Sad Music Makes You Sadder

So you can't get enough of the new Adele song?  I know it!!  She's just so good.  I love it too.  The video got 27.7 million views during the first 24 hours after its release, and that beat Taylor Swift's Bad Blood for the most ever.  She'll be on SNL November 21st.  Yay yay!

Now the not-so-great news.  She's pouring out her soul in this song, and it strikes a chord that's so deep it may actually have a negative impact on our long-term mental health.  And it's not just Adele songs.  It's any mood-altering music.  Oh dear.

There's a new study out that says listening habits have a long-term impact on the brain, and basically says sad songs can make us sadder than we actually are.

The Frontiers in Human Neuroscience journal published the study, and said "people with a penchant for sad or aggressive music may experience significantly higher anxiety or neuroticism than those who listen to happier types of music."

Interesting.  But neuroticism?  Maybe if we feel a smidge that way already we gravitate toward those songs and it's not necessarily the songs changing us? Which came first...the sad chicken or the sad egg, I spose.  Mmm hmm.

Oh, we love the sad songs and won't stop cranking them up and belting them out in the car and the shower and even at work in front of our co-workers.  Bring on the Adele, the Lana del Ray, and the Christina Aguilera.  There's plenty of happy Andy Grammer to keep us balanced out, right?