Katy Perry’s latest hit ‘Birthday’ has been ‘scientifically proven’ to make you happy, according to new research.
Music streaming service Spotify has teamed up with cognitive psychology and neuroscience expert Jacob Jolij from the University of Groningen to discover the top emotion-inducing tracks.’Music can have powerful effects on our emotions: from making us happy, to enabling the ability to overcome fear, certain music can trigger emotions and hormones that directly affect our moods,’ Jolij explained.
‘The list of tracks compiled with Spotify highlight some of the most effective songs to take us from sad to happy or angry to optimistic.’
Perry’s ‘Birthday’ has been aligned with happiness, with Jolij reporting: ‘Happy songs are up-tempo, have strong rhythm, positive lyrics, and are typically in a major key. ‘The up-tempo rhythm of Katy Perry’s ‘Birthday’ will encourage active movement, which is good for your mood.
‘Furthermore some research suggests that the major key unconsciously reminds you of a falling pitch – a feature which in both human and animal vocalisations asserts dominance and confidence.’
OneRepublic’s ‘I Need’ has been linked to sadness because it is ‘slower and in a minor key’, while Coldplay’s ‘Magic’ has been named the perfect song to overcome fear.’Music that can help you to overcome fear needs to be slow, relaxing, but have major chords to evoke positive feelings and lyrics that deal with your negative thoughts, such as Coldplay’s ‘Magic’,’ Jolij said.
What’s more, Avicii’s ‘Wake Me Up’ was linked to excitement, John Legend’s ‘All of Me’ could provoke nostalgia, David Guetta’s ‘Bad’ may cause anger and American Authors’ ‘Best Day of My Life’ may provide optimism.
