People Listen to Sad Songs to Make Themselves Feel Better

iStock/Thinkstock(BERLIN) — What did Elton John mean when he sang “Sad Songs Say So Much”? Perhaps he was trying to explain that rather than making people feel worse, sad songs can actually improve your mood.

That’s the crux of a new study by researchers from the Free University of Berlin, namely that music with melancholy lyrics and melody help people get through times of pain and loneliness.

According to the researchers, sad songs, unlike their more upbeat counterparts, evoke a series of complex emotions including nostalgia, peacefulness and tenderness, which regulates negative moods and leads to pleasurable effects enabling the listener to better express his or her emotions.

The researchers did add that sad music is appreciated more by “individuals with high empathy and low emotional stability.”

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