If you lock yourself in a room, switch off the world around you and listen to classic ballads or any kind of minor key tunes, you will probably feel an outpouring of emotions through the lyrics.
Music evokes deep-seated sentiments. But if you listen to songs that express happy feelings, do you experience such vibes through the tune and the lyrics?
From Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here to Queen’s Love of My Life on to Elton John’s Candle in the Wind, the greatest songs that ever hit the music charts are clearly ballads and minor keys songs. They brim with melancholia and sorrow.
Music with a toned-down minor key is made up of achingly beautiful compositions laced with incredible poetry describing the best yet hardest feelings. This is enhanced through the voice of the artists — they are able to make us shiver with passion through their incredible voices. Every lyric touches our heart and lifts our spirits to new heights.
Lykke Li, the Swedish singer, is a perfect example that fits the picture — her music is a clear portrayal of beautiful melancholia and sorrow. In an interview with the Independent about her new album, I Never Learn, she says “I don’t really know how happy music sounds… [in my music] I wanted… to feel like you’re holding my beating heart in your hand. I wanted to make something really raw, but it also needs to have power in the narrative to cut through. Making the album, I was in such darkness, and so sad and heartbroken that my music is a fight for life. I’m fighting to survive.”
While listening to a cheerful song, we tend to focus on the tune rather than the lyrics. On the other hand, when listening to a sad song, we focus on the lyrics and tend to appreciate them more.
For instance, if we take the main chorus (do you mean refrain?) of this year’s hit single Happy by Pharrell Williams, it is a repetition of the same line: “Because I’m happy, clap along if you feel like a room without a roof”. I cannot imagine this single becoming a classic. If, however, we take one of the finest sorrowful songs — Everybody Hurts by R.E.M. — we notice the difference in the lyrics. It is an anti-suicide number: “If you feel like letting go, if you think you’ve had too much of this life, well hang on”.
Ballads and sad music tend to stay on music charts more than happy songs, whilst songs that tend to put a smile on our faces lack longevity. So, is Pharrell Williams’ hit destined to lose its lustre in a few years’ time?
We are impressed by how musicians have the ability to take us through a journey of emotions in a matter of minutes, while expressing love, death and other intimate happenings.