Sad Music and Spicy Food
People’s love for sad music reminds me of the recent spicy food trend. When I was suffering from EKC (a horrible eye disease)recently, I indulged myself in those “moody music.” After I drown my emotion into a dark and murky swamp, interestingly, the first breath of air feels so sweet.
Isn’t that experience like eating spicy food? When we eat something spicy, our brain feels pain, produces endorphins to reduce the pain, and we love it. The desire to drink cold and icy milk at the end also makes me endure the pain. However, I choose my sad music playlist very cautiously. I am all for indulging my soul into tunes of melancholia, but the melodic or lyrical relief that brings a hopeful resolution is a must. Otherwise, the experience just becomes brutal torture. You cannot continuously eat spicy food and keep your body steaming until death.
I came up with 4 of my favorite music that I listen to when I feel down and moody. I love all of them because they have an impeccable musical narrative that drowns me emotionally and does not forget to pull me back up to life. To make it more interesting, I labeled each of the songs with the type of emotion I felt when I first listened to it.
You can find the complete playlist in this YouTube Music playlist.
Loneliness: Miso — Alone
Miso paints the emotional journey in her music unconventional yet convincing. Most of the pop songs today follow a standard structure: The Intro — First Verse — Pre Chorus — Chorus — Rinse and Repeat — Bridge and Outro.
Instead, Miso divides the song into three chapters where each part carries a powerful narrative.
“The season goes, you’re all alone. Nowhere to go, no one to hold. There’s something hidden in the past. Cover your eyes girl, that’s what papa said.
It might just be an endless road. Anxiety just holds you close. But if it holds onto you tight, cover your eyes girl, open your mind instead.”
This first chapter embarks on the journey by setting a melancholic tone. I want to compare this part with the beginning of every fairy tale where the protagonists start lonely. That would be the feeling you get from reading Cinderella cleaning floors in cinders or Harry Potter sleeping on the cold attic floor, which helps the audience to empathize with their loneliness.
“All the things you do, though we’re in the blues, you know how to come through, I choose to turn to you.
You, you’re everything I knew. In you, I see the truth. Turn rust to gold, so pure.”
The second chapter is where light starts to shine. After the long tunnel of gray atmosphere, the air warms up with all the flowers blooming. The transition is not as simple as the “Spring comes after Winter” type of shit, it was more intricate. I am still rooted at the beginning of the tunnel, where sadness lies, and the relief comes from the melodic narrative so pure and magical.
“We could be floatin’ on time, into the peace of your mind, before decisions collide.
Stay out of time, just take a walk in your mind, to keep the balance intact, remember, you are alive.”
The third part closes the journey and relieves the tension from its climax like a cool breeze does to you after a long climb. It allows the audience to recap the accumulated layers of the lyrical journey in their own unique way.
Fear: FKJ — Ylang Ylang
FKJ’s video of the Live Session for his Ylang Ylang EP is mesmerizing. I love everything in the video, but my favorite one is “Ylang Ylang” which starts at 3:51 in the video. The music does not have lyrics, but instruments sing for themselves. FKJ created an estranged reality like an alien planet filled with a flowery scent. First, what does Ylang Ylang mean?
y·lang-y·lang
/ˌēläNG ˈēläNG/
noun
1.a sweet-scented essential oil obtained from the flowers of a tropical tree, used in perfumery and aromatherapy.
[from Oxford Languages]
Recently in Korea, I took an interesting workshop where I could try 50+ different types of perfumes to find the right fit for me. First, I loved smelling beautiful scents, each of them so unique and fragrant. But eventually, I got a bad headache overdriving my sense of smell to try numerous perfumes. The instructor then gave me a tip, that smelling my own skin helps to relax our senses. So I smelled my skin, and surprisingly, it did help to rest my senses.
This music brings me to an alien planet full of scents, which involves the fear of being deserted at an unknown place. The music starts with the repetitive melody played on a piano that is simple, but it becomes more and more complex as different instrumental sounds build up a forestry harmony. The initial fear is eventually overwhelmed by the encounter of the musical jungle FKJ creates, just like what the perfume workshop did to me. Ironically, that experience makes me want to focus on myself, just like those perfumes reminded me of how important my body smell is for me. The process brings an appreciation for the part of you that is so subtle yet important.
Exhaustion: Rad Museum — Wet Umbrella
“넌 왜 젖은 우산처럼 접힌 채 마음을 뚝뚝 떨어뜨리니 땅에 고였니 (Why did you get folded like a wet umbrella, dripping the heart stagnated on the ground)”
Poetically impeccable lyrics define the somber tone of “Wet Umbrella” by Rad Museum. I want to recommend this music to those who feel exhausted by the personal burden extra soaked by the unfortunate circumstances. Umbrellas are useful when it’s raining, but are unbearably inconvenient as soon as we enter indoors. The water drips all over the floor, your arms feel heavy carrying it around, and you often end up losing it. Now, imagine you are an umbrella. If I was an umbrella, I would feel tormented for being used only when needed, mistreated once the usefulness goes away, and abandoned so easily.
“I am like you. I am still crying just like an umbrella.
우산을 활짝 피고 일어나 구겨진 기분을 멀리 흘려보낼래 (Gonna get up with my umbrella wide open and let the crumpled feeling flow away).”
But the music does not simply end in a depressing mood. It sends a message that when you feel morbid and sad, another umbrella can raise you up. And to me, this song was that another umbrella. The music resonated with my sad feeling and “let the crumpled feeling flow away.”
Regret: Jiwoo — Greed
“Greed” by Jiwoo reminds me of an old jazz bar that now only exists in a black and white photo. We all have those moments before sleep when we regret the past. Those “I should have said/done that!” moments rewind our memories and brutally punish our past selves over and over. When I suffered from insomnia at college, I would spend the night torturing myself by regretting the past, until the sunrise.
“Well I know what is rare only rarely lasts forever.”
This verse enchants me like a spell. ‘What is rare’ would be something that is valuable and ideal, but they don’t last forever unlike we expected. I wanted to change the regretful moment hoping that it will make it a more valuable and meaningful choice. But if I change the past and make it valuable, will I truly appreciate that forever?
“How lovely you are. Well I know what remains and I’ve wondered this forever.
If that truth stays the same, let’s be true you and I.”
I could overcome my insomnia by acknowledging the decisions I made in the past. Honestly, I made the best choice possible at that moment, and I thought, “Let’s give myself some credit!” Then the reconciliation came, so did the peace.
Sad Music and Freediving
Sad music is also like freediving. I once had an interesting conversation with a freediver I met in Spain. I asked, “What is the best moment in freediving?” He said, “When I dive in deep enough where the water pressure meets an equilibrium, the experience is orgasmic. However, you need to stay awake in the process, because you can end up forgetting to come back up and breathe. The death caused by this is not uncommon.” Listening to sad music is similar, as you need to get out of the water to make a sweet first breath to keep yourself alive.
As I was writing about each song, I fell more in love with all of them. I feel happy to share things I love with more people. Please share your favorite sad song with me too!
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