Sad songs make us cry, so why do we like listening to them? An expert explains

Sad music creates a sense of oneness, a kind of empathy in the listener, and empathy itself has a pleasurable aspect to it, researcher says

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Sad music makes us feel a certain way, says a researcher from the University of New South Wales in Australia. Photo: Shutterstock

Anthea Rowan

Published: 6:15pm, 24 Aug 2024

If feeling sad is uncomfortable, why do we like listening to sad music? We do, because science has confirmed this fact.

The University of New South Wales in Australia recently conducted a study of 50 participants – mostly undergraduate music students – who, for the purposes of the research, selected music that summoned the swell of sadness. Tracks chosen included a wide range of music, from Beethoven to Taylor Swift.

“It’s paradoxical to think you could enjoy something that makes you feel a negative emotion. But this research shows the first empirical evidence that sadness can positively affect the enjoyment of music, directly,” says Professor Emery Schubert, of the university’s Empirical Musicology Laboratory, who led the study.

He defines “sad” music: it “typically has the features of being in a slow tempo, soft dynamics, with more emphasised dissonances” – notes that “disagree” with one another to create a harsh, abrupt or jarring change in the flow of the music.

Taylor Swift performs onstage in Chicago in the US in 2023. Students in a study chose music that summoned the swell of sadness. Tracks chosen included a wide range of music, including Swift’s tracks. Photo: TNS

A slow tempo is about 60 to 70 beats per minute – about the same as a relaxed heartbeat. Sad music does not have huge variations in volume. It is even and gentle.