Science Proves Sad Songs Help to Deal With Sad Feelings, Elliott Smith Sales Expected to Skyrocket

What do you do when you get dumped? If you’re anything like us, you drop the needle on some of your favorite sad music and feel some feels. A new study shows that listening to sad music really can help you deal with a breakup. Some people might try to tell you to listen to something more upbeat to cheer yourself up, but forget those people. You’ve got science on your side, mopey.

The study was published is the Journal of Consumer Research and was co-authored by Dr. Stephen Palmer of the University of California-Berkeley who said, “Like a sympathetic friend, music, movies, paintings, or novels that are compatible with our current mood and feelings are more appreciated when we experience broken or failing relationships.”

When subjects in the study were purposefully agitated they tended to prefer to listen to angry music, but when they were told to think back to an emotional time in their life like a breakup they preferred sad songs. The preference for sad music was stronger when the subject’s experience was something more personal like a failed relationship than just something disappointing like losing a game of Star Trek Catan to Rollin.

What’s everyone’s go-to sad song? Here’s mine:

(via Telegraph, image via Ray MacLean)

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