Someone Else, Somewhere Else: Part I
A theory about our relationships to lyrics
When we’re listening to music, we’re listening to stories. Do we want to be part of those stories or do we think we already are?
When we’re making a commute, clicking around on computers, or hanging out with friends, it seems natural to fantasize about being someone else somewhere else. So, I had this idea that people enjoy songs more when the lyrics convey experiences that are dissimilar to their own but not so foreign that they can’t imagine themselves in the narrator’s place.
And someone could enjoy the exoticism of a band or artist as much as that of a song, because their “vibe”—in music style, dress, attitude, etc.—serves as an example of what you wish you were. (However, it’s really hard to think of an artist or song that isn’t packaged with a mysterious allure.)
On a basic level: you want to listen to happy music when you’re sad. And more specifically: you want to listen to punk bands yowling about taking down the government when you’re just a tween whose only main purpose is to get good grades at school and mow the lawn in the summer.
As a personal example, I do feel like these lyrics applied to my inner-life as a teen, but the mood of the songs did not match up with my own baseline. Rather, Sufjan’s self-awareness and optimism was something I wanted for myself and my own art:
(Please feel free to share with me examples of your own embarrassing use of lyrics in captions or otherwise)
I tried to find some research to back up my hypothesis, but the closest I got was with studies that confirmed that listening to music can affect your mood (summarized well in this animated video from Better Than Yesterday).
As a very non-scientific last resort, I turned to Reddit, where I found someone with almost the exact same theory as me but who bothered to invite opinions on it 7 years faster than me.
And the top upvoted response?
So, yes and no.:)
And like every comment section on social media, the rest of the thread was filled with responses by people who the post wasn’t really directed at in the first place. This is to say: people who don’t pay attention to lyrics announced this fact about themselves as if it was helpful in figuring out if people [who listen to lyrics] enjoy music more when they can relate to the lyrics.
I would make the argument that maybe there is a subliminal push or pull of lyrics, but according to my research, that seems to be disproven.
So, if you’re a “sound man” (to borrow Redditor WoodpeckerNo1’s phrase), this question is not for you.
Rise up “text men” and tell me: do you connect with music more when the lyrics are telling a story that you can more-or-less relate to, or do you connect with music more when the lyrics are telling a story dissimilar to your own life?
I’ll share my ever-evolving opinion and extended research on this in my next post.
I’d like to know:
When you’re listening to the lyrics and not just vibin’, do you connect with music more when the lyrics are telling a story that you can more-or-less relate to, or do you connect with music more when the lyrics are telling a story dissimilar to your own life?
Want me to write about anything in particular? Or perhaps you have a vague topic you’d like to offer as a prompt? I’ll take anything.