Is It Healthy to Listen to Music That Makes You Cry?

Many of you have had the experience of driving with the radio or walking into an establishment with music playing, and suddenly, a song comes on that immediately transports you back into a different time—with memories flooding back associated with something you were feeling when that song was popular. You may have songs you remember from childhood that affect you this way, and sometimes bring tears to your eyes. But why? For many people, music is linked to memories, from nostalgia to trauma. For others, beautiful music is emotionally moving in a positive sense, independent of context. Researchers have observed that music is an interesting field of psychological study because while highly pleasurable, it has no obvious importance for promoting survival.[i] So why are we so emotionally involved?

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When Sad Songs Feel Good

Determining whether or not it is healthy to listen to music that brings us to tears can depend on the basis of our emotion. Are we crying because we are feeling happy or sad? And the next question is whether we actually seek out songs that make us cry. Researchers have examined these questions, and uncovered some answers.

Katherine N. Cotter et al. (2018) studied the phenomenon of feeling like crying when listening to music.[ii] Within a sample of almost 900 adults, they found two primary experiences of remembering instances of crying while listening to music: a class who felt sad, depressed, and upset, and a class who felt “awe,” defined as feeling happy, euphoric, inspired, and amazed. Regarding the types of personality characteristics in each class, Cotter et al. note that individuals who were high in openness to experience were more likely to experience “awe,” while people high in neuroticism were more likely to be in the “sad” class. Interestingly, they found the sad class to be twice as large as the awe class.

Cotter et al. also looked at how different facets of the experience of feeling like crying were linked to class membership. They found that individuals who reported the experience of feeling like crying from music were more likely to belong to the “sad” class—which contained two-thirds of the sample. Individuals in the awe class wanted the crying experience to happen again, reaffirming that within this class, the experience of feeling like crying is positive, as corroborated by the emotional profile of individuals in this class, and their desire to repeat the experience.

If Music Makes You Sad, Does Misery Love Company?

Are you alone when you are moved to tears by sad music? Cotter et al. found that people in their awe category were more likely to be with others when they felt like crying from music which they suggest might be related to context, such as in a public performance. This likely means that people for whom music evokes emotional sadness, as opposed to awe, are more likely to be alone when a song moves them to tears. Perhaps the presence of others would lessen the impact of the negative emotion.

Clearly, music can be a blessing, especially when it brings up good memories. When music does not make you happy, consider why you are inclined to listen. In the best-case scenario, you enjoy music for its positive qualities and avoid songs that make you depressed. After all, at least if you are in your own home or car, you can change the channel. Enjoy responsibly.