Music is a powerful concept all on its own. There’s something alluring about being able to cut out the rest of the world, and surrounding yourself with harmonious sounds that synthesize together in a pleasant manner.
When we tune into our music, we begin listening to an artist’s story. The music doesn’t necessarily have to have words. I know that when I listen to different types of instrumental music, I can sometimes feel what the artist puts into the music by the tone, the tempo, and the different instruments they use.
The beautiful thing about music is that it evokes emotion in us. While more upbeat songs make us want to get up and dance, more downbeat songs are used to trigger a different emotion inside of us; perhaps a more sorrowful one. I’ll use Taylor Swift as an example. Take the song 22. This song is extremely upbeat and fun to dance to. It’s centered on the joys of being young amidst the challenges that life brings. Now take the song Style as another example. Though this song has some cheeriness to it, through my interpretation, it tells a sad story about love, and still being in love with someone after they are gone. I remember first listening to the song and bawling my eyes out because I had memories of when the man I fell in love with began pushing me away because he was seeing another woman. After listening to the song enough times to the point where I finally had the lyrics memorized, I turned the song up loud enough to where it was piercing through my headphones, and danced around my bedroom, lip synching to the song with tears falling from my eyes.
That’s another interesting part of it when it comes to music. While the song can be enormously upbeat, the lyrics have a story all on its own that can trigger different emotions for different people. This can cause the listener to feel the urge to get up and dance, but also cry when listening to an upbeat song that portrays strong lyrics. An artist’s intentions are to reach out to their listeners, while also telling their own story. Music also has its own way of making us see that we are never alone. A lot of Taylor Swift’s lyrics that she writes can relate to many girls as they battle through their own experiences with love, heartbreak, and closure. In a way, it is a beautiful thing to be able to evoke so much emotion from a song. It can quickly become an overwhelmingly emotional experience for the listener if the rhythm appeals to them enough, and the lyrics are relatable.
Other songs associated with bands like Disturbed and Breaking Benjamin where topics such as abuse, depression and anger are discussed can cause such angry emotions to emerge with a sense of deep understanding and unfortunate relation to the songs. For example; the song Down With The Sickness by Disturbed finishes off with what could be considered a very triggering conversation by the lead singer, talking about his mother physically abusing him.
Music has meaning and emotion. While one person can relate and feel a song on a deep level, perhaps the friend sitting next to them listening to the exact same song may not feel the same, nor relate to the song at all. That should be no cause for hatred or misunderstanding, though. Different genres were created to appeal to different groups of people. There are those who prefer classical music over rock for the more subtle tone; and those who prefer metal over jazz for the preferred fast-paced, head banging rhythm. Music speaks differently for everyone, but everyone can relate to it one way or another.
