If you’re in a bad mood, feeling weird or off, or managing difficult emotions, try putting on a piece of classical music. “Listening to music that does not have lyrics attached to it lets the listener project their personal feelings and their personal struggle into the music,” Cook says. 

Some research has found that even listening to sad music can make us feel some pleasant emotions, which may allow us to safely experience sad feelings we sometimes try to avoid.

If you don’t have the words to explain what you’re going through or don’t feel comfortable talking about your feelings, song lyrics provide another way to express yourself. Lyrics give you permission to better understand your own situation through someone else’s perspective, Cook says. She uses something called “lyric analysis” when she works with kids and teens in group therapy. You can try it alone or with a friend: 

• Bring up the lyrics to a song on your phone.
• Listen to the song.
• Mark or highlight words and sentences that stand out to you.
• Listen to the song again, pausing at the marked places, and discuss or think about why those lyrics spoke to you and how you relate to them.
• Listen a final time, reflecting on your new appreciation of what the song means to you or your friend.

Listening to upbeat music with the intention of getting in a better mood actually works. You probably don’t need the research to believe this, as you may already experience this in your everyday life!