The songs guaranteed to change your mood, according to science

(Credits: Far Out / Tengyart / Hasan Almasi)

Sun 3 November 2024 16:15, UK

Over the years, there have been many studies about the kind of music that impacts your mood. Most of these findings involve methods rooted in science to unveil what it means to create the ultimate “mood-booster”, which typically revolves around a song’s beats per minute, lyrical content, melody, and broader structure. Most of us know when a song moves us in a certain way, but just how expansive is the collection?

A couple of years back, researchers set out to answer that question by analysing almost 1,000 songs that have been described as those most likely to incite an emotional reaction. The researchers, who were compiling the study at the Queen Mary University of London, then compared those songs with others by the same artists to establish why some move listeners while others don’t.

By comparing certain songs with others, they were then able to separate the “mood-boosters” from the others, each of which they set aside to compile a list of the songs that give you piloerections—the scientific term for “goosebumps”. When this reaction happens, it’s usually due to intense emotional responses or unexpected musical sounds or cadences, like a sudden romantic harmony.

Usually, this type of reaction signifies a release of a chemical called “dopamine” in the brain, which is associated with the “feel-good” factor, particularly in relation to listening to music. When this happens, it triggers the reward system, flooding the mine with pleasurable sensations and reinforcing the desire to repeat the song so that we can experience it all over again.

However, the song doesn’t always have to be stereotypically “happy” and upbeat for it to stimulate this reaction, as we see from the list of 715 songs compiled by the Queen Mary researchers Rémi de Fleurian and Marcus Pearce. Many of the songs adhere to this convention, like Amy Winehouse’s ‘Back To Black’, Foo Fighters’ ‘Best Of You’, The Supremes’ ‘Where Did Our Love Go’, and Meat Loaf’s ‘Bat Out Of Hell’.

However, a significant portion—what looks to be around two-thirds—are actually much slower-paced and reflective and are usually ones associated with deep emotions like sadness or nostalgia. Beyond those that elicit the more basic “happy” response, many of these songs tap into more complex emotions, ultimately proving the power of the sadder and more intense melodies and instrumentals.

For instance, some on the playlist that might surprise you include Celine Dion’s ‘My Heart Will Go On’, Neil Young’s ‘Only Love Can Break Your Heart’, Prince’s ‘Purple Rain’, Whitney Houston’s ‘I WIll Always Love You’, Eric Clapton’s ‘Tears In Heaven’, Leonard Cohen’s ‘If It Be Your Will’, Cyndi Lauper’s ‘Time After Time’, The Verve’s ‘Bitter Sweet Symphony, Tracy Chapman’s ‘Fast Car’, Jeff Buckley’s ‘Hallelujah’, and more.

The reason for this is that, according to some researchers, the “sadder, slower, less intense, and more instrumental” songs have the power to evoke emotional responses stronger than songs with more obvious upbeat rhythms, making their longevity in terms of lasting resonance a lot longer than their less powerful counterparts. Though not every song on the playlist is sad, there’s a definite trend in terms of which seems to create a deeper connection, moving us in ways that are often impossible to describe.

A collection of mood-enhancing songs:

• Neil Young – ‘Only Love Can Break Your Heart’
• Prince – ‘Purple Rain’
• Joni Mitchell – ‘Both Sides Now’
• Pixies – ‘Gigantic’
• Whitney Houston – ‘I Will Always Love You’
• Meat Loaf – ‘For Crying Out Loud’
• Elvis Costello – ‘Alison’
• Eric Clapton – ‘Tears In Heaven’
• Arcade Fire – ‘No Cars Go’
• Pink Floyd – ‘The Final Cut’
• Radiohead – ‘Creep’
• Leonard Cohen – ‘If It Be Your Will’
• Amy Winehouse – ‘Back To Black’
• Celine Dion – ‘My Heart Will Go On’
• Led Zeppelin – ‘Moby Dick’
• Bruce Springsteen – ‘Streets of Philadelphia’
• The Cranberries – ‘Zombie’
• Cyndi Lauper – ‘Time After Time’
• Foo Fighters – ‘Best Of You’
• Oasis – ‘Wonderwall’
• The Verve – ‘Bitter Sweet Symphony’
• Tracy Chapman – ‘Fast Car’
• Marc Cohn – ‘Walking In Memphis’
• Bonnie Tyler – ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart’
• Phil Collins – ‘Easy Lover’
• Jeff Buckley – ‘Hallelujah’
• Tom Petty – ‘Time To Move On’
• Talking Heads – ‘This Must Be The Place’
• Johnny Cash – ‘Hurt’

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