Music to Grieve to
listen to sad music and feel better with andrew
featuring artists like
The Staves, Robb Murphy, Colin Hay, Shelby Lynne, Dawes, Tim Minchin, Radiohead, Nick Cave, Tom Khan
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Listening to sad music after losing a loved one, being diagnosed with a terminal illness, or finalizing a divorce might seem counterintuitive, but this somber sounding activity has been proven to help.
Nothing can prepare you for grief, nor is there a right or wrong way to deal with it, but sad music is an easily accessible and highly effective tool that can help you begin to heal.
The music on this list is not designed to cheer you up – although oddly – after listening to it, you’ll likely feel better – it’s designed to meet you where you’re at – to connect with how you’re feeling – to create a space where you can just sit and be with your grief and to know that – that’s OK.
It covers all genres and all topics so it’s likely that not all tracks will resonate with you – but some will – and some will shake you to your core – according to the science – this is a good thing!
Wait For Me – Danny Randell
24 January 2019
Unrequited Love?
I’d posit that unrequited love is the norm – at least for a while.
The romantic idea that you both fall in love at the same time is ridiculous – unless you’re Clarence in True Romance – preparing to go for it and letting the chips “fall where they may”…
Love Me Like a River Does – Melody Gardot
9 January 2019
It is easy for a fear to become so great that it shows up, you spend so much time thinking about it, then one day you see it in front of you, or someone tells you it is happening, perhaps unexpectedly, or maybe more accurately, just as you had expected.
Alone With You – Zane
17 December 2018
Christmas parties – Ugh! Really – you mean that’s part of my job description now? That I have to go outside of work hours – off the clock – and socialize with people I can barely relate to when you’re actually paying me?!…
Home Alone, Too – The Staves
12 December 2018
“How I hate this time of year
It’s dark and it’s cold
And I feel I’m getting older…”
Resonating with anyone out there?
Whole – Dear Tenement
5 December 2018
I’m Not Whole.
Ain’t that the truth – particularly for people listening to this list. Grief just takes a chunk out of you and it’s fifty / fifty whether it gets replaced – and even if it is – it’s with something completely different…
Alarm Bells – Iridesce
27 November 2018
So the Anthem theme continues and this week we’re off to Camden, North London to reflect on the bittersweet nature of life. The track’s been on my listening list since early October and yet last week it reached out and grabbed me and I started paying attention…
Fake It – Morgan St. Jean
21 November 2018
I don’t know what it is at the moment but I’m in total “Anthem” mode – you know – the kinda tracks that you lose yourself in and sing along to at the top of your voice without giving a damn who hears you. There’s something incredibly cathartic to this behavior and it’s exactly why we are building the list…
Souvenir – the Depth and the Whisper
13 November 2018
While this playlist covers all kinds of behavior that can lead to grief, without doubt the most predominant theme addressed is that of loss: loss of a relationship, loss of a loved one, loss of anything that has a deep emotional connection to a person. And while everybody’s experience of loss is different, there are some fundamental desires that people dealing with loss seem to share:…
Joshua Tree in the Headphones – Deb Talan
7 November 2018
It’s a blessing to be able to look back at the bad times – particularly the really bad times – tragically there are too many who didn’t make it through to create memories…
Caledonia – Dougie MacLean
31 October 2018
Yes I’m Scottish and I can romanticize Scotland – (along with a crazy amount of Outlander fans!) – but this track’s about more than that – to me it’s about the idea of home and the strange relationship we often have with it…
Hypomania – Video Compact
22 October 2018
“You always complain I wanna stay on top,
looking back, I might have stayed a while
too long…”
It’s the pause between “stayed a while” and “too long” that turns this track into a beautifully written and smartly delivered insight to the agony of loving a broken person.
Everybody Hurts – The Corrs
16 October 2018
What can you say about a classic – even harder how do you cover it and interpret it in a way that respects the original but also adds a different perspective – a different flavor? Well – The Corrs have taken care of the second part of that question – I’ll try to answer the first…
The first visual memory I have is that of the white upright piano in Singapore, Hell and the Dark Forces lived at the bottom, Heaven and the Angels at the top, they would play battles through my fingers and I was hooked.
As a psychology graduate I studied how sound affects human performance.
As a musician I compose instrumental music that stimulates your brain but doesn't mess with your language centers, leaving you free to be creative and brilliant without distraction.
As a curator I research how music can improve your life and create flow - I can tell you what music to listen to when studying for a test and why listening to sad music can make you feel better.
As a creator / contributor at musicto I’m part of a global creator community that collaborates through music. You can learn more about our community here.