Why more song listeners and musicians are exploring sadness and mellow music

Becoming sad is also a habitrdquo says 22yearold Abhin Joshi one half of Abhin amp Tanish an indie duo Joshi singersongwriter and lyricist says that actively experiencing sadness often makes people feel good He confesses he likes to watch films that make him cryGen Zrsquos refuge is music But not just any kind mellow lofi easygoing or a ldquochill viberdquo According to the data gathered by Spotify India since May last year to now lsquosadrsquo was one of the most searched terms on the streaming platform ldquoListeners consumed mellow music often defined as love songs romantic music lofi chill vibesrdquo the data shows Previous data by Spotify India found that mellow music in general and love songs in particular are extremely popular among Indian listeners and the trend was attributed to the popularity of Bollywood musicSingersongwriter Nidhi Wagle says she finds comfort in writing music which is sad and about heartbreakHow music by independent and indie artistes also follows the mood Gen Z aged between 18 to 24 years comprise the highest number of listeners of mellow music in India This Gen Z writer has seen peers heal heartbreaks by sobbing to Prateek Kuhad and fangirl over singersongwriter Anuv Jain as he walks on stage with just his guitar and soothing vocalsWhile many might consider this genre ear candy and morose upcoming indie artistes disagree Since the pandemic there has been a wave of singersongwriters catering to Gen Z listeners who are here ldquojust for the viberdquo or to process life incidents ldquoI do write about negative experiences and difficulty with mental healthrdquo says singersongwriter Anoushka Maskey ldquoBut I try to lace it with a layer of hope which reflects my own journeyrdquo The 26yearold musician released her originals in 2020 and describes her music as ldquonostalgic warm and hopefulrdquo but admits ldquotherersquos a sense of melancholy in my vocals and lyrics those are some of the reasons why people relate to itrdquo We think Maskeyrsquos music as laidback and dreamy but one can also groove to it The ideal setting for listening to her music would be ldquoin the back of the cab while itrsquos raining watching the world pass byrdquoBengalurubased Frizzell DrsquoSouza who started releasing original music during the pandemic feels that writing heartbreak songs is easy as they have a bigger emotional impactAccording to the study titled On the Value of Sad Music by Mario AttiePicker Tara Venkatesan George E Newman and Joshua Knobemdashwith a revised version published this year in The Journal of Aesthetic Education ldquoexpressing sadness creates a sense of genuine connection Sad music can also have this type of value it can give one a sense of genuine connectionrdquo This connection is what Nidhi Wagle a Powaibased singersongwriter considers a ldquobeautiful experience where people can bond over a certain type of musicrdquo The 20yearold musician who opened for Post Malone last year in Mumbai released her music in 2020 She admits of being comfortable about writing music about love and heartbreak As a songwriter she believes that ldquoit comes easy based on personal or inspired experiencerdquo However Waglersquos initial music was not the usual acoustic setup ldquoMy initial releases were properly produced with electric guitars and drums but now I am slowly getting into the easytolisten viberdquo she says ldquoPeople are responding wellrdquo says Wagle ldquobecause they relate and feel the same wayrdquoBengalurubased singersongwriter Frizzell DrsquoSouza also agrees ldquoHappy love songs are relatively less written about whereas themes around heartbreak seem to have a bigger emotional impact across a larger audience While her songs revolve around selfintrospection and selflove there too is a melancholic vibe The common theme is storytellingResearch shows that mellow music including tunes with a sad easygoing vibe is the preferred genre among Gen Z Last week Spotify India hosted an offline gig called Mellow Hours where singersongwriters Tanamaya Bhatnagar and Anuv Jain performedJoshi who makes music with fellow musicians Tanish Khandwal of Abhin amp Tanish cannot emphasise enough on the importance of storytelling and lyrics The 22yearold writes about his personal experiencesmdashwhen he feels sad his heart breaks when he shifted to Mumbai when a friendship ended With over 20000 monthly listeners he thinks his music resonates with Gen Z because ldquoPeople cannot share emotions because they cannot articulate it So they enjoy listening to someone else is saying themrdquo Wagle gives the example of her latest single Wish I got More Time which is about the passing away of her dog ldquoI got so many messages from peoplerdquo she says ldquoThey sent comforting messages about how they related to it giving and shared personal storiesrdquo This made her comfortable about sharing something so personalInvestment associate Bhairavi NagdaMota says that she listens to sad music by Kuhad Jain and Armaan Malik and not ldquotypical Bollywood which has similar beatsrdquo because ldquoindie artistes are making music more relatable to our moodrdquo The 23yearold also feels that through Instagram reels songs and artistes make their way into playlists ldquoThenrdquo says NagdaMota ldquothere is no correlation between these songs and feeling sadrdquo Saheli Chatterjee marketing strategist and founder of Freelance 101 Academy doesnrsquot listen to these songs because she is sad but because they are comforting ldquoI feel hopeful and happy because in this fastpaced world these songs give us the time to soak in the vibe and slow downrdquo says the 22yearoldAnoushka Maskey Rahul Balyan Saheli Chatterjee and Bhairavi NagdaMotaFor this to really sink in know that Spotify India hosted their first Mellow Nights showcase earlier this week with singersongwriter Anuv Jain and Tanmaya Bhatnagar Rahul Balyan Head of Music Spotify India admits that sad music is one of the most popular genres in India and even with the evolving new sounds of independent artistes that are different heartbreak and mellow mood is still popular While sad songs as a genre has always been popular in India the reason why Gen Z is getting more into it is because ldquothis generation is very expressiverdquo says Balyan ldquoGen Z today is selfaware and it is not a taboo for them to publicly announce that lsquosad boi hoursrsquo is their favourite playlist This is a comfortable topic for them and as a cultural trend they want to talk about how sad they are It is a lsquosad genrsquo and it is cool to express that you are feeling low or mellowrdquo