Humans can sometimes seem paradoxical, especially when they decide to listen to sad music over and over… when they are sad. But why ? Scientists have looked into the matter.
Humans are paradoxical beings. Who hasn’t, for example, ever listened to sad music, on repeat, when they themselves felt in a gloomy mood? Well, don’t worry: it’s not uncommon and it’s even… human. It’s scientifically proven: sad music is an excellent remedy for the blues. This is explained by a study conducted by German researchers in 2014 in the scientific journal Plos One. This Berlin team studied a panel of 772 people, observing the effects of sad music on their emotions.
It turns out that such notes provoke a multitude of positive emotions, such as nostalgia (rather than sadness), imagination, tenderness, empathy and even… confidence. The Canadian musicologist and scientist David Huron explains, for his part, that by listening to sad music our body secretes a hormone, called prolactin, which provides a feeling of comfort. “It’s like Mother Nature who takes you in her arms, consoles you and says ‘here you go, it’s over’, he explains in 2009 in the San Francisco Classical Voice.
A thesis confirmed by the two scientists in charge of the 2014 German study, who explain: “Sad music can be appreciated not only as something aesthetic, as an abstract reward, but it also plays a role in the good being, it brings consolation and regulates bad mood and negative emotions.” There you go, you can go back to listening to HelloAdèle (and the rest of her discography).