My research project is going to focus on how musical lyrics can really help someone’s mental wellbeing through its expressiveness and allowing one to relate. My project’s intended audience will be for late teens to people in their early 20’s as during this period you become a lot more independent and grow as an individual, so keeping a healthy mental wellbeing is very important, particularly during this time.
Research has shown that there is a connection between lyrics and positive psychology, as it acts as a form of communication and influences emotion. There are sometimes cases where people discover and express their emotions through not only listening to lyrics but also song writing.
Music is such a big part of millions of people’s day to day lives, and many of these people listen to their music to feel a sense of connection. This is by individual’s reliving their past experiences that may have left a memorable impact whether it was positive or negative and the lyrics telling a story very similar to that occurrence.
Research has also found lyrics can act as a type of therapy for those who suffer from health problems, disabilities, and physical problems, but also in general lyrics act as therapy for millions of people. It gives people a sense of meaning.
It can intensify feelings of happiness or even make people feel less sad or alone by highlighting someone else understands how that emotion feels.
I can confidently say from my personal experience, music has the power to really make my mood a lot brighter whether I am happy or sad. I am a very busy 19-year-old uni student living in Wollongong on my own, and I find music is a big part of my life and helps with my mental wellbeing. Hence, which is why my age range is from late teens to early 20’s because I am sure a lot of other people like me can relate.
For example, if you look more into sad songs, Olivia Rodrigo is someone who released the well known ‘Driver’s License’ song about break ups. This song broke Spotify’s records for the most single- day streams on the 4th day of release. An interview with Olivia Rodrigo highlighted her aim was to ‘honour those acute teenage feelings’. This is an instance where teenagers can listen to her song who has had a recent break up and feel understood by listening to the lyrics of the breakup song and sharing this sad moment with the artist by relating to the lyrics.
Ultimately, research has emphasised that lyrics are capable of making individual’s feel connected, think about life and allow someone to feel empowered. It can also inspire someone to bring a change to the situation they are struggling with. Some more examples of songwriters who influence people to do this include Jhené Aiko, Miguel, and Drake. These artists release music that makes an individual feel, think and ‘escape on a journey.’ Thus, lyrics refreshes memories by opening a person’s senses to be vulnerable.
Sources
Ransom, P., 2022. Message in the Music: Do Lyrics Influence Well-Being?. University of Pennsylvania, [online] 45, pp.2-21. Available at: https://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1094&context=mapp_capstone [Accessed 22 March 2022].
Ransom, T., 2021. a case for lyrics and how they impact our emotions. [online] mapp magazine. Available at: https://www.mappmagazine.com/articles/a-case-for-lyrics-and-how-they-impact-our-emotions [Accessed 22 March 2022].
Snapes, L., 2021. Olivia Rodrigo: ‘I’m a teenage girl. I feel heartbreak and longing really intensely’. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/may/07/olivia-rodrigo-im-a-teenage-girl-i-feel-heartbreak-and-longing-really-intensely [Accessed 23 March 2022].
Winston, C., 2017. lyrical content, lyrical influences, lyrical expression. [online] nrg recording studios. Available at: https://www.nrgrecording.com/post/why-do-lyrics-matter [Accessed 24 March 2022].
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