Music, a way of expressing ourselves, has been around since the dawn of time, and with the advancement of technology and digitalization it is now possible for music to infuse itself in every single corner of our society. The prevalence of music leads to the debate revolving around its influence and significance in our lives. Little do people know, music can give people different psychological suggestions and is an influential force that can affect our thoughts and principles (Mohana 2018). Therefore, we should be careful when we pick our music.

Usually, songs are created after the artist experiences something, and often when we hear the end result, we can usually relate to the artist. While people cannot experience actual encounters and thoughts that the artist experienced while creating their masterpiece, they are able to relate to the emotions of the piece(Storr 1993). Some people think that music is only able to reflect what has already been there. However, they would be proven wrong through the concept of limited observation. An example would be the attitude towards LGBT equality, the reason songs advocating for LGBT equality are accepted without a second thought is due to the rising influence of LGBT groups(Schäfer 2013). However, songs that advocated for LGBT equality were met with skepticism and controversy back in the day. Examples of such would be the band Queen which had a homosexual lead singer,: Freddie Mercury. Freddie Mercury was viewed as a gay icon and had already been iundirectly communicating the idea of LGBT equality back in his time. Of course, the correlation between music and the dictation of thoughts is not exactly proven; however, it’s certainly relevant.

Music works in an extraordinary way in order to influence the emotions or minds of individuals. As a vehicle of ideas, music and songs often connect with listeners through shared feelings or thoughts. When immersed in the same atmosphere, listeners are naturally  manipulated by the same psychological suggestion created by the artist. Thus, music is powerful enough to not only validate existing thoughts but is also able to forge new ones. In the book “Music and the Mmind” by Anthony Storr, Gloomy Sunday was used as an example. The song was written by the composer after his fiancee died, the lyrics describe how the composer asked his dead lover to join him at his own funeral. It is such a dismal and depressing piece of music that it had multiple suicides blamed on it(Storr 1993). In fact, at least 18 suicides in Hungary were reportedly tied to the song Gloomy Sunday(Storr 1993). In fact, it was because of the presumed detrimental effects of the song that the world eventually decided to ban it.

Music can play into people’s emotions, at times, it can also create a social tendency when a group of people is subject to the same ideas embedded in music. As part of our culture, music can infiltrate people with ideas and values which can eventually create social tendencies. A recent incident of the Chinese community protesting against the racial discrimination in rapper YG’s song serves as compelling evidence. YG disseminates that it’s easy to rob Chinese Americans in his song “Meet the Flockers”. This song glorifies the horrific incidents that happen in Chinese neighborhoods and also condones the act of robbing Chinese neighborhoods. Not only does the music reinforces the stereotype about Chinese Americans, but it also pushes people to imitate the shameful deed. A robbery on an elderly couple in a Chinese neighborhood was said to be inspired by YG’s track(Espinoza 2018). WIn conclusion, while racial violence may result from a synergistic effect, value- carrying music clearly plays a role in this.

Indeed, music is a powerful force that can affect people’s thoughts and values. It also undoubtedly communicates thoughts among individuals and shifts the emotions of people’s minds. With music being able to accomplish so much, we should all be careful when we choose our music.

link to rough draft: https://docs.google.com/document/d/12ULGV-ANuhM6TXnTNTotYMRu4yOXDOWTe1gs7EBXu1o/edit

---

Follow My Blog

Get new content delivered directly to your inbox.