convey Emotion in My Lyrics?

To convey emotion in lyrics , focus on showing rather than telling. Use sensory language to describe feelings and scenes. Be specific in your descriptions to create a vivid emotional landscape that listeners can immerse themselves in.

How Can I Use Metaphors Effectively in Sad Songs?

Using metaphors effectively involves creating imagery that parallels the emotional experience you’re describing. Choose metaphors that are evocative and resonate with the theme of your song. They should add depth and understanding to the emotional context.

What Role Does the Melody Play in a Sad Song?

The melody in a sad song plays a pivotal role in setting the emotional tone. It should complement the lyrics, enhancing the song's mood. Melodies that are simple, haunting, or lingering can be particularly effective in sad songs.

How Can I Avoid Clichés in Sad Songwriting?

Avoiding clichés involves being mindful of overused phrases or themes. Strive for original expressions of emotion and personal storytelling. Drawing on specific, personal experiences can help keep your lyrics fresh and authentic.

Can a Sad Song Be Upbeat in Tempo?

A sad song can be upbeat in tempo . This contrast between upbeat music and sad lyrics can create a unique emotional effect, adding layers to the song’s interpretation. It's a technique often used to highlight the complexity of emotions.

How Should I End a Sad Song?

Ending a sad song can vary depending on the message. You might choose a resolution, leave it open-ended, or hint at hope or acceptance. The ending should feel consistent with the rest of the song and leave a lasting impact on the listener.

How Do I Choose a Title for My Sad Song?

Choosing a title for your sad song involves reflecting on the core theme or emotion. It can be a line from the chorus, a metaphor that represents the song's essence, or a simple phrase that captures the overall mood.

What's the Best Way to Practice Writing Sad Songs?

The best way to practice writing sad songs is through regular writing and experimentation. Listen to a variety of sad songs for inspiration, write about different themes of sadness, and don’t be afraid to revise and refine your lyrics.

How Can I Use Nature Imagery in Sad Songs?

Using nature imagery in sad songs can be effective in illustrating emotions. Elements like rain, winter, or fading flowers can symbolize sadness, loneliness, or change. Nature metaphors can add a universal quality to your lyrics.

Can I Write a Sad Song About a Happy Memory?

Yes, you can write a sad song about a happy memory . This juxtaposition can highlight feelings of nostalgia or loss. Reflecting on happy times from a place of sadness can add a poignant, bittersweet quality to your song.

How Do I Balance Specificity and Universality in Lyrics?

Balancing specificity and universality involves drawing from personal experiences while making your lyrics relatable. Use specific details to create authenticity but frame them in a way that resonates with common human emotions and experiences.

How Can Collaborations Enhance Sad Songwriting?

Collaborations can bring new perspectives, emotional depths, and lyrical styles to your sad songwriting. Working with others can inspire creativity and help you explore themes and emotions you might not have considered on your own.

What Should I Do After Writing a Sad Song?

After writing a sad song , consider sharing it with trusted friends or musicians for feedback. Perform it live, record a demo, or post it online to see how it resonates with listeners. Use the feedback to refine and improve your songwriting skills.

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When I am dead, my dearest Summary & Analysis by Christina Rossetti

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis
• Poetic Devices
• Vocabulary & References
• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme
• Line-by-Line Explanations

The Victorian poet Christina Rossetti wrote "Song (When I am dead, my dearest)" in 1848 at the age of 18, though it wasn't published until 1862 in her collection Goblin Market and Other Poems . The poem focuses on death and mourning, with the speaker urging a loved one not to waste too much time grieving for her when she dies. Instead, the speaker tells this person to move on with life: while the speaker isn't exactly sure what happens after death, she does seem sure that she won't notice whether or not the living remember her.

• Read the full text of “Song (When I am dead, my dearest)”

The Full Text of “Song (When I am dead, my dearest)”

1 When I am dead, my dearest,

2 Sing no sad songs for me;

3 Plant thou no roses at my head,

4 Nor shady cypress tree:

5 Be the green grass above me

6 With showers and dewdrops wet;

7 And if thou wilt, remember,

8 And if thou wilt, forget.

9 I shall not see the shadows,

10 I shall not feel the rain;

11 I shall not hear the nightingale

12 Sing on, as if in pain:

13 And dreaming through the twilight

14 That doth not rise nor set,

15 Haply I may remember,

16 And haply may forget.

“Song (When I am dead, my dearest)” Summary

“song (when i am dead, my dearest)” themes.

Love, Death, and Mourning

• See where this theme is active in the poem.

Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Song (When I am dead, my dearest)”

When I am dead, my dearest, Sing no sad songs for me;

Plant thou no roses at my head, Nor shady cypress tree: Be the green grass above me With showers and dewdrops wet;

And if thou wilt, remember, And if thou wilt, forget.

I shall not see the shadows, I shall not feel the rain; I shall not hear the nightingale Sing on, as if in pain:

Lines 13-14

And dreaming through the twilight That doth not rise nor set,

Lines 15-16

Haply I may remember, And haply may forget.

“Song (When I am dead, my dearest)” Symbols

Roses and the Cypress Tree

• See where this symbol appears in the poem.

Green Grass

The Nightingale

“song (when i am dead, my dearest)” poetic devices & figurative language.

• See where this poetic device appears in the poem.

Alliteration

“song (when i am dead, my dearest)” vocabulary.

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

• Cypress tree
• Nightingale
• See where this vocabulary word appears in the poem.

Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Song (When I am dead, my dearest)”

Rhyme scheme, “song (when i am dead, my dearest)” speaker, “song (when i am dead, my dearest)” setting, literary and historical context of “song (when i am dead, my dearest)”, more “song (when i am dead, my dearest)” resources, external resources.

The Poem Read Aloud — The poem as performed by Mairin O'Hagan.

Goblin Market — Scans of the second edition of Rossetti's collection Goblin Market, in which this poem originally appeared, from the British Library. 

Rosetti's Life and Work — A biography of Christina Rossetti and additional poems from the Poetry Foundation.

A Musical Arrangement of the Poem — "Song (When I am dead, my dearest)" as arranged by Saskia Kusrahadianti, one of many musical performances of the poem.

LitCharts on Other Poems by Christina Rossetti

An Apple Gathering

Babylon the Great

Cousin Kate

From the Antique

Good Friday

In an Artist's Studio

In the Round Tower at Jhansi, June 8, 1857 (Indian Mutiny)

Maude Clare

No, Thank You, John

Sister Maude

Soeur Louise de la Miséricorde

Winter: My Secret

Ask LitCharts AI: The answer to your questions

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Arooj Aftab Knows You Love Her Sad Music. But She’s Ready for More.

The genre-crossing songwriter’s introspective “Vulture Prince” was a pandemic hit. Now she is returning with “Night Reign,” an LP that reveals her many dimensions.

By Sam Sodomsky

In a remote studio in North Brooklyn, the actress Tessa Thompson stood behind a camera and instructed a young model how to project a precise but elusive expression of longing: “Almost like you can’t help it,” she suggested from beneath a black beret. Thompson was making her debut behind the camera, directing a music video by the Pakistani composer and vocalist Arooj Aftab .

“This is a dream come true,” Thompson said between takes on an afternoon in March. “A dream I didn’t know I had.”

The clip was for Aftab’s latest song, the dusky “Raat Ki Rani,” from her fourth solo album, “Night Reign,” due May 31. Drawing inspiration from Ingmar Bergman’s 1966 thriller, “Persona,” the treatment weaves an imagistic love story between two women into a trippy meta-narrative that takes place on the set of a perfume commercial. Accordingly, the room was filled with fragrant bouquets as Aftab, 39, observed quietly from the sidelines.

If you didn’t know she was the star of the show — not to mention, the beautiful, Auto-Tuned voice pouring from the speakers all day — you might have assumed she was one of the crew members assessing the scenery, keeping the mood light, checking if anyone needed bottled water. As the team reset for a complex shot accompanied by a relentlessly looped fragment from her track, Aftab whispered offhandedly to a cameraperson, “Thank God the song is good!”

“Raat Ki Rani” is Aftab’s first official music video and a rare instance of the musician outsourcing her distinctive vision. Many listeners first encountered her hypnotic and immersive style via her 2021 breakthrough, “Vulture Prince” : a minimalist blend of jazz, folk and ghazals, a form of Urdu poetry that incorporates themes of longing and loss.

The album became a rare pandemic-era success for an independent artist, partly because its quiet, introspective music aligned with the times. It was forged in grief as a tribute to Aftab’s younger brother, who died in 2018, and the emotional intensity often came through her stunning vocals.

With more than six million plays on Spotify, the slow-building, eight-minute ballad “Mohabbat” has become something like a signature song. Its fans include Barack Obama, Elvis Costello and the Grammys, where it picked up best global music performance, making Aftab the first Pakistani artist to win the award. (She was also nominated for best new artist but lost to Olivia Rodrigo.)

“‘Vulture Prince’ bridged a gap in the industry,” Aftab said. “There were renditions of old poems and traditional songs, heritage material from Pakistan and South Asia.” She referred to “Mohabbat,” an oft-covered ghazal written by Hafeez Hoshiarpuri, as a “national treasure” among South Asian artists and is proud to exist in this lineage. But she has consciously avoided instruments or textures that Western audiences might associate with the term “world music” — a philosophy she boils down to “bitching about tablas.”

“Night Reign,” Aftab’s first solo release for a major label, Verve, offers a more comprehensive self-portrait, with vivid songs veering as close to pop music as she has ever come while still making room for explorations like “Na Gul,” the first time the writing of the 18th-century Urdu writer Mah Laqa Bai Chanda has been set to music.

“‘Vulture Prince’ was a sad record because I was sad,” Aftab said with a lucidity and self-awareness that seems to come second nature to her. “But in the years that passed, I’ve had this joy inside of me. It would be unfair if it didn’t translate in my music.”

The success of “Vulture Prince” put Aftab on a different track. “I was finally financially free,” she said. “I don’t have a desk job. I don’t have a supervisor. I can be in a different city every night playing.” As soon as pandemic restrictions eased, she got on the road — “like 200 shows in a year” — and observed the way her sound evolved to fit each space. “We learned that it goes in a big room, it goes in a small room,” she said. “It goes in a festival where there’s a rock band onstage next to you.”

GROWING UP IN Lahore, Pakistan, Aftab attended a school with what she called “all-girls convent vibes,” where she played sports and acquired a spirit of collaboration, competition and “solidarity with women.” Much of her free time was filled with music. She learned from her parents’ tradition of curating mixtapes to soundtrack parties — that sprawling, genre-agnostic approach remains crucial to Aftab’s art — and made friends with acoustic guitars and record collections.

Soon, she was fronting a band, performing local gigs and boasting a songbook of heartbroken originals and popular-demand covers. (Her first brush with fame was a performance of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” that went semi-viral on the pre-YouTube internet.)

At Berklee College of Music in Boston, where she studied production and audio engineering, Aftab was electrified by the local jazz scene and the community of musicians. Many of her fellow students moved to New York with her upon graduation, and several appeared on her debut, “Bird Under Water” from 2014, a record she looks back on as an early stab at her multidisciplinary aesthetic.

Touring “Vulture Prince” and its follow-up, “Love in Exile,” a collaboration with the jazz musicians Shahzad Ismaily and Vijay Iyer from 2023, shaped the nocturnal reflections of “Night Reign.” During a trip back to her hometown, the smell of the raat ki rani flower (its name translates from Urdu as “Queen of the Night”) flooded her with memories of childhood. She connected these images to the nightlife in Brooklyn, which she has called home since 2009.

“I am really an extrovert,” she said. “But there’s also the silence of the night, the calmness.” She reflected for a minute. “Also, you know, everyone just looks better when it’s all shadowy and unclear. I don’t want to be seeing people in the daytime.”

A lot of Aftab’s thoughts evolve this way: She will summon the wisdom of her music and quickly swat it away with a self-effacing joke or conversational aside. Despite her rising profile, she remains an unassuming presence. Casually chatting about the album at a hip Brooklyn social club, she drank a cup of tea. She was wearing a North Face vest and a pair of sunglasses, standing out from the loudly dressed attendees of a nearby fashion show. “I don’t know that it’s in my persona to become a persona,” she said.

On “Night Reign,” she seized the opportunity to express different sides of her personality. There’s “Raat Ki Rani,” which features an uncharacteristic use of Auto-Tune that emerged from a whimsical studio experiment. (“I was like, ‘This is not a T-Pain record. We need to dial it back.’”) And “Whiskey,” an English-language love song she started writing in college, with a depiction of drunken intimacy that represents her most direct, unguarded moment as a writer. “I think I’m ready to give in to your beauty and let you fall in love with me,” she sings over a starry folk arrangement.

To match the range of the songwriting, Aftab enlisted her familiar collaborators, including the harpist Maeve Gilchrist, the bassist Petros Klampanis, the guitarist Gyan Riley, the veteran percussionist Jamey Haddad and her “Love in Exile” bandmates Ismaily and Ayer. She also extended her circle to Costello (who plays Wurlitzer on “Last Night Reprise”), the guitar virtuoso Kaki King, the Philadelphia spoken-word artist Moor Mother and Joshua Karpeh, the R&B songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who records as Cautious Clay.

Describing their collaboration on “Last Night Reprise,” a jazzy interpretation of a poem by the 13th-century Persian writer Rumi, Karpeh recalled Aftab taking the vantage of a film director, using visual cues to encourage different takes. “There’s a trust in how we approach our music,” he said of their shared approach. “It felt very free and raw.”

Aftab said Karpeh embodies her ideal player: someone who gravitates to the unique. “I search for people like that because that’s 80 percent of the thing,” she said. “There’s nothing I can write down and ask you to play if you don’t have that innate feeling.”

In Tessa Thompson, who Aftab pinged with a friendly DM on Instagram, Aftab found both a natural collaborator and a role model for navigating the business on her own terms. (She had previously met some musical members of Thompson’s family: her half sister, Zsela, and her father, Marc Anthony Thompson, a.k.a. Chocolate Genius.)

“I haven’t been around that type of person who has been in the industry a long time and still manages their mental health and knows how to be chill and natural and not overwhelmed by stuff,” Aftab said of Thompson. “Maybe I’m just a baby!”

ON A WARM April day, Aftab was ready to premiere the final cut of the “Raat Ki Rani” video. In her Brooklyn brownstone apartment, a cozy spot with a lush backyard garden, she made tea and explained the history of a rare instrument she found on eBay — the Sonica, a synthesizer in the shape of a guitar. Discussing her excitement about the video, she zoomed out to place its imagistic depiction of queer romance in a larger context. “It feels natural to me in this moment in culture for the center of desire to not be a man,” she said firmly. “We are in a time that is fluid.”

When the conversation turned to a recent Instagram post in which she announced the imminent retirement of “Mohabbat” from her set lists, Aftab laughed. “I was just [expletive] around,” she said. “Obviously nobody’s going to let me not play that anymore.” Her tone quickly turned more serious. “I’ve never had a hit, so I don’t know what to do. I guess Norah Jones still has to play ‘Come Away With Me.’” Eventually, Aftab confirmed that she still connects with the song every time she sings it, but her impulse to move forward is no joke.

“Let me be more personal,” she said, leaning forward. “Let me be me and not a representative of culture.” She paused. “People still call me, like, ‘the Sufi fusion singer,’ or whatever. And it’s just, like, I actually don’t really know anything about Sufism.”

“I see a lot of artists saying this,” she added. “We want to run away from being labeled — but we can’t. So we have to do it in our music.”

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Free Essays Art And Entertainment Music Music Reference Sad Songs And Musical Qualities

Essay About Sad Songs And Musical Qualities

• Movies Music Genres Music Reference

Movie MusicEssay Preview: Movie MusicReport this essayI determined that sad songs have the following musical qualities 100% of the time; falling scales, played in a minor key and a low-pitched melody. I concluded that 84% of sad songs had a slow tempo. Also 67% of sad songs had a quiet volume.

I was pleased with my results. It was interesting to me to see how musical qualities in a song triggered the listeners emotions that the movie scene intends with each of the songs. So without seeing the movie the listeners auditory senses brought forth the emotion the movie scene would make them feel if they had watched each movie.

For example one song titled Had a Bad Day, had musical qualities of a sad song like falling scales, low-pitched melody. However it was sung by the Chipmunks and so 84% of my test subjects thought it sounded happy and my predication was it would have been rated a sad song due to its lyrics.

Also the Main Title musical sequence from The Little Mermaid based on musical qualities like being played in a major key, rising scales and high-pitched melody I anticipated my subjects would find this song to be happy. However 67% of my subjects thought this acoustic song sounded sad based on its slow tempo and quiet volume. In the article “How Music Affects Moods” it discusses how people when happy want to listen to upbeat music this also correlates to people who like to see Disney Princess movies as the characters typically end up “happily ever after.” It is fascinating how my subjects each heard different qualities more than others to determine if a song was happy or sad. Like the saying goes “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” so is the “emotion in the ear of the listener”!

Also a little background information about this song:

The song was first posted in May 2004. It was named «The Little Mermaid Music Of Little Mermaid»,

the first song on the album «The Little Mermaid Music Of Little Mermaid»,

the first song on the album «The Little Mermaid Rap Song «The Little Mermaid Music» by the Nilo family from June to July 2000.

This song, as seen by the singer, was the second top charting song on the world in 2003.

You can see by the number of people that agree that this song is a happy song that, once you learn this little song’s lyrics, people will never really want to hear a happy song. It has been said that even the oldest music writers will never let their children have a happy relationship with a sad or sad song.

And, in 2005-2006, the singer-songwriter, Kim Min-Seon-Shi explained how, when he studied music in middle school and university, he was unable to find anyone from his family that he could listen to so how could I do that? He concluded,

The song may have been called «The Little Mermaid Music Of Little Mermaid», but the lyrics and melody. It can very well be considered even a happy song with lyrics about love and happiness!

All of this music lyrics (including the lyrics that were previously listed by Kim):

Music lyrics are the result of an event of life in an amazing and beautiful world. Some songs are simply made up of sounds, others are made up of words.

When the musical melody is written, the word was borrowed from English, so the line for the song was “the melody. What are the words and what does it say?”

Some people even suggest that the lyrics of this song have a connection to the ‘lady song’ (the singing on a song) and the music melody. I think most of the time, the melody is simply just about singing the lines to the melodies and just for each person. This has helped me to make the song easy for each person to hear for them. The lyrics are all about this beautiful girl singing a beautiful melody that is never played in frontof the audience. When an attractive girl is singing a song, it’s called a ‘lady song’. This is said to be the best melody that people have heard!

By the way there are hundreds and thousands of different songs that have been played before and to create such an easy to listen and very catchy track. I love it!”

So, what do you think about this song &#8220 on the show?

Well, I think if you’re a musician it would be a good way

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Every song from taylor swift: the eras tour's disney+ movie that was removed from her concert setlist.

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Every Taylor Swift Album In Release Order (And Which Are Taylor's Versions)

Taylor swift’s the eras tour return ironically just reversed a great change she made in disney+’s movie, taylor swift: the eras tour's 4 hour version must surely be coming now, right.

• Taylor Swift removed six songs from the Eras Tour setlist to make room for the new The Tortured Poets Department set, five of which were featured in the extended cut of her concert movie, Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour (Taylor's Version), on Disney+.
• The only song Swift cut from the setlist that was never featured in The Eras Tour movie is "'tis the damn season" from Evermore.
• Two of the songs now cut from the setlist, "The Archer" and "Long Live," were initially excluded from the theatrical release of The Eras Tour movie. "Long Live" also wasn't added to the setlist until three months into the tour.

Taylor Swift has removed six songs from her Eras Tour concert setlist, five of which were featured in The Eras Tour movie on Disney+. After a two-month hiatus, Taylor Swift resumed The Eras Tour in Paris, France, on May 9, 2024. During her hiatus, Swift released an extended cut of The Eras Tour concert movie on Disney+ which features almost the whole concert and a bonus section with the four remaining surprise songs from the filmed shows' acoustic sets. Swift also dropped her new album, The Tortured Poets Department , on April 19, which turned out to be a double album.

Now that she's back on the road and has entered a new era, Swift added seven songs from The Tortured Poets Department to the Eras Tour setlist . to her show. To accommodate this, Swift had to make some changes to the existing Eras Tour setlist. Along with rearranging the order of the existing eras and combining the Folklore and Evermore sets, Swift removed six songs from four different eras on the setlist to make room in the three-and-a-half hour concert for the new The Tortured Poets Department songs .

The only song from the permanent setlist that was absent in all three versions of The Eras Tour movie is "'tis the damn season" from Evermore, which Swift has now removed from the setlist.

Because they were part of the permanent setlist, all but one of these now-cut songs were featured in Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour (Taylor's Version) , the extended cut of the concert movie on Disney+. A couple of them were initially excluded from the concert movie's theatrical release to shorten the runtime, but when The Eras Tour movie was released on Disney+, almost all of the previously cut setlist songs were included in the streaming version.

The only song from the permanent Eras Tour setlist that was absent in all three versions of The Eras Tour movie is "'tis the damn season" from Evermore , which Swift has now removed from the setlist. "'Tis the damn season" is missing from The Eras Tour movie because Swift swapped it for "no body, no crime," her duet with opening act HAIM, at the three L.A. shows that were filmed for The Eras Tour movie . However, "no body, no crime" was never included in The Eras Tour movie either, leaving the Evermore set one song short in the concert movie.

“Seven (Interlude),” a pre-recorded, spoken word rendition of Swift’s song “seven” that served as the intro for the Folklore era at the live shows, has also been cut from the Eras Tour show. Like “'tis the damn season,” this interlude was part of the permanent setlist but was not featured in The Eras Tour movie either.

Every Taylor Swift Album, Ranked From Worst To Best

Taylor Swift has released 11 albums (and re-recorded four) over the course of her 18-year career, some of which are better than others.

5 The Archer

The lover era.

The first song that Swift cut from the permanent Eras Tout setlist is "The Archer," which used to close out the Lover set. Despite rearranging some of the eras, Lover remains the opening era of the show, but "The Archer" no longer serves as the sixth and final song. Instead, the Lover era is now only five songs long and closes with the album's title track.

When the movie hit streaming in March 2024, "The Archer" and the other missing songs in theaters (except "no body, no crime") were finally included in their respective eras in The Eras Tour (Taylor's Version) on Disney+.

"The Archer" is one of the least surprising casualties of the post- TTPD setlist given that it was also one of the casualties of The Eras Tour movie's theatrical release. Exactly three months after the theatrical premiere on October 13, 2023, The Eras Tour movie was made available to rent on demand, featuring "The Archer" and two other previously cut songs as bonus features. When the movie hit streaming in March 2024, "The Archer" and the other missing songs in theaters (except "no body, no crime") were finally included in their respective eras in T he Eras Tour (Taylor's Version) on Disney+ .

"The Archer" is one of Taylor Swift's famous track 5 songs , two of which have now been removed from the Eras Tour setlist. Ever since her debut album in 2006, Swift has always made the fifth track on all her albums a deeply vulnerable, soul-baring song like "The Archer," an introspective examination of her deepest anxieties and insecurities. It's a well-known album tradition that Swift nearly continued with the Eras Tour itself by placing "The Archer" just one away from the fifth spot on the full concert setlist.

Taylor Swift's New Album Continues A Sad 18-Year Trend That The Eras Tour Setlist Avoided

Taylor Swift's new album, The Tortured Poets Department, continues a trend dating back to her debut album that the Eras Tour setlist narrowly avoided.

4 Tolerate It

The evermore era.

Evermore used to be the third era on the Eras Tour setlist, but because Swift combined the 2020 "sister album" eras, all the surviving Evermore songs now appear in the Folklore section before 1989 . Swift also rearranged the song order and placed "willow" at the end instead of "tolerate it," which did not survive. It's such a shame Swift got rid of "tolerate it" because her live performance of this harrowing account of unrequited love was so moving.

Swift would then be joined by Raphael Thomas, one of her backup dancers on the Eras Tour, who played the role of the narrator's neglectful lover.

On the Eras Tour, Swift brought the meaning behind the lyrics of "tolerate it" to life onstage during the Evermore era. Inspired by Daphne du Maurier's 1938 novel Rebecca, about a woman whose older, wealthy husband is haunted by his ex-wife's ghost, "tolerate it" is written from the perspective of someone whose partner completely undervalues them and merely "tolerates" their love no matter how hard they try to impress them. The theatrical number opened with Swift acting out the lyric " lay the table with the fancy sh*t " by carefully setting the long dining table in the middle of the stage.

Swift would then be joined by Raphael Thomas, one of her backup dancers on the Eras Tour, who played the role of the narrator's neglectful lover. Thomas sat across from Swift and would either look annoyed or ignore her completely as she grew more frustrated while singing. During the explosive bridge in which the narrator's grievances all boil over, Swift would climb onto the table and angrily knock all the " fancy sh*t " off to try and get his attention.

"Tolerate it" is the other "track 5" song that Swift has now removed from the Eras Tour setlist, along with "The Archer."

9 Taylor Swift Songs That Are Even Better In The Eras Tour Movie Than On The Album

Some of Taylor Swift's songs are even better as live performances in The Eras Tour movie than as studio recordings on their respective albums.

3 Long Live

The speak now era.

Arguably the most gutting song to lose from the setlist is "Long Live," partially because of the tumultuous journey the Speak Now song has been on ever since the Eras Tour began. Originally, "Long Live" wasn't even included in the setlist and the Speak Now era only consisted of "Enchanted." It wasn't until after she released Speak Now (Taylor's Version) on July 7, 2023, that Swift officially added "Long Live" to the permanent setlist . Since then, she's performed it at every show on the Eras Tour, including the three filmed shows in L.A. the following month.

The Taylor Swift album release order was complicated by the onset of her Taylor's Version series, but it represents the artist reclaiming her legacy.

Despite the spectacle of adding it to the setlist three months into the tour, Swift snubbed "Long Live" again when The Eras Tour movie premiered in theaters. Like "The Archer," "Long Live" was one of the songs Swift cut from The Eras Tour movie that was later restored on VOD and streaming. Going through all that just to lose "Long Live" again would still be frustrating if it was any other great song, but it's especially devastating because of what this song represents.

As a celebration of both her success and the people who contributed to achieving it, "Long Live" encompasses so much of what the Eras Tour is all about.

Swift wrote "Long Live" to express gratitude to her longtime bandmates and fans , so it's always been a special song for the Swifties. This makes Swift's neglectful treatment of "Long Live" especially baffling. As a celebration of both her success and the people who contributed to achieving it, "Long Live" encompasses so much of what the Eras Tour is all about. Plus, the Speak Now era is already the shortest set in the show; continuously leaving "Enchanted" to represent Speak Now all by itself just makes the setlist feel unbalanced.

One of Taylor Swift's recent adjustments to the Eras Tour setlist reversed a long overdue change she'd finally made to the Eras Tour movie on Disney+.

The Folklore Era

Previously tied with Midnights as the longest era on the setlist, the Folklore era lost two songs to the TTPD invasion, the first of which was "the 1." At the live shows on the Eras Tour, Swift opened the Folklore era with "the 1" after the spoken word "Seven (Interlude)," laying on the mossy roof of the famous F olklore cabin as she reflected on the "one" who got away and wondered what could've been " if one thing had been different ." Since "Seven (Interlude)" was not featured in The Eras Tour movie, "the 1" set the tone for the Folklore era.

When Swift embarked on the Eras Tour on March 17, 2023, she initially opened the Folklore era with "invisible string" instead of "the 1."

Swift's removal of "the 1" doesn't come as much of a surprise, though, considering it wasn't always meant to be part of the Eras Tour setlist. When Swift embarked on the Eras Tour on March 17, 2023, she initially opened the Folklore era with "invisible string" instead of "the 1." However, after just four shows of performing this fate-centered love song as the Folklore opener, Swift replaced it with the more bargain-stage-oriented "the 1." Now that she's merged the Folklore and Evermore eras and switched up the song order, Swift opens the combined "sister album" set with "cardigan" instead.

After making this change to the setlist, the only time Swift performed "invisible string" instead of "the 1" on the Eras Tour was at her second Nashville show on May 6, 2023, in honor of the city dedicating a bench to her at Centennial Park (which is mentioned in the song).

As of her Paris show, Taylor Swift officially added The Tortured Poets Department to her Eras Tour setlist, making fans wonder about a new movie cut.

1 The Last Great American Dynasty

The second Folklore song and last song from The Eras Tour (Taylor's Version) on Disney+ that Swift removed from the Eras Tour setlist is "the last great american dynasty." Swift performed "TLGAD" as the third song in the era, between two of the three Folklore love triangle songs, "betty" and "august." Like "tolerate it," Swift brought the story of "the last great american dynasty" to life onstage during the F olklore era , only this time, it was a true story.

Swift wrote "the last great american dynasty" about an eccentric socialite named Rebekah Harkness who became the widow of an extremely wealthy oil heir named Bill Harkness. In the song, Swift paints a picture of the notorious Rebekah from the perspective of snobbish gossips. She goes from describing the couple's lavish parties at their Rhode Island mansion, to Rebekah's reputation as the " maddest " and " most shameless " woman in town who supposedly caused Bill's fatal heart attack (" she had a marvelous time ruining everything "), to her outlandish activities at their "Holiday House" after his death.

At the end of the bridge, Swift would take Reid-as-Rebekah's place onstage as she revealed that she actually bought the Harknesses' Holiday House in real life long after Rebekah was gone, drawing parallels between the socialite's public image and her own as a high-profile celebrity.

While Swift performed "the last great american dynasty" on the Eras Tour, her dancers would act out the story onstage , with dancer Natalie Reid playing Rebekah. At the end of the bridge, Swift would take Reid-as-Rebekah's place onstage as she revealed that she actually bought the Harknesses' Holiday House in real life long after Rebekah was gone, drawing parallels between the socialite's public image and her own as a high-profile celebrity. Now that it's been taken off the Eras Tour setlist, Taylor Swift 's performance of "the last great american dynasty" has thankfully been immortalized in The Eras Tour movie.

Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour

Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour is a film rendition of the colossal worldwide event that sees the legendary pop star hit the stage in a specially curated film event. Performing the hits of her over seventeen-year career in music, The Eras Tour highlights Taylor Swift and her team as they put on a show of a lifetime.

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Review article, the pleasures of sad music: a systematic review.

• Brain and Creativity Institute, Dornsife College of Letters Arts and Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

Sadness is generally seen as a negative emotion, a response to distressing and adverse situations. In an aesthetic context, however, sadness is often associated with some degree of pleasure, as suggested by the ubiquity and popularity, throughout history, of music, plays, films and paintings with a sad content. Here, we focus on the fact that music regarded as sad is often experienced as pleasurable. Compared to other art forms, music has an exceptional ability to evoke a wide-range of feelings and is especially beguiling when it deals with grief and sorrow. Why is it, then, that while human survival depends on preventing painful experiences, mental pain often turns out to be explicitly sought through music? In this article we consider why and how sad music can become pleasurable. We offer a framework to account for how listening to sad music can lead to positive feelings, contending that this effect hinges on correcting an ongoing homeostatic imbalance. Sadness evoked by music is found pleasurable: (1) when it is perceived as non-threatening; (2) when it is aesthetically pleasing; and (3) when it produces psychological benefits such as mood regulation, and empathic feelings, caused, for example, by recollection of and reflection on past events. We also review neuroimaging studies related to music and emotion and focus on those that deal with sadness. Further exploration of the neural mechanisms through which stimuli that usually produce sadness can induce a positive affective state could help the development of effective therapies for disorders such as depression, in which the ability to experience pleasure is attenuated.

Introduction

Humans have long devoted effort and attention to the making and consuming of art that portrays and conveys misery. The ancient Greeks were known for staging tragedies that were widely popular; to this day, films and novels that deal with heartache and despair become bestsellers and garner critical attention. The phenomenon is seen across cultures and art forms. Classical music exhibits the phenomenon abundantly. Folk music, such as the Portuguese Fado ( Nielsen et al., 2009 ) or the Irish Lament ( O’Neill, 1910 ), often expresses sadness and grief. Sad-sounding motifs even permeate many modern-day American pop songs ( Schellenberg and von Scheve, 2012 ).

Sadness in everyday life, however, is hardly pleasant. It is one of the six basic emotions (along with fear, happiness, anger, surprise, and disgust) and it results in feelings that most humans prefer not to experience. As is the case with other negative emotions, the importance of sadness throughout human history and across cultures can be explained through the evolutionary advantage that it confers ( Ekman, 1992 ). Sadness results from a perceived loss, such as the loss of a valued object, the loss of health, the loss of status or of a relationship, or the loss of a loved one. It is a complex bodily and neural state, resulting in feelings of low energy, social withdrawal, low self-worth, and a sense of limited horizon of the future ( Harter and Jackson, 1993 ; Damasio, 1999 ; Mee et al., 2006 ; Hervas and Vazquez, 2011 ).

Sad music can be defined objectively, based on its acoustical properties, and subjectively, based on a listener’s interpretation of the emotion that the composer is assumed to have conveyed. The musical features generally associated with “sadness” include lower overall pitch, narrow pitch range, slower tempo, use of the minor mode, dull and dark timbres, softer and lower sound levels, legato articulation, and less energetic execution ( Juslin and Laukka, 2004 ). The emotional content of music can also be described on a bi-directional space of valence and arousal. In this view, sad music is defined as music with low valence and low arousal ( Trost et al., 2012 ). Others classify music as sad based on either the emotion that is perceived or the emotion that is induced. This is usually determined by directly asking participants which emotion they believe is being expressed by the music or which emotion they feel when listening to the music ( Guhn et al., 2007 ). The lyrics of popular songs and the poetry of classical pieces can play an important role in defining music as sad as they can trigger memories that the listener associates with sadness ( Van den Tol and Edwards, 2013 ), such as themes of regret and lost love ( Mori and Iwanaga, 2013 ).

Given that in most circumstances sadness is unpleasant, how then can it be associated with pleasure when expressed through music? Herein lies the so-called “tragedy paradox”, the seemingly contradictory idea that humans work to minimize sadness in their lives, yet find it pleasurable in an aesthetic context. The Athenian philosophers of the Pre-Christian era were the first to discuss this matter formally, proposing that art pertaining to negative emotions provides rewards that other art cannot provide. Aristotle, for example, spoke of how tragic theater allowed the audience to experience rapidly, and subsequently purge itself, of negative emotions, a beneficial outcome known as catharsis ( Schaper, 1968 ). Philosophers and psychologists continue to explain the human attraction to sad art in terms of the psychological rewards that are associated with it.

There is room for disagreement, however, regarding the exact relationship between sad music and the associated pleasurable response. Many believe that music perceived as sad does not produce feelings of sadness and instead directly produces a positive affective state ( Kivy, 1991 ). Others argue that, as is the case with Schadenfreude , pleasurable sadness can be viewed as a “mixed” emotion in which positive and negative affects are experienced simultaneously ( Juslin, 2013 ). A third position is that sad music does induce feelings of sadness and that this negative affect is then made positive ( Vuoskoski et al., 2011 ).

The recent emergence of new tools in cognitive science and neuroscience provides the possibility of investigating the relationship between perceived sadness in music and positive affect. By investigating how the brain responds to music listening, aesthetic judgment, and emotional processing, it is possible to gain a better understanding of how and why certain auditory stimuli eventually culminate in a pleasurable response.

In this article, we attempt to bring together findings from philosophy, psychology, and neuroscience in order to arrive at a framework for how sad music becomes pleasurable. We also propose ways of assessing the validity of the framework using neuroimaging and suggest how the available facts may be applicable to mental health interventions.

The Tragedy Paradox: Philosophical and Psychological Approaches

The earliest attempts to reconcile the “tragedy paradox” came from philosophy and can be broadly organized into two main schools of thought. The “cognitivists” argue that music does not evoke real emotions, but that emotion can nonetheless be perceived in the structure of music, which, in turn, evokes reminders of the feelings associated with that emotion ( Kivy, 1991 ). Cognitivists posit that emotive moments in music occur much too quickly to result in a full-fledged feeling of that emotion and, therefore, music can only act as a tour guide of past emotions ( Hindemith, 1961 ).

On the other hand, the “emotivists” claim that music does induce real emotions in the listener ( Levinson, 1990 ). Within the emotivist school of thought, however, there is still disagreement over the exact nature of the inducible emotions. Some emotivists argue that the emotional response is of a different sort than the kind experienced in everyday life. “Music-sadness” cannot be the same as “life-sadness”, they contend, because the environmental conditions necessary for that emotion are not present ( Hospers, 1969 ). Given the inherently unpleasant nature of sadness, the pure fact that music expressing negative valence can even be found pleasant is proof enough that listeners do not feel sad. Instead, one is left only with responses such as awe, transcendence, and chills, which are inherently pleasurable, but do not entail or require the clear goal-oriented action that basic emotions promote ( Scherer, 2004 ; Konečni, 2005 ).

Other “emotivists”, such as the philosopher Jerrold Levinson, argue that sad music does induce genuine sadness, and that this response is inherently rewarding. In his account, Levinson lists eight different benefits that can arise from the feeling of sadness evoked by music with a negative valence: catharsis , the purging of negative emotions, apprehending expression , an improved understanding of the emotions expressed in a piece of art, savoring feeling , the satisfaction that arises from simply feeling any emotion in response to art, understanding feeling , the opportunity to learn about one’s feelings , emotional assurance , the confirmation in one’s ability to feel deeply, emotional resolution , the knowledge that an emotion state has been, and can be, regulated, expressive potency , the pleasure that arises from expressing one’s feelings, and emotional communion , a connection to the feelings of the composer or other listeners ( Levinson, 1990 ).

More recently, large-scale surveys in which participants were asked to provide their motives for listening to sad music have revealed that people often cite similar benefits to the ones described by Levinson ( Garrido and Schubert, 2011 ). Furthermore, when participants were specifically asked about each of Levinson’s eight rewards relative to their justification for listening to sad music over happy music, they were more likely to associate sad music with the rewards of understanding feelings, emotional assurance, savoring feelings, emotional communion, and emotional resolution ( Taruffi and Koelsch, 2014 ). Additional justifications included the trigger of specific memories, the distraction from current problems ( Van den Tol and Edwards, 2013 ), the engagement of imaginative processes, and the experience of intense emotions without real-life implications ( Taruffi and Koelsch, 2014 ).

Levinson’s ideas, and the ensuing survey data, point to a central mechanism by which sad music can become enjoyable: by triggering a number of psychological processes that are pleasurable to begin with. However, neither can fully explain how the association between sad music and psychological rewards arises or why this association is more likely to occur with sad music than with happy music. Sad music may in fact arouse feelings of connectedness and these feelings may be inherently pleasurable, but the question of how and why sad music allows one to feel more connected to others remains.

Proposed Psychological Theories

A different line of research attempts to elucidate the relationship between sad music and affective response by exploring the underlying cognitive processes. Based on the notion that positive emotions, such as joy, are often linked to pleasure, while negative emotions are often linked to displeasure, Schubert (1996) proposed that negative-valence music is perceived as sad, but that this perception of negativity does not produce displeasure because the stimuli are considered to be “aesthetic” and therefore not actually harmful. In the wake of the dampened displeasure provided by the aesthetic context, a pleasurable response arises from the experience of arousal that the music produces. This theory provides a testable model for how sad music can be linked to pleasure, yet it does not clarify why other negative-valence stimuli, such as fear-inducing music, are generally not enjoyed.

In an attempt to address this question, Huron (2011) suggested that the hormone prolactin is responsible for enabling the enjoyment of sad music. Prolactin is released by endocrine neurons in the hypothalamus in response to tears and to the experience of negative emotions such as grief, sadness, and, more generally, stress ( Turner et al., 2002 ). In such situations, its release encourages attachment and pair bonding as suggested by the fact that levels of prolactin fluctuate when people become parents, hear their children cry, or are mourning a recently deceased spouse ( Lane et al., 1987 ; Delahunty et al., 2007 ). Huron proposes that the release of prolactin serves to comfort and console, to counteract the mental pain at the root of the negative emotion. He states that music simulates real sadness, which tricks the brain into engaging a normal, compensatory response, i.e., the release of prolactin. But because the listener is aware of the fact that they are not actually in a stressful or grief-inducing situation, the consoling effect of the hormone is produced in the absence of the mental pain that normally precedes it. The fact that the enjoyment of sadness varies greatly from person to person can be explained by differences in personality, emotional reactivity, cultural norms, biology and learned associations ( Huron, 2011 ). No study to date has yet tested levels of prolactin in participants listening to music that evokes other negative emotions and thus this idea remains untested.

Like Schubert’s, Huron’s theory does not clarify why music is unique in its ability to produce this comforting after-effect. According to his view, other sad stimuli that simulate mental pain should be found pleasurable as well, such as sad faces or sad affective words. But existing research has suggested that this is not the case as the subjective report of experienced pleasure decreased when participants were presented with a sad photo ( Wild et al., 2001 ).

A third proposal comes from Juslin’s BRECVEMA model, which describes eight mechanisms by which music can induce emotions: brain stem reflexes, rhythmic entrainment, evaluative conditioning, contagion, visual imagery, episodic memory, musical expectancy , and aesthetic judgment ( Juslin, 2013 ). These mechanisms can work independently and as a group. A mixed emotion, such as pleasurable sadness, can be understood as the result of two different mechanisms generating different affective responses simultaneously. A sad piece of music might evoke a negative affect through the emotional contagion mechanism, which involves feeling the emotions that are recognized in external stimuli, and might evoke a positive affect through the aesthetic judgment mechanism, which involves deciding that the piece of music is aesthetically pleasing. In this account, the sad affective response does not lead to a joyful response, but rather sad music itself produces both sorrow and joy simultaneously ( Juslin, 2013 ).

Do Listeners Actually Feel Sad?

One common thread that runs through the available theories is that music that expresses sadness is enjoyed when the perceiver recognizes that the stimulus is not an immediate threat but is aesthetic instead. The fundamental disagreement concerns whether or not people actually feel sad when listening to sad music that they regard as pleasurable.

When people are directly asked the question, the responses vary. Roughly 25% say that they experience genuine sadness and the rest report that they experience some other, albeit related, emotion, most often, nostalgia ( Huron, 2011 ). However, self-reports made in the context of emotional experience may provide inaccurate results since the difference between emotional perception and emotional experience may not be clear or equal to everyone. In studies in which the researchers made a clear distinction between “perceived” and “felt”, participants reported experiencing mixed emotions ( Kawakami et al., 2013 ).

There is behavioral evidence to suggest that participants do indeed experience, as well as perceive, everyday emotions in response to music. Physiological and behavioral differences were found in participants listening to sad music vs. happy music, including decreased skin conductance, higher finger temperature, decreased zygomatic activity, and more self-reported sadness ( Lundqvist et al., 2008 ). Vuoskoski and Eerola (2012) showed that sadness induced by music had similar bias effects on a word recall task and a picture judgment task as sadness induced by autobiographical recall. The results, then, are taken to mean that music can alter perception and judgment in a similar way to genuine sadness, even if listening to sad music was reported as more pleasant than recollecting a sad autobiographical memory. Neuroimaging has also provided some clarification, as sad music activated some of the regions associated with sad affective states ( Mitterschiffthaler et al., 2003 ; Vytal and Hamann, 2010 ; Brattico et al., 2011 ). To date findings suggest that both views have merit. At times, feelings of sadness are experienced in response to sad music and can result in pleasure; at other times, sad music can bypass the associated sad feelings and directly induce a pleasurable response. Which scenario occurs most likely depends on personality, mood, and learned associations with the musical stimuli. Exploring the extent to which the emotional response to sad music overlaps with the sadness experienced in everyday life is a fertile area for further research.

The Influence of Individual Differences, Mood, and Social Context

While sad music may be associated with various psychological rewards that are inherently pleasurable, not everyone experiences the pleasurable response all the time. In addition to the acoustic features of sad music described above, personality, mood, and the surrounding social context are all important factors in determining whether or not sad music is enjoyed. Several key personality measures are correlated with the liking of sad music, including absorption, as measured by the Tellegen Absorption Scale, and scores on subscales of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) including fantasy and empathic concern ( Garrido and Schubert, 2011 ). Higher scores on openness to experience and lower scores on extraversion, as defined by the Big Five Model of personality traits, were shown to be associated with the liking of sad music ( Vuoskoski et al., 2011 ; Ladinig and Schellenberg, 2012 ). Trait rumination, assessed by the Rumination-Reflection Questionnaire (RRQ), was also positively correlated with enjoyment of sad music, suggesting that certain people listen to sad music not because of the resulting positive feelings, but because of some maladaptive attraction to negative stimuli ( Garrido and Schubert, 2011 ).

Situational factors are also important. People report choosing to listen to sad music more often when they are alone, when they are in emotional distress or feeling lonely, when they are in reflective or introspective moods, or when they are in contact with nature ( Taruffi and Koelsch, 2014 ). Some individuals report that their preference for sad music is dependent on the time of day when they listen ( Taruffi and Koelsch, 2014 ). Other studies have shown that liking of sad music increases when the listener is repeatedly exposed to the musical excerpt while distracted or mentally fatigued ( Schellenberg et al., 2008 ) or when the music is preceded by multiple happy-sounding excerpts ( Schellenberg et al., 2012 ). Empirical evidence that context can have an effect on one’s emotional response to music was recently found in a study in which participants who listened to music alone showed greater skin conductance response compared to participants who listened to the same music in a group ( Egermann et al., 2011 ).

Mood appears to play a role in preferences for sad music as well, though the exact nature of that role is unclear. The liking of unambiguously sad-sounding music was shown to increase after a sad-mood induction paradigm ( Hunter et al., 2011 ). However, there is evidence to suggest that this effect may vary across individuals as some people appear to be motivated to select music that is incongruent with their current mood (i.e., selecting happy music when they are sad) while others are motivated to select music that is congruent with their mood (i.e., selecting sad music when they are sad; Taruffi and Koelsch, 2014 ). Whether a person selects mood-congruent or mood-incongruent music most likely depends on individual differences and social context. A previous study looking specifically at the interacting effects of mood and personality found that people who scored higher on a measure of global empathy, as well as the fantasy and personal distress subscales of the IRI, were more likely to listen to sad music when they were in a negative mood (mood-congruent). People who scored lower on measures of emotional stability were also more likely to listen to sad music when they were in a negative mood. Interestingly, global empathy scores were positively correlated with people’s preferences to listen to sad music when in a positive mood (mood-incongruent), but in this case, the perspective taking subscale, rather than personal distress, was significant ( Taruffi and Koelsch, 2014 ). The connection between these factors and their associations with pleasurable response to sad music is summarized in Figure 1 .

Figure 1. Interaction affects between personality, social context, learned associations, and mood on pleasurable response to sad music . Personality, learned associations, and the social context can all influence a person’s current mood (purple arrows) and the interaction of one’s mood with certain combinations of these three factors form the psychological rewards associated with sad music and, ultimately, the pleasurable response (blue arrows). The resulting pleasurable response can in turn influence current mood, as represented by the bi-directional arrow between pleasure and mood. The reciprocal nature of psychological rewards and pleasurable response is also represented by a bidirectional arrow.

The Neuroscience Perspective

Neuroimaging techniques, including functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), can be used to identify areas of the brain that are activated in response to certain stimuli and thus help uncover some of the processes related to the tragedy paradox. To date, however, no study has explored the neural correlates of pleasurable sadness in response to music. In this section, we will simply draw relevant inferences from the literature.

Sadness in the Brain

Perception of sadness and sad mood.

The neural correlates of the experience of sadness are often investigated through the use of sad-mood induction tasks. In order to induce the intended feelings, these experiments generally have the participants reflect on sad, autobiographical events and/or view stimuli that express sadness, such as sad faces or sad films ( Vytal and Hamann, 2010 ).

Changes in mood states are associated with activity changes in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and in the insular cortex, two of the main regions of cerebral cortex involved in the processing of feelings ( Damasio, 1999 ). The two programs are interconnected ( Mesulam and Mufson, 1982 ). Several studies using positron emission tomography (PET) or fMRI have reported heightened activity in both structures during the experience of sadness ( Lane et al., 1997 ; Damasio et al., 2000 ; Lévesque et al., 2003 ; Habel et al., 2005 ). The ACC is also associated with social pain as the result of social-exclusion ( Macdonald and Leary, 2005 ), and the processing of sad faces ( Killgore and Yurgelun-Todd, 2004 ).

Collectively, the hippocampus, parahippocampal gyrus, and the amygdala, are presumed to be important partners in the process of emotional learning and memory. The three areas are neuroanatomically connected ( Pitkänen et al., 2000 ) and recently several studies have shown that they are functionally connected during the processing of emotional stimuli ( Hamann et al., 1999 ; Kilpatrick and Cahill, 2003 ).

The hippocampus, parahippocampal gyrus, and amygdala are also associated with unpleasant experience, as higher activity was found in these regions when participants viewed unhappy faces and thought about sad past events ( Posse et al., 2003 ; Habel et al., 2005 ). Increased activity in the amygdala and parahippocampal gyrus was also found, however, during the happy mood induction task ( Habel et al., 2005 ), suggesting that these regions are not involved in processing sadness specifically, but rather are involved in processing salient emotional stimuli ( Phan et al., 2002 ).

Areas in the frontal lobe are also implicated in processing sadness. A recent meta-analysis found that superior frontal gyrus (BA 9), as well as an area slightly anterior to it [sometimes referred to as the medial frontal gyrus (BA 10)], were repeatedly activated during various sad mood induction tasks ( Vytal and Hamann, 2010 ). The caudate nucleus, a region that is highly innervated by dopamine neurons and modulated by the ventral tegmental area ( Faggin et al., 1990 ), was also involved in the same task ( Vytal and Hamann, 2010 ). In addition, activity in the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG, BA 47) was revealed when comparing sad mood induction, directly, to happy mood induction ( Habel et al., 2005 ).

Brain Correlates of Music-Evoked Sadness

The regions of the brain that are involved in processing feelings of sadness, in general, also appear to be implicated in the processing of feelings evoked by music. In a study in which participants listened to familiar music that they found sad or happy, sad pieces, compared to happy pieces, were associated with increased activation in the head of the caudate nucleus as well as the thalamus ( Brattico et al., 2011 ). Increased activation in the thalamus has also been found during the processing of sad faces ( Fusar-Poli et al., 2009 ).

Several studies on music and emotion have reported involvement of the hippocampus, parahippocampal gyrus, and amygdala ( Blood and Zatorre, 2001 ; Baumgartner et al., 2006 ; Koelsch et al., 2006 ; Eldar et al., 2007 ). Specifically, in relation to sad music, music that induced a sad mood, judged by subjective reporting, was shown to correlate with increased blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) signal in the hippocampus and the amygdala ( Mitterschiffthaler et al., 2007 ).

A number of functional neuroimaging studies reported involvement of these regions in the perception of negative valence in music in particular. For example, music perceived as sad, as a result of it being either in a minor mode ( Green et al., 2008 ) or producing low arousal and valence ( Frühholz et al., 2014 ), was shown to correlate with increased activity in the parahippocampal gyrus. That region, along with the hippocampus, was also shown to be involved in responding to dissonant music that was found unpleasant ( Blood et al., 1999 ; Koelsch, 2014 ). Because of their role in the encoding of memories, the parahippocampal gyrus, hippocampus, and amygdala may also play an important role in processing emotional events related to the music ( Ford et al., 2011 ).

The superior frontal gyrus and the medial frontal gyrus appear to be associated with the perception of emotions in music as well; both regions were shown to be activated when contrasting the response to music in a minor key to music in a major key ( Khalfa et al., 2005 ; Green et al., 2008 ).

Aesthetic Judgments

Aesthetic judgments include both the act of deciding whether or not an auditory stimulus is aesthetic in nature, and therefore not life-threatening, as well as whether the auditory stimulus is beautiful ( Jacobsen, 2006 ). Neuroimaging studies of aesthetic judgment generally produce activation in the frontal lobe cortices and the ACC. The orbital frontal cortex (OFC) has been shown to be involved in various decision-making processes by linking past behavior with their emotional byproducts ( Bechara and Damasio, 2005 ). It is not surprising then, that this general area is repeatedly recruited during tasks of aesthetic judgment ( Jacobsen et al., 2006 ; Ishizu and Zeki, 2011 ). Other areas of the frontal lobe, including the superior frontal gyrus, and the medial frontal gyrus (BA 9 and 10), were activated when judging the beauty of musical rhythms ( Kornysheva et al., 2010 ) and geometric shapes ( Jacobsen et al., 2006 ). Greater activation in the ACC is also observed when aesthetic judgments are made about both art and music ( Kornysheva et al., 2010 ; Ishizu and Zeki, 2011 ).

Pleasure in the Brain

Activation of the ventral striatum and the nucleus accumbens, during pleasurable music listening was first reported in a study by Blood and Zatorre (2001) and has since been encountered by several investigators using both fMRI ( Menon and Levitin, 2005 ; Koelsch et al., 2006 ; Salimpoor et al., 2013 ) and PET ( Brown et al., 2004 ; Suzuki et al., 2008 ). Salimpoor et al. (2011) showed that there is a direct relationship between increases in pleasure during music listening and hemodynamic activity in the right nucleus accumbens, an area that is part of the ventral striatum. The study also found that the caudate nucleus was involved in the anticipation of a pleasurable response to musical excerpts ( Salimpoor et al., 2013 ).

In a recent fMRI study, Trost et al. (2012) found that music deemed to have positive emotional valence engages the ventral striatum selectively but in a lateralized fashion. Musical stimuli with positive valence and low arousal, those leading to tenderness, increase activity in the right ventral striatum whereas musical stimuli with positive valence and high arousal, those leading to joy, increase activity in the left ventral striatum.

Using connectivity analysis, Menon and Levitin (2005) showed significant interactions during music listening between the ventral striatum, the hypothalamus and the ventral tegmental area of the brainstem, which is involved in the production and dissemination of the neurotransmitter dopamine. The results also suggested that activation of the ventral striatum in response to pleasurable music is modulated by the activity in both the ventral tegmental area and by the hypothalamus ( Menon and Levitin, 2005 ).

Several studies have reported activity changes in the ACC and the insula during the experience of pleasure in response to musical stimuli. In their 2001 study, Blood and Zatorre demonstrated that an increase in the subjective experience of the intensity of aesthetic chills, as well as increases in physiological measures of arousal (i.e., heart rate, muscular activity and respiration rate) occurred concurrently with a rise in cerebral blood flow within the insula and the ACC. Increased activation of the insula was also observed while participants listened to pleasant musical excerpts ( Brown et al., 2004 ; Koelsch et al., 2006 ).

In an attempt identify the brain regions involved in processing specific emotions in music, Trost et al. (2012) showed that listening to classical instrumental music identified as high in arousal level and positive in valence (such as joy), led to increased respiration rate together with increased activity in the insular cortex. By contrast, listening to musical excerpts that were rated low in level of arousal, regardless of valence, correlated with increased activity in the ACC ( Trost et al., 2012 ).

The OFC has been shown to be involved in the pleasurable response that results from music listening ( Blood and Zatorre, 2001 ; Menon and Levitin, 2005 ) and the IFG was activated in response to pleasant, consonant music when compared to unpleasant, dissonant music ( Koelsch et al., 2006 ).

In addition, there is evidence to suggest that the thalamus might be involved in the pleasurable response to emotional stimuli as increased cerebral blood flow in the region was also found to be positively correlated with intensity ratings of chills in response to pleasurable music ( Blood and Zatorre, 2001 ) and during self-reported judgments of pleasantness across different modalities ( Kühn and Gallinat, 2012 ).

Summary and Neurobiological Framework

The results from the neuroimaging experiments suggest that pleasurable sadness is a consequence of several coordinated neural processes. When a sad musical stimulus reaches the brain, its emotional valence is assessed on the basis of its acoustical properties (i.e., mode, timbre, and loudness), which depends on processing in the brainstem and primary and secondary auditory cortices ( Liégeois-Chauvel et al., 1998 ; Pallesen et al., 2005 ; Juslin and Västfjäll, 2008 ). The experience of sadness would result from previously learned associations with the auditory stimulus, the emotional content of the associated words, and the parallel changes in body state induced by the emotional process ( Baumgartner, 1992 ; Ali and Peynircioglu, 2006 ; Khalfa et al., 2008 ; Juslin et al., 2013 ). Linking past experiences with emotional content recruits the network of the parahippocampal gyrus, the hippocampus and the amygdala ( Killgore and Yurgelun-Todd, 2004 ), whereas feelings of the specific emotion, are mediated by a set of subcortical nuclei in the brain stem and basal ganglia, as well as prefrontal, anterior cingulate and insular cortices ( Damasio and Carvalho, 2013 ).

The recognition of consonance or dissonance in the musical stimulus, previous associations and familiarity associated with the musical stimulus, and affective information, such as the emotions and feelings that are perceived or induced by the piece of music ( Juslin, 2013 ), all serve as input for the making of aesthetic judgment, whose coordination depends on the frontal cortices, including those in the superior frontal gyrus, the middle frontal gyrus, the OFC, and the ACC ( Jacobsen et al., 2006 ; Ishizu and Zeki, 2011 ).

It is often the case that judging a piece as beautiful leads to feelings of pleasure, yet this is not always true ( Juslin, 2013 ). When a subsequent pleasurable response emerges, it can come in the form of increases in emotional arousal, which has been shown to be correlated with increased feelings of pleasure, ( Salimpoor et al., 2009 ), and in the form of episodic memories triggered by the music which can also lead directly to pleasure ( Janata, 2009 ). The experience of pleasure is correlated with activity in the ventral striatum, specifically in the nucleus accumbens, the caudate nucleus, and the orbitofrontal cortex ( Berridge and Kringelbach, 2008 ).

The Clinical Implications of Pleasurable Response to Sad Music

The most common of mood disorders, major depressive disorder (MDD), is characterized by persistent feelings of unhappiness and is often accompanied by an inability to experience pleasure (anhedonia) and a disturbed ability to describe or identify emotions (alexithymia). Investigating the response of depressed patients to negative-valance stimuli such as sad music, could provide another perspective in understanding the paradox of pleasurable sadness.

Depression appears to influence how one perceives and experiences sadness. Participants with MDD show prolonged or heightened activity in the amygdala and ACC when they process stimuli that express negative valence ( Siegle et al., 2002 ) and increased activity in the insula and ACC when experiencing a sad mood ( Mayberg et al., 1999 ; Keedwell et al., 2005 ). Given the role of these brain regions in reward processing and emotional regulation ( Langenecker et al., 2007 ), it is possible that this pattern of activity reflects the increased intensity and salience of negative affect that is often associated with depression.

An investigation of the listening-habits of individuals diagnosed with depression produced informative results ( Bodner et al., 2007 ; Wilhelm et al., 2013 ). Depressed patients expressed an intensified response to sad-sounding music when compared to healthy controls ( Bodner et al., 2007 ). Furthermore, such patients evaluated negative-valence music as significantly more sad and angry than did healthy controls ( Punkanen et al., 2011 ). When depressed individuals and healthy controls were asked about their reasons for listening to music, the degree to which depressed participants referenced engaging with music in order to “express, experience, or understand emotions” was significantly higher than in healthy controls ( Wilhelm et al., 2013 ). This difference was interpreted as evidence for the notion that bringing emotions to the forefront of attention, in this case through music listening, is a way of regulating and ultimately reducing the negative affective state that is indicative of depression ( Chen et al., 2007 ).

Neuroimaging studies have shown that depression alters the neural response to music that is found pleasurable. Significant deactivation was found in the medial OFC and the nucleus accumbens/ventral striatum when depressed patients listened to their favorite pieces of music. Of interest, no differences were found between patients and healthy controls relative to how much they reported actually enjoying the musical excerpts ( Osuch et al., 2009 ), suggesting that the neural processing of rewarding stimuli is still effected in patients with depression even when the feelings associated with the rewarding stimuli are not. A related study found that when listening to pleasant musical stimuli, activity in the OFC, as well as the nucleus accumbens, insula, ACC, ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC), and the lateral hypothalamus, was negatively correlated with measures of anhedonia ( Keller et al., 2013 ).

In sum, depression is associated with varied neurobiological differences in emotional processing and experience. The fact that these differences are also seen in response to music implies that experience of pleasurable sadness to aesthetic stimuli can be influenced by mental illness. Furthermore, the distinct neural activity patterns seen in depressed patients when they respond to rewarding stimuli occurred in the regions known to be involved in processing enjoyable music. This suggests that music may be well suited to target and ameliorate the diminished experience of pleasure associated with various mood disorders ( Salimpoor et al., 2013 ).

Proposed Framework

Results from various disciplines suggest that pleasure in response to sad music is related to a combination of the following concurrent factors:

1. Realization that the music stimuli have no immediate real world implications;

2. Recognition that the music stimuli have aesthetic value;

3. Experience of certain psychological benefits, which depend on the following factors, individually or in combination:

a. Evocation of memories related to particular musical pieces or pieces similar to them;

b. Personality traits;

c. Social context;

d. Current mood;

We propose that the ways in which these various factors interact to produce pleasure when listening to sad music can be understood in the perspective of homeostatic regulation. Homeostasis refers to the process of maintaining internal conditions within a range that promotes optimal functioning, well-being and survival ( Habibi and Damasio, 2014 ). Emotions, which refer to a set of physiological responses to certain external stimuli, were selected in evolution because they favor the reestablishment of homeostatic equilibrium ( Damasio and Carvalho, 2013 ). Feelings are experiences of the ongoing physiological state and range in their valences, from positive and pleasurable to negative and potentially painful. The valence of the feelings as well as their intensity help signify whether the associated stimulus or behavior is adaptive and should be avoided or sought in the future. Feelings are a critical interface in the regulation of life because they compel the individual organism to respond accordingly. Feelings of pleasure are a reward for achieving homeostatic balance and encourage the organism, under certain conditions, to seek out the behaviors and stimuli that produced them. Feelings of pain, in general, and mental pain specifically, on the other hand, signify homeostatic imbalance and discourage the endorsement of the associated stimuli and behaviors.

When and how music induces a pleasurable response may depend on whether a homeostatic imbalance is present at the outset and whether music can successfully correct the imbalance. There is already evidence to suggest that music has deeply rooted connections to survival ( Huron, 2001 ). Making music encourages group cohesion and social bonding, which can lead to the successful propagation of the clan ( Brown, 2000 ). It may also be a sign of evolutionary and sexual fitness, thus fostering mate selection ( Hauser and McDermott, 2003 ). The fact that music listening has the capacity to communicate, regulate, and enhance emotions further suggests that music can be an effective tool in returning an organism or a group to a state of homeostatic equilibrium ( Zatorre and Salimpoor, 2013 ).

The pleasurable responses caused by listening to sad music is a possible indication that engaging with such music has been previously capable of helping restore homeostatic balance. Given that various psychological and emotional rewards (e.g., emotional expression, emotional resolution, catharsis) are shown to be associated to a higher degree with sad music than happy music ( Taruffi and Koelsch, 2014 ), it may be that sad music, in particular, is preferentially suited for regulating homeostasis both in general physiological terms and mental terms. This notion is further supported by the fact that listening to sad music engages the same network of structures in the brain (i.e., the OFC, the nucleus accumbens, insula, and cingulate) that are known to be involved in processing other stimuli with homeostatic value, such as those associated with food, sex, and attachment ( Zatorre, 2005 ). This is not to say that these regions are unique to the processing of sad music or that other types of music may not be useful for homeostatic regulation. We believe that pleasurable responses to negative-valence music stimuli are best understood through their ability to promote homeostasis.

The lack of a pleasurable response to sad music might mean that either no homeostatic imbalance was present or that the musical stimuli failed to correct the imbalance. It is known that pleasure to higher order stimuli (e.g., money and music) requires learning ( Berridge and Kringelbach, 2008 ) and thus sad music may not evoke a pleasurable response if such a stimulus never became associated, through repeated exposure, with the psychological benefits that influence homeostatic regulation.

There are many ways in which a homeostatic imbalance can arise and there are numerous ways in which sad music can correct such imbalances. For example, an individual who is currently experiencing emotional distress and has an absorptive personality will be able to listen to sad music to disengage from the distressing situation and focus instead on the beauty of the music. Listening to sad music would correct the imbalance caused by emotional distress and the experience would be pleasurable. In the absence of emotional distress and the ensuing negative mood, however, a person who is highly open to experience, and prefers novel and varied stimulation, could find such diverse stimulation in sad music because of the range and variety of feelings associated with it and thus experience an optimal state of well-being (see Figure 2 for details).

Figure 2. Two examples of how homeostatic imbalance results in pleasurable response to sad music when corrected . In example 1, a distressing situation causes a negative mood and, for a person with an absorptive personality, this is not an optimal state of being. Listening to sad music will be found pleasurable in this situation because it will allow the person to be fully engaged in an aesthetic experience, repairing their negative mood and thus resturning them to homeostasis. In example 2, for individuals who are highly open to experience, their state of optimal functioning occurs when engaged with diverse and arousing stimuli. Listening to sad music could induce a variety of emotions, serving as the desired diverse stimuli, which someone open to experience would find pleasurable because it returns them to this optimal state.

Viewing the tragedy paradox in terms of humanity’s deeply rooted biological need to maintain a variety of basic psychological and physiological balances and relative stability over time, should allow researchers to focus less on the individual and situational factors associated with enjoying sad music and more on how these factors interact with each other. We believe that this comprehensive focus will ultimately permit a better understanding of the questions that persist on this issue.

Future Directions: A. Neuroimaging Research

The published neuroimaging studies on pleasurable sadness in music are complex and difficult to synthesize due to differences in methodologies, stimuli, analysis, and participant population. While there is some agreement regarding which brain regions are involved in the process, the exact role that each region plays remains unclear. Neuroimaging studies should attempt to elucidate the contribution that different parts of the brain may make to the pleasurable response induced by music by exploring three lines of research: (1) directly comparing music that is perceived as sad but not found pleasurable with music that is perceived as sad and found pleasurable; (2) exploring how the emotional response to sad music compares to the emotional response to other types of sadness, such as sadness due to the loss of a loved one or being ostracized; and (3) considering specifically how the interaction between mood and personality alters preference for sad music.

Future Directions: B. Using Sad Music in Music Therapy

Because of its proven ability to affect a host of neural processes, including emotions, mood, memory, and attention, music is uniquely suited to serve as a therapeutic tool for psychological intervention. The concept of using music to heal has been around for centuries, but it was only in the second half of the 20 th century that music therapy was first considered an established health profession with standardized academic and clinical training requirements and a board-certification program ( American Music Therapy Association, 2015 ). 1 Today, music therapy is used to treat a wide range of mental and physical ailments, including acute and chronic pain ( Cepeda et al., 2013 ), brain trauma ( Bradt et al., 2010 ), autism spectrum disorder ( Gold et al., 2006 ), dementia ( Vink et al., 2004 ), schizophrenia ( Mössler et al., 2011 ), and mood and anxiety disorders ( Koelsch et al., 2006 ; Maratos et al., 2008 ). Controlled clinical trials have found that music therapy, in conjunction with standard medical care, can have a significant positive effect on various symptoms associated with these illnesses ( Gold et al., 2009 ).

Music can be particularly useful for the treatment of depression given its ability to effectively regulate mood. In general, music therapy techniques that are currently in practice for depression intervention fall into two broad categories: active therapy, which involves playing, writing, and/or improvising music, and receptive therapy, which involves passively listening to music. In active music therapy, the patient and the therapist generally create music together and then engage in a reflective discussion regarding the meaning behind the compositional experience ( Erkkilä et al., 2011 ). In receptive music therapy, pre-selected music often serves to change the patient’s mood or to facilitate guided imagery, relaxation, or motivational exercises. In other forms of receptive music therapy, music is used to stimulate a therapeutic discussion regarding the thoughts, feelings, and memories that the music evokes ( Grocke et al., 2007 ). Both active and receptive music therapy can be beneficial because they allow for various themes and emotions to be experienced and expressed indirectly and without the need for language ( Erkkilä et al., 2011 ).

As previously stated, sad music, to a higher degree than other types of music, is associated with certain psychological rewards, such as regulating or purging negative emotions, retrieving memories of important past events, and inducing feelings of connectedness and comfort ( Taruffi and Koelsch, 2014 ). Therefore, incorporating sad pieces that are found to be pleasurable into receptive music therapy could augment the efficacy of such treatments in ameliorating the symptoms of depression. Actively exploring, with the guidance of the therapist, the natural and spontaneous reactions to sad pieces of music in particular could help patients better comprehend and manage their response to negative stimuli in general, providing them with new ways of coping with sadness and connecting with others. Research into the ways in which sad music becomes enjoyable may inform existing music therapy practices for mood disorders by furthering the understanding of such disorders, offering possible mechanisms of change, and providing support for the use of personalized medicine in mental health care.

The literature on the enjoyment of sad music is limited and at times conflicting, but allows us to make some general conclusions. Overall, scholars from various disciplines agree that music that conveys sadness can be found pleasurable because in art, the immediate social and physical circumstances usually associated with the negative valence, are not present. In addition, it may be that music that pertains to grief and sorrow is more often found beautiful than music that pertains to joy and happiness because it deals with eudemonic concerns such as self-expression, social connectedness, and existential meaning. Finally, sad music can help individuals cope with negative emotions in certain situations, depending on their personality, their mood, and their previous experiences with the music.

We do not yet have a detailed account of how these factors interact to produce a pleasurable response. Neuroimaging studies suggest that the response is the product of a coordinated effort between various regions of the brain known to be involved in emotional recognition, conscious feeling, aesthetic judgment, and reward processing. Future studies, in particular those that use neuroimaging techniques, should aim at manipulating mood and personality independently to determine the effect that each has on affective responses to sad music. Findings from such studies could provide new evidence for the ways in which everyday stimuli can become rewards and pave the way for new treatments of mood disorders.

Conflict of Interest Statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

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Keywords: sad, music, neuroimaging, music therapy, depression

Citation: Sachs ME, Damasio A and Habibi A (2015) The pleasures of sad music: a systematic review. Front. Hum. Neurosci. 9:404. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2015.00404

Received: 01 April 2015; Accepted: 29 June 2015; Published: 24 July 2015.

Reviewed by:

Copyright © 2015 Sachs, Damasio and Habibi. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution and reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Assal Habibi, Brain and Creativity Institute, Dornsife College of Letters Arts and Sciences, University of Southern California, 3620 A McClintock Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90089-2921, USA, [email protected]

This article is part of the Research Topic

Dialogues in music therapy and music neuroscience: collaborative understanding driving clinical advances

Home — Essay Samples — Literature — Book Review — Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close: Analyzing Oskar

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This Is the Best Start to a Year We’ve Had in Pop This Decade (Essay)

By, like, a lot .

By Andrew Unterberger

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Around this time two years ago at Billboard , we were all asking: Where are the new hits ?

Through the first few months of 2022, the Billboard Hot 100 was stocked almost exclusively with holdovers from 2021 and even 2020 or earlier, with totally new music in precious short supply in the chart’s top tiers. Relief eventually came that month in the form of Harry Styles’ instant runaway smash “As It Was,” and then as April turned to May, via new albums by Future, Bad Bunny and Kendrick Lamar. But it still felt like the year was playing catch-up, like at midyear 2022 was still only just properly getting started.

J. Cole or Drake: Who Needs to Respond More to Kendrick Lamar's Verse? The Cases for Both

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Let’s start with the list of A-list artists who have already released entirely new albums by May 9: Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, Ye & Ty Dolla $ign, Future & Metro Boomin (twice!), J. Cole and Dua Lipa. (Depending on your “A-list” definition, you could also potentially throw Usher, Justin Timberlake and Kacey Musgraves on that list as well.) Hell, you could probably cut the list after the second name and the point would still stand: Any year where you get new sets by Beyoncé ( Cowboy Carter ) and Taylor Swift ( The Tortured Poets Department ) — the two most celebrated pop stars in the world right now — before Memorial Day, you’re probably off to a pretty fast start. And both sets have been enormous, world-building, culture-conquering affairs, with huge Hot 100-topping lead singles and no shortage of critical and fan discourse over their deeper implications.

Speaking of “Like That”: That Kendrick Lamar-assisted chart-topper essentially knocked the hip-hop world off its usual axis, kicking off the back-and-forth with Drake that has somehow managed to overshadow everything else that’s gone on in popular music so far this year. J. Cole responded first to Lamar’s pot-stirring “Like That” verse, on his lukewarmly received Might Delete Later mixtape and its closing “7 Minute Drill,” before publicly bowing out of the beef and deleting “Drill” from streaming services. But Drake was determined to get his money’s worth: He responded with both the leaked “Push Ups” and the social media-released “Taylor Made Freestyle” — which featured unlicensed, AI-generated guest verses “from” West Coast legends Snoop Dogg and the late Tupac Shakur, and was eventually taken down upon threat of legal action from the Shakur estate.

The Kendrick-Drake feud has been the biggest in music this year, but it wasn’t the first. The stage was set for that blockbuster beef by the January back-and-forth between Megan Thee Stallion, whose “Hiss” was thought to have subliminals aimed at rap rival Nicki Minaj (as well as additional lyrics assumed to be shots at Drake and other rap-world figures), and which inspired a response track (in addition to a lot of social media talk) from Minaj in the form of “Big Foot.” The fallout from that beef was mostly contained to the release week of the two tracks, but it helped Megan secure her first-ever entirely solo Hot 100 No. 1 for “Hiss,” and generally established the competitive tone for hip-hop among its biggest 2024 artists.

But the real reason 2024 has been so exciting, even beyond all these recognizable names showing up and showing out, is the equally impressive list of rising stars who have made their mark on the year so far.

Música Mexicana phenom Xavi began the year with two songs already climbing the top 100, and plenty more seemingly to come. Teddy Swims and Benson Boone have forced top 40 to make room for big soulful vocals and even bigger screaming guitar, with their crossover smashes “Lose Control” and “Beautiful Things,” respectively. Alt-rock has seen its fortunes revived on the chart through Djo’s psych-leaning “End of Beginning” and Artemas’ darkwave-inspired “I Like It When You Kiss Me,” both surprise top 20 Hot 100 hits. Even longtime cult favorite Hozier, a decade removed from his breakout hit “Take Me to Church,” is now back with a somehow-even-bigger hit: “Too Sweet,” lifted to No. 1 by good TikTok buzz and the currently rising tides of alt-folk and soul-pop.

For a few of these breakout artists, the success has been a long time coming. Sexyy Redd built up momentum for most of 2023 with viral hits “Pound Town” and “SkeeYee” — culminating in a feature appearance on Drake’s For All the Dogs No. 11 hit “Rich Baby Daddy” — but she’s taken it to a new level this year with her first solo top 20 hit, the dancefloor shout-along “Get It Sexyy.” Glorilla has taken a similar path to solo success with her own self-referencing smash “Yeah Glo!,” while also joining forces with Megan Thee Stallion for the chart-storming “Wanna Be.” Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan were pop favorites with critical acclaim disproportionate to their actual top 40 presence — but following opening slots on Taylor Swift’s and Olivia Rodrigo’s recent tours, they’ve both seen raised profiles and higher levels of crossover stardom with new singles “Espresso,” and “Good Luck Babe!,” respectively, both all but sure to keep growing into the warm-weather months.

The sheer volume of impressive hits so far this year can be seen in the amount of turnover on the Hot 100 — particularly in the top spot, where no one song has reigned for more than three consecutive weeks (“Like That,” again). We’ve already seen 11 different songs top the Hot 100 across the first 19 chart weeks, compared to seven last year and just six in 2022. Both of those years saw a No. 1 hit reign for 15+ weeks seemingly almost by default: “As It Was” and Morgan Wallen’s “Last Night” didn’t dominate because they kept finding new ways to infiltrate pop culture (a la Lil Nas X with “Old Town Road” ), but simply because the competition usually just wasn’t strong enough across the board to consistently threaten their supremacy. This year, with everything that’s been happening, it seems unlikely that either song would even get to double-digit weeks on top.

Regardless of the reasons, it’s been a transfixing start to the year in popular music, with major contributions seemingly coming from all different corners of the music world, and from all different levels of artists. And what’s more, it doesn’t look to be slowing down anytime soon: This Friday brings with it a new album from Gunna and a new single from Post Malone and Morgan Wallen, the latter being arguably the biggest remaining recording artist in contemporary music who we haven’t heard much new from this year. And then the week after, it’s time for Billie Eilish’s much-hyped Hit Me Hard and Soft album, her first full-length set to arrive with no advance singles. Get your rest days in where you can and maybe hope for a bit of a summer vacation in a couple months, because it doesn’t look like pop is going to be taking it easy on us anytime in the near future — we’re exhausted, but elated.

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Eurovision 2024 – live: ‘Life is forever changed’ says Bambie Thug after chaotic contest

Switzerland was crowned the winner as boos were heard during appearances by israel’s entry eden golan, while the uk’s alexander managed to avoid coming last in the contest, article bookmarked.

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Reactions to the most chaotic Eurovision in history are pouring in after Switzerland act Nemo was crowned as this year’s winner.

The 68th Eurovision Song Contest was held in Malmö, Sweden, with scores arriving from the 25 countries that performed in the final, and in the wake of behind-the-scenes chaos.

Despite winning the contest, Nemo has not held back in their assessment of the organisers after it was revealed audience members were not permitted to bring non-binary flags into the arena.

Meanwhile, Irish delegate Bambie Thug has tearfully accused organisers of “not supporting them” over a row with an Israeli broadcaster. Afterwards, they said their life is “forever changed”.

Throughout the event, Pro-Palestine demonstrations took place outside the arena, with Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg removed by police .

Israel’s delegate Eden Golan performed early in the contest, with the BBC’s Graham Norton remarking on the boos heard by the crowd.

The UK’s entry Olly Alexander received a rather low score for his song “Dizzy”, after Ireland’s Bambie Thug dazzled with “Doomsday Blues”, following speculation that they could pull out of the final after missing the dress rehearsal.

Follow live updates below:

Switzerland Eurovision winner Nemo smashes trophy during victory celebrations.... watch what happened below:

‘Life is forever changed'

Bambie Thug thanked fans for their support saying their life is “forever changed” after this year’s Eurovision Song Contest.

The singer, 31, clinched a sixth place finish in Ireland’s first grand final of the music event since 2018.

In a video on their Instagram stories, recorded with a filter projecting the Palestinian flag on one cheek, they said: “Just a quick message to say thank you guys for all of your support throughout this process.

“It has been both beautiful, incredibly challenging and eye-opening into the world of this contest and I’m so unbelievably proud of Nemo and of all my friends

“I love you beyond and my life is forever changed and it’s because of your love and support, and yeah slay, lots of love.”

And it’s a winner...

Last year’s coverage of The Eurovision Song Contest on the BBC picked up the award for live event coverage at tonight’s Baftas.

Graham Norton was on cue again this year, but it’ll be another year until we find out if it can win again!

‘Peace, love’ and politics: The statements and outbursts on politically-charged Eurovision Song Contest

Find out how different acts addressed one of the most controversial Eurovision contests in recent history.

‘Peace, love’ and politics: List of outbursts from a politically charged Eurovision

There were some big and subtle statements throughout the show

Why was Joost Klein disqualified from Eurovision?

Netherlands has shed more light on the “incident” that led to Eurovision’s disqualification of Dutch delegate Joost Klein.

Klein was barred from being able to perform at the event hours before it was scheduled to take place as police investigated a complaint of inappropriate behaviour made by a female member of the production crew.

AVROTROS, who organises Netherlands’ entry to the Eurovision Song Contest, was unimpressed by the “disproportionate” decision.

Netherlands reveals why Joost Klein was disqualified from Eurovision

’The penalty was very heavy and disproportionate,’ contest’s Dutch organisers said

The 5 most bizarre moments from Eurovision 2024

From an almost-naked performance from Finland, a bizarre clip of a group of underwhelmed Brighton residents and a repetitive ‘Gilmore Girls’ gag, we break down the most bizarre moments.

From an almost-naked performance from Finland, a bizarre clip of a group of underwhelmed Brighton residents and a repetitive ‘Gilmore Girls’ gag, we break down the most bizarre moments

Eurovision winner breaks trophy

Eurovision Song Contest winner Nemo Mettler appeared to break their trophy following victory in Malmo on Saturday (11 May).

Ironically, the incident occurred seconds after UK commentator Graham Norton warned, “Don’t break the trophy”.

Nemo triumphantly shook the trophy in their left hand for the audience, before placing it on the floor.

As the focus returned to Nemo, the broadcast camera caught a broken stem left behind.

Bambie Thug criticises Eurovision organisers

Bambie Thug has accused Eurovision organisers of “not supporting”them over a row with Israel.

The singer, who secured a sixth place finish in Ireland’s first grand final of the music event since 2018, accused the Israeli broadcaster, Kan, of a rule break and said they have been waiting to hear back from the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) about what action would be taken.

Bambie Thug cries as they claim Eurovision bosses ‘not supportive’ in Israel row

Bambie Thug has accused Eurovision organisers of “not supporting them” over a row with Israel. The “ouji pop” star, who secured a sixth place finish in Ireland’s first grand final of the music event since 2018, accused the Israeli broadcaster, Kan, of a rule break and said they have been waiting to hear back from the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) about what action would be taken. Bambie, who is non-binary and uses they/them pronouns, told journalists in the press centre on Saturday (11 May): “Kan the broadcaster incited violence against me twice, three times. We brought it up to the EBU. They said they follow up. “They waited to the last minute, we still haven’t gotten statement back to us, allowed us to be scapegoats, allowed us to be the spokesperson for standing up for ourselves. “And yeah, the broadcaster has disobeyed the rules and I hope next year they won’t be able to compete because of that.” The Independent has contacted both Kan and the EBU for comment following Bambie’s claims.

Our verdict on this year’s Eurovision Song Contest

Eurovision 2024 unfolded under the darkest shadow in its history, withe the atmopsher backstage said to have been on a knife-edge.

Yet, despite gaping fractures in its façade of international musical unity, the show went on – and you can find music editor Roisin O’Connor’s verdict on the contest below.

Eurovision 2024 unfolded under the darkest shadow in its history -review

After banning Russia, Eurovision organisers painted the song contest and its ‘anti-political’ ethos into a corner

Eurovision winner addresses non-binary flag controversy

Switzerland act Nemo was crowned this year’s Eurovision winner after what has been the most controversial contest in its history.

In a press conference after the event, Nemo was asked about organisers making audience members throw away the non-binary flag before entering the arena.

“That is unbelievable. I had to smuggle my flag in because Eurovision said no, but I did it anyway, so I hope some people did that too. But, I mean, come on, this is clearly a double standard. I broke the trophy. The trophy can be fixed – maybe Eurovision needs fixing a little bit too every now and then.”

Eurovision winner Nemo hits out at organisers over ‘unbelievable double standard’

’Maybe Eurovision needs fixing,’ singer said moments after winning

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Theater | Orlando Fringe Festival returns: A good dog, a…

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Subscriber only, theater | orlando fringe festival returns: a good dog, a sad girl and the gays.

Attend a tale of the first living being in space — a Russian dog — in the charming “Bruce Ryan Costella’s Muttnik” (CityArts at 39 S. Magnolia Ave., 60 minutes), winner of the 2018 Orlando Fringe Critics’ Choice Award for best solo drama. (Don’t be put off by the award title; the show is also full of comedic moments.)

Costella plays the canine — trust me, it works — and captures a dog’s speech pattern — his “Hey! Hey! Hey!” has the staccato rhythm of barking. And his accent is carefully designed to remind you he’s Russian but not impede the storytelling.

In a shrewd bit of staging, the show opens with images of real dogs, a reminder of what the story is really about. It’s not too fanciful, though, to imagine the story is about more — how we all go through life, not really knowing what’s around the corner, trying to find friends and form a pack, missing our ancestors, wanting to do good and being the best dog, er, person we can be in our limited time on the planet.

None of that is explicitly said; there’s nothing so heavy-handed here. Rather, that’s the spirit of the gently humorous piece. This story of courage in the face of adversity tugs at the heartstrings. Good dog.

If you ever sat through an endless college lecture with a professor who was oh-so-proud of his arcane knowledge and technical jargon, Boiled Horse Productions’ “Stroke of Genius” (Pink venue, 60 minutes) will strike a happily laughable chord with you.

The comedy from Tampa’s Vulva Va-Voom and Shane Mayforth is a showcase for each. Mayforth is the pleased-as-punch professor, teaching a cheeky class on the history of pantomime masturbation in the performing arts. Vulva Va-Voom plays a silent-film era movie star who epitomizes the course (and coarse) subject matter in a series of clever and comical mini-movies shown as actual recordings.

Obviously, euphemisms are trotted out over and over, and to the team’s credit, they don’t wear out their welcome as you might expect. A third Southern matron character didn’t add much to the proceedings for me: I was too busy chuckling as I pictured every know-it-all I’ve met, especially the artsy ones who have to find dramatic social significance in every flick of the wrist.

Comedian Gwen Coburn turns very funny bits into something more serious in “Sad Girl Songs: A Comedy Show” (Pink venue, 60 minutes). Coburn describes breaking into the boys’ world of improv comedy with shattering results — as her tagline says: “When ‘yes and’ becomes #metoo.”

Coburn’s pain is as real as the laughs she creates in the show, directed by Kayleigh Kane.

The best bits are the original songs, which include titles such as “Daddy Issues Boyfriend,” and Coburn’s “dark feminist stuff” — as her mom calls it — remains with you after the lights go down.

The perennially popular “A Field Guide to the Gays” (CityArts at 39 S. Magnolia Ave., 60 minutes) is back to humorously instruct audiences on everything they ever wanted to know about being gay — but were afraid to ask.

Energetic writer and performer Logan Donahoo, who is both humorous and informative, has been presenting his comic college-level course (Gay 101?) since 2013 to acclaim. Don’t know the difference between an otter and a twink? It’s OK, Donahoo will explain.

He keeps things factual but light-hearted, and no topic is off-limits. But Donahoo’s goal isn’t to make anyone uncomfortable; rather, this is a celebration of sexuality. And among the many laughs, you just might learn a thing or two.

[email protected]

Orlando Fringe Festival

• Where: Shows at Loch Haven Park are in color-coded venues; off-campus locations are identified by name.
• When: Through May 27
• Cost: $10 button required for ticketed shows, then individual performance tickets are no more than $15.
• Schedule, tickets, more info: OrlandoFringe.org
• More reviews:   OrlandoSentinel.com/fringe

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