MELBOURNE, Jan 23 — It’s easy to assume that happy songs are more comforting than melancholy tunes, but this might not necessarily be the case. An Australian study claims that, in difficult times, music lovers tend to listen to melodies that reflect their tormented state of mind.
Researchers in Australia came to this conclusion after analyzing the musical preferences of Melbourne residents during the six successive periods of lockdown they experienced during the Covid-19 pandemic. In all, people living in Australia’s second-largest city spent 262 days confined to their homes — a world record.
To stave off boredom, it’s a safe to assume that many Melburnians turned to music. At least, that’s what the Australian media thought at the time, publishing numerous musical selections and playlists designed to lift the spirits of those who listened to them.
Dr Amanda Krause and her colleagues wanted to determine whether these playlists reflected the mood of Melbourne’s residents during the pandemic. They compared the music on one such pandemic playlist with what Melburnians actually listened to during the lockdowns. “We compared the ‘pandemic playlist’ songs to charting songs during the first six months of the pandemic in 2020 and the same period in 2021 with regard to their musical features and lyrical content,” explains Dr Amanda Krause in a news release.
The academics found that the Melbourne newspaper’s suggestions were at odds with the actual listening habits of citizens, since the findings indicated that the songs featured in the pandemic playlist differed significantly from the charting songs in 2020 and 2021. “The playlist songs were higher in energy (relative to 2020 and 2021) and less acoustic (relative to 2021). Additionally, the lyrics of the pandemic playlist songs had significantly more positive words.”
In other words, Melbourne residents seem to have found solace in more melancholic music during the pandemic. “This appears to reflect a preference for mature and meaningful media content when faced with a threat,” continues Dr Amanda Krause. The authors of the study believe that the musical suggestions proposed for the playlist did not necessarily focus on listeners’ personal needs. They were, above all, the songs most expected to give people a boost.
The findings of this research, published in the journal Music and Science, corroborate the findings of numerous research studies, which show that songs that evoke sadness can have beneficial effects on our morale. However, it’s important to bear in mind that everyone reacts differently to music. — ETX Studio
