Despite the thousands of languages and cultures around the world, each with their own special traditions and lifestyles, the one thing that connects us all is music. Rhythm, melody, passion -- the main aspects of music require no language. Through translations, music forms a singular interconnected web of emotions and experiences across the seven continents. Different styles of music can allow us to experience cultures without visiting a country in person. With a mutually enjoyed song, any two individuals can dance together. For example, the booming k-pop genre of music has touched the lives of people of different ages and backgrounds all around the world, evident by the sold-out stadiums for tours by artists like BTS. Music brings people together, and connects us in intricate ways that are often overlooked.

In any language, music allows us to feel any emotion at any time. Music therapy has been proven to improve mental health conditions such as depression, anxiety, PTSD, and more. Music can help us feel happy when we're down, but it also has the power to cause us to experience sadness, regret, nostalgia. It can help us change who we are; listening to songs about self-love and confidence has changed the way I view myself.

To appreciate it from the opposite perspective, music also allows the release of emotions. When regular words and conversations are hard to express, music provides a vessel for our feelings. Essentially, music connects listeners to the emotions of the songwriter and/or singer.

Music helps stimulate our imagination and creativity. Writing music provides an outlet to express stories and fantasies that are awkward or difficult to express verbally. Listening to music is also a way to escape reality and explore a world created by someone else. It lets our mind wander and create fantasies of our own.

In another way, music helps some people focus and work productively. I personally can only accomplish my best writing with music playing in the background. There are many different types of music that people prefer for studying, as well. A lo-fi playlist or classical music is a great way to set the mood for a study session, drowning out the deafening silence and instead allowing focus and concentration.

Music is symbolic and memorable. Weddings, birthdays, graduations, funerals: most likely, you can recall specific songs played at the most important events in your life. Slow love songs allow us to reminisce about our high school prom or our first dance at our wedding. Coming-of-age songs remind us about graduations or moving-up ceremonies, and energetic hype songs remind me of races, competitions, and matches from high school athletics. Music stimulates all of our senses and all areas of our brain. Overtime, we can create a playlist of our lives, encompassing all of the ups and downs. We can use music to convey our lives and who we are, in a language anybody can understand. That is a beautiful and powerful thing.