Summer has officially come to an end, and the first day of fall has passed. The holidays are around the corner, and everyone’s seasonal depression is creeping in. Trying to avoid sad feelings when the weather is crappy is challenging. It’s common to find humans listening to music in order to try and defeat the seasonal depression. Now, what genre of music is the most useful when trying to boost your mood? The answer is country music. Country music can still fit into cloudy and rainy days even when most of the songs talk about riding a jeep with the top off while enjoying the sunshine.
Once it starts getting dark at 5p.m., people turn on jazz, classical and alternative music. Those genres are slower and have sad tones, so then it causes listeners to feel melancholy. But listening to country music in Oregon during the fall, winter and a portion of spring is odd to many people. Not many think about how it could improve moods.
Country music fans are happier than the ones who listen to other genres of music. For example, Taste of Country says that 52% of country music listeners are happier and less stressed compared to other genres of music listeners. So, songs such as Chicken Fried by Zac Brown Band, which is about things that are important to the artist and aspects of Southern living, never fail to make someone smile.
With this information, it’s shocking that more people don’t listen to country music when it’s raining cats and dogs outside. Although, some students at LOHS can be caught playing Luke Combs or Zach Bryan all year round, others claim listening to country makes them miss the feeling of freedom and happiness that summer brings. This illustrates how sometimes country music makes a person feel bittersweet feelings, but that’s only because it’s connected to happy memories. Reflecting on positive parts of the past has been shown to reduce stress, says the Greater Good Magazine.
When listening to country music, one gets filled with happiness, passion and patriotism. Although some country songs have a sad connotation, most country songs’ goal is to highlight delightful occurrences. These cheerful topics are a great way to switch from a mindset of winter sadness to looking forward to a superb summer.
In the song ‘Silverado for Sale’ by Morgan Wallen, the artist talks about how a certain truck does more than just drive. Instead, it claims to “get you the prettiest girl in town.” The song continues to talk about how the truck will cause you to have a fun Friday night under the stars, and have you and your girl “dancin.” All of these activities are fun and positive, and the topics of this song are reminiscent of warm summer nights under the stars.
Another song that represents this idea of country music causing happiness is ‘The World’ by Brad Paisley. This song is about a girl who might not be important to everyone else around her, but to the artist singing, this girl is his world. It’s a cute love story that no one can pass up. Paisley sings, “You may be just another girl, but to me, Baby, you are the world.” He not only calls out his lover but also leaves room for people listening to the song to imagine he’s talking about them.
‘Silverado for Sale’ and ‘The World’ are just two examples in a plethora of songs that cause a listener to have happy feelings. But the meaning of the songs isn’t the only thing that intrigues listeners. The style of how country songs are structured is pleasing to the ear. First off, country songs are always short but sweet, so then a listener doesn’t get bored. Country music has very catchy tunes that are very likely to get stuck in someone’s head.
Another reason country music is superior, in addition to increasing people’s moods in positive ways, is the fact that the songs are always easy to understand. In comparison, rap has meanings that aren’t always surface level, meaning fans of music can’t relate or understand the songs.
Country music is easy to relate to, so when it’s a positive, happy, feel-good song all those feelings are received by the listener.
With all these great reasons why country music is not only amazing but creates positivity, it’s clear humans should keep listening to it even if the season isn’t fitting to the song. This type of song takes you into the happy world that the artist sings about with descriptive imagery. Someone listening to country music is always fully engulfed in the setting and surroundings depicted in the song.
Country is not only for summer but all year. It brings people’s mood up positively while enjoying a well crafted song. How can one go wrong listening about a guy getting the girl of his dreams or about taking long country drives?
