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Has music we listen to changed during Covid?
I found this interesting article published very recently during Covid:
This is how music helps us get through difficult times
Streaming sites have seen a rise in searches for upbeat, nostalgic music during the COVID-19 pandemic. Music has helped people to accept and get through tough times throughout history. Has the music we listen to, and why we listen, changed during the coronavirus pandemic?
Beyond the well-documented evidence of pandemic music-making at a distance and over social media, music critics have suggested there is an increased preference for music that is comforting, familiar and nostalgic.
Data from major streaming services and companies that analyze them may support this view.
On Spotify, the popularity of chart hits dropped 28 per cent between March 12 and April 16. Instead, Spotify listeners are searching for instrumental and “chill” music. In the first week of April on Spotify, there was a 54 per cent increase in “listeners making nostalgia-themed playlists, as well as an uptick in the popularity of music from the ‘50s, ’60s, ’70s and ’80s.”
More than half of those participating in a survey conducted by Nielsen Music/MRC Data at the end of March 2020 said they were “seeking comfort in familiar, nostalgic content” in their TV viewing and music listening. The survey was based on responses by 945 consumers in the U.S. aged 13 and older, plus online responses.
As a researcher who has examined music’s power in times of crisis — most recently, exploring the music of people who were refugees from civil war El Salvador during the 1980s — I believe such work can help us understand our apparent desire to use familiar music for psychological support during this challenging period.
Reconnecting to ourselves
In a time when many are confronting both increased solitude and increased anxiety, familiar music provides reassurance because it reminds us who we are as people. Whether it is a hit we danced to with our teenage friends, or a haunting orchestral piece our grandmother played, music lights up memories of our past selves.
Music allows us to create an emotional narrative between the past and present when we struggle to articulate such a narrative in words. Its familiarity comforts us when the future seems unclear.
Music helps to reconnect us to our identities. It also helps us, as all the arts do, to pursue an otherwise inexpressible search for meaning. In so doing, it helps bolster our resilience in the face of difficulty.
People have used music to such philosophical and psychological ends even in times and places where one would think music would be the last thing on peoples’ minds.
In one of the most extreme among many examples, survivors of Nazi concentration camps report having sung familiar songs to reinforce their sense of self and their religious identity, when both were gravely threatened.
American poet and activist Maya Angelou once movingly wrote:
“Music was my refuge. I could crawl into the space between the notes and curl my back to loneliness.”
Many can surely relate to such a sentiment. We may not yet have the words to articulate our response to the situation in which humanity currently finds itself. But engaging with music soothes us in these difficult times, providing a means to begin to process our emotions, to stay connected to our pre-pandemic identities and to participate in something larger than ourselves, even while we live apart.
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12 Replies
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Hi Jung,
Must say that is interesting and not actually really thinking about But I am guilty of doing just that streaming more music on the likes of Spotify and YouTube most of it being independent music artists there is some fantastic chill out music out there, my current love besides MonaLisa Twins are Ania Brzozowska, Fyerfly, Scarlette Fever and Ashton Lane think they are all sensational artists. Also I don’t like todays chart music so don’t listen to it again agree 60’s 70’s 80’s the best chart era.
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Hi Rob, interestingly lately I find myself when not listening to MLT, pulling out my old classical CDs more than I use to, and even occasional nostalgia to my early 20s and ACDC that I thought I was done with and I’d never listen to again. Where did that come from? ACDC guitar riffs has a kind of comfort music affect on me in the sense it has the same soothing instrumental hypnotic effect classical piano or a powerful symphony does. There is a similarity there between the two for me.
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Jung,
Agree since lockdown started music has been a massive saviour and rediscovering all the older music has been very refreshing and relaxing brings that inner calm.
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Great article, Jung! I suspect all the anticipatory buzz about the recently announced “McCartney III” album is part of that phenomenon.
I’ve always been almost exclusively into the music of the 50’s and 60’s, so I can’t say I’ve been more nostalgic lately. But I have, inspired by the conversations we’ve been having here, been trying to learn more about the history and personnel of groups that I had known nothing about apart from the music itself. A couple of weeks ago I researched the Shangri Las, and now I’m exploring the Fifth Dimension.
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Hey Jung,
I myself have been streaming a lot of concerts. I’m sort of hook on them now. I just watch one last night. A tribute to Tom Petty and his 70 Birthday. There were a lot of great artists. Dhani Harrison did a song. Olivia Harrison had a nice poem about Tom. They were really close friends. Performances by Stephen Stills, Roger McGuinn, Willie Nelson son Lukas, Jackson Browne, Jakob Dylan, Mike Campbell, Marty Stuart, Stevie Nicks and Gary Clark Jr. and Norah Jones. It was a great show and tribute.
I’ve have also seen Blackberry Smoke, Larkin Poe and Old Crow Medicine show. The prices are fair usually 20 to 25. Hey it help’s the musicians out in their time of need. I always tip the band. The industries is going through some tuff times. But these virtual concert are helping the cause. The power of music is amazing. Is it not.
Actually MLT should do the same thing.
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I’ve always been a “classic rock” kind of guy so my musical choices haven’t changed that much (just adding MLT music of course). The only difference is I’m listening longer and more often. Music does sooth the troubled soul.
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Mike, music soothes the soul indeed, and for me it’s been the classic rock and classical. It’s MLT music that keeps the spirit afloat these days for me.
David, Joe, agreed I think right now as the article points out people are drawn to nostalgia, which in the music world today happens to be much better music period, than the mostly uninspired new music coming out currently. It’s interesting how this pandemic has a way of spotlighting the truths in almost everything. It’s a great time for MLT music I think for more people to discover. Good music as inspired by the great legends from the past is what people are desiring these days, and that’s right in MLTs wheelhouse both their original and covers. The launch of Duo Sessions and latest Cavern Club live album couldn’t have come at a better time.
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Michael,
I am kind of a classic rock guy myself, but do love the 60’s and early 70’s. Of course the Beatles and the Stones are right up there but do enjoy so much other music as well. One cool song I really like is This Guys in Love with You, by Herb Albert but then love to rock out on Brown Sugar or Tumbling Dice or Get Back. So playing the drums, I get this great feeling while I am playing and it just lifts my spirit and I just love playing and singing. I am sure Mona and Lisa would agree, there is something special when your playing for an audenice
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Good morning Jung, excellent article.
Greetings
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Hi Refugio! Thanks so much, I’m glad you liked it. 🙂
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Aside from MLT, I listen to a variety of music , Glass Tiger, Patsy, Cass Elliot, Mamas and Papas, Marla Gibbs, etc… Music that I can sing, dance, air instrument play at, feel inspired and happy from listening.
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Nothing has changed for me music wise, still listen to mainly 60’s and 70’s stuff and of course “our” twins! I am looking forward to Sir Paul’s new release! Another “he played all the instruments” release! Photos of him with a sweet 1950’s Telecaster have me drooling for one myself!
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