Music to Process -Elise Gunteski #12

 Noah Kahan released a new album this weekend. I was listening to it in the car when my roommate commented on how I was always listening to sad music. We have very opposite music tastes. She loves upbeat early 2000s music, while I choose songs that I relate more to. It made me think that maybe she didn't understand my music because we didn't have the same experiences. I listen to music as a way to process and regulate my feelings, and she loves more 'fun' music. One song in particular confused her. It was Dashboard. To me it was how even though you may escape a situation, you feel like you can't escape yourself. Also, how it feels being the only one to get out of an abusive home. I explained why it was meaningful to me and she seemed confused as to why I would purposefully sit in that sadness. I didn't know how to explain that one of the main ways that I move through things is through music. I find it interesting how two people can listen to the exact same song, and draw two very different conclusions about it.

Comments

  1. Charlotte AtkinsonMay 4, 2026 at 8:45 PM

    I wrote a blog about this exact thing! I was wondering why we choose tο make ourselves sad by feeling music so deeply. My friends and I love to go for a drive and listen to lyrically beautiful but devastating songs, because that makes the experience so much more real. I also talked about how it helps us cope, whether we write music or just listen to it. I personally really enjoy it when artists add random specific details to their songs, because even if the whole song doesn’t apply, if I find a lyric that reminds me of something, suddenly that song is about a certain event in my life. I love relating to music, and really feeling every lyric to the fullest, no matter the emotion.

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