We all love a good playlist, don’t we? Whether it’s for a shower, a road trip, or just your normal lazy afternoon at home, you may find yourself jamming to your favourite hits all day long. But have you ever stopped to think about how music is more than just a source of entertainment? It’s true! Music shapes your life both positively and negatively in so many ways, often without you even realising it. Your taste in music can influence your mood, relationships, and even how you see the world. Let’s dive into some of the ways music plays a huge role in shaping our lives.
Mood Determination
The music we listen to plays a pivotal role in determining the moods that we have at certain moments. If you listen to a sad song, chances are that your mood is going to be dampened for the rest of the day. Likewise, if you are listening to inspirational music, chances are that you are going to be happy and inspired throughout your day. If you are a versatile music listener, this can be managed by alternating songs, as this will eliminate the impact of each mood-evoking song. However, if you listen to one genre and one title under that genre, you may notice that the mood it evokes will become your everyday mood and if it's negative, this has the power to destroy your relationship.
Shapes Personal Identity
People listen to music that they can resonate with or that they find inspiration from. The music we choose often reflects who we are, our beliefs, and our experiences. Therefore, if you listen to genres like punk rock, it is more likely that you might value rebellion and independence. Are you, however, aware that music can shape your values and beliefs on its own? If you take a 5-year-old child and have him listen to hip hop that leans into a specific title daily, you will notice that this child will grow into adopting a personality that matches this. Music can, therefore, be a culture and a movement that shapes the behaviour of the people who listen to it. You must be mindful of what you listen to, as this might end up shaping your personality, either positively or negatively, depending on the song.
Determines Your Social Circle
Are you aware of the unique power that music has when it comes to bringing people together? Sharing musical interests creates a community of people who befriend each other while enjoying their love of the same music. So whether it's a concert or a band, your social circle may be determined by the music that you listen to. For people who take music seriously and culture it, chances are that they only surround themselves with people who have similar musical tastes around them. Otherwise, the friendship will be prone to problems from the very beginning.
Affects Language Development
If you want your child to have a good language development process, then you should consider the role that music has in the language development of a child. Exposing a child to catchy rhymes that have good language stitched into them will help them develop good language skills. This involves the right vocabulary, tone and choice of words. However, if you do the opposite and allow your child to listen to songs that have improper sentence construction and vulgar words, you will affect their language development. This also applies to adults as different songs and their choice of vocabulary can either enhance you or make you normalise improper behaviour through language.
Shapes Perspectives
Music Shapes the perspectives that people adopt and have as it often includes the social and political plights of people. Many people use music as an activism tool, too, and the people who listen to it will probably adopt this line of thinking and have their perspectives shaped by this experience. Once infused in songs, personal struggles, and cultural narratives, they become a point of study whereby people listening to the music get to know new things that they never knew existed before. Therefore music can challenge our assumptions and provoke introspection, leading us to question our values and the society we live in.
Effect On Behavior
A general fact is that the music you listen to has an impact on the behaviour you show. The same way that when your favourite songs play, you can subconsciously start dancing is the same way that you adopt the behaviours promoted by the songs you listen to. If you continuously hear that you need to get an education and get money for yourself in all the songs you listen to, you are likely to just consider this as the only way to go. Thus, music positively affects your behaviour. However, if you listen to songs that promote violence, theft and other negative behaviours, you may find these things okay and adopt this behaviour either knowingly or unknowingly.
Choice Of Clothing
When you fall in love with certain music, you aren't just attracted by the music itself but the person who sang it as well. In the end, you may find yourself wanting to be more like your favourite artist, and this will encompass their dressing. When you identify with a particular music scene, you often adopt its fashion as part of your identity. So whether it's gospel, punk or R&B, what you listen to will affect your fashion sense.