Best Music to Listen When You feel Sad, Down, or Depressed

Best Music To Listen To When Sad

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Have you ever noticed what songs you usually listen to when you’re feeling happy? Now, think – what music you choose when you’re feeling sad or stressed. I bet they’re totally different genres. Contrary to popular belief happy light pop songs are often NOT the best choice if you’re feeling down, said or in a low mood. It’s quite the opposite actually.

That has always been my personal experience as well. I recently lost my brother, he passed away just three days ago. I won’t go into details, but it was devastating news for me and my family. After the initial shock, I was completely overwhelmed by deep sadness, and I couldn’t do anything about it really. It’s not the first time I’ve had to deal with the loss of a family member, so I know it will take time to come to terms with it. But knowing that doesn’t make it any easier to live through these emotions.

So right now, I’m doing whatever I can to distract myself. I need time to allow myself time to grieve and process these emotions. And as I often do, I turn to music for comfort. I put on my headset and play a playlist I put together long ago. I’m also rewriting this article, which was first published almost a year ago, because in doing so, I feel just a tiny bit less awful. And sometimes, a little relief is enough to get through the moment. If you’ve stumbled upon this post, I hope the music here helps you too.

THE Playlist To Listen When Feeling Sad

Sadness comes in different shades, and there’s a wide range of negative emotions. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, it’s always a sound idea to seek professional help. But if you’re sure you can navigating these emotions on your own, trust me – music can be a powerful healing tool.

The best music to listen to when you’re sad can take many forms. I’ve put together this playlist myself, and it might be just what you need – a mix of tracks that evoke calm, bittersweet emotions and invite introspection. In the right moments, this collection of emotional music does work wonders.

Just hit the start button, and the songs will play in order, one after another.

Same playlist is available on Spotify:

Artists To Listen To When You Feel Down

If you’re looking for specific artists whose music can help when you’re feeling down or sad, I highly recommend checking out these:

  • Ben Howard – Very talented musician known for his beautiful, soulful songs.
  • Fink – A fine blend of folk, indie, and trip hop.
  • Elliott Smith – One-of-a-kind voice behind mesmerizing, introspective tunes.
  • Nick Drake – A hidden gem of folk music from 60s and 70s.
  • Moving Atlas – Perfect for those who prefer a rock sound.

Research on Sad Music and Its Effects

I’ve noticed this about myself a long time ago: emotional, sad or even heavy music has always been my preferred choice whenever I felt down, depressed, or sad. I’ll be honest this realization intrigued me, because it seemed counterintuitive.

I mean, you would assume that negative emotions should be counteracted with their opposites. Like cooling something hot by placing it in a freezing environment. Or calming an angry person by approaching them with patience and composure, and not by shouting back and escalating their frustration.

But this effect of slow, sombre music has been noticed by tons of people, not just me. After it became a common observation, it got attention of scientists and researchers. They studied this phenomena and found evidence that sad music can indeed help process heavy emotions.

Best Music to Listen When You Are Sad

A Sad as a Matter of Choice? study conducted by a group of researchers in 2015 showed that depressed participants were more likely to choose sad music over cheerful. However their guess at the time was that it was because the participants preferred to continue to feel sad. A questionable conclusion, which was challenged later on. But the fact that people were deliberately turning to sad music was interesting on it’s own.

A more recent study done by Emotion journal “Why do depressed people prefer sad music?” in 2019 found that people with depression often prefer sad music not because they want to feel sad, but because it is relaxing, calming, or soothing to them. Contrary to previous beliefs this study demonstrated that listening to sad music did not maintain a low mood – but instead made the participants feel better, providing emotional relief and a sense of kinship with the music. This last conclusion makes way more sense and truly aligns with my own experience.

Then there was also a study done by Emporia State University which examined how different music genres affect mood. It was found that participants reported increased feelings of ease and reduced anxiety after listening to their favorite music genres. So no matter the genre, even if it’s heavy metal, there can be positive effects on mood. As long as music aligns with the listener’s preferences, it is beneficial.

Sad Music vs Depression

Many of the studies looked into the effects of music on people with history of depression. Which is not surprising, given how widespread depression became nowadays. As the world we live in gets more layered and complicated, mental and emotional pressures seem to increase drastically.

Fortunately, such condition as depression gets more attention, with more potential remedies being researched. And music is one of them. For example there was a study about Emotional Responses to Music. It focused on effects of music therapy on depression in particular.

To save you time of reading the whole publication, here are the key points of that study:

  • Effectiveness: Both music therapy and music medicine significantly reduced depressive symptoms.
  • Greater Impact: Music therapy, which involves active engagement with music, had even larger effect compared to music medicine, which involves simply listening to music.
  • Optimal Conditions: Longer and more frequent music therapy sessions were associated with greater reductions in depression.

Given that music is readily available to us, I believe it should be used as a therapeutic method more actively. There’s no reason why it can’t be a part of the remedy.

Why Sad Music Can Help

I’m sure there will be more studies conducted in future. But it doesn’t stop you or me, or anyone else from analyzing and wondering why exactly sad music can have such a positive effect on us. I gave this question my share of consideration and time; and I can summarize three main reasons why sad music works:

  1. Sad music is relatable when you’re already in a similar mood. When you are sad, cheerful tunes often seem out of place, they do not resonate as well. More thoughtful and introspective melodies just reach through the barriers we put up much easier.
  2. Sad music has usually deep lyrics. Lyrics can be a big part of what makes song a “sad” one. Happy pop hits are typically not written about sad moments. That’s not a knock on the pop genre, that’s simply a fact. And if you feel stressed about something, there’s a chance a sad song tells a story about something similar. Hearing someone’s relatable experience can help process you own feelings.
  3. Sad music acts as a medium channel for our emotions. We react to music because of the way our brain is wired, and how our nervous system is set up, and also how hormones work. All this in combination makes us feel different depending on what we listen to. Whatever happens in our body it seems like sad music helps us calm down, face our own heavy emotions, recognize them and subsequently let them go.

It doesn’t mean you should only listen to light-hearted songs when you are happy, and turn on sad tracks when you are feeling down. Also if happy music makes you feel better and helps you when you’re distressed, then play it. If something improves your well-being, go for it! There’s no bad music if it works for you, as the studies show. Discover all the ways music therapy can help you.

Conclusion

Music is a powerful tool that we can use whenever we want, regardless of genre or style. If you enjoy it – let yourself experience it. Sure, we all have unique preferences and things that work best for us, but there is plenty of scientific evidence showing that “sad” music does have a positive effect. So, you might want to give it a try for yourself.

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