The Soundtrack of the Soul: How Music Messes with Us

Somewhere between the first note and the last beat, music finds a way into us. Not through logic or language, but somewhere deeper, bypassing the gatekeepers of thought and slipping straight into the part of us that feels. It comforts, moves and stirs us. Music is the background to our first kiss, our worst breakup, the long drive home after something we can’t quite talk about yet. And that’s exactly what makes it so powerful - and so underestimated.

We think of music as entertainment, as something passive. But it’s anything but. Music is one of the most potent forms of psychological influence we are exposed to, and we do it willingly. We queue it, sing along and loop it. We anchor our memories to it, we let it into our minds, and we let it stay.

For centuries, cultures have known that music is a form of medicine. In ancient Greece, Plato said, “Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything.” Traditional medicine in many Indigenous cultures still uses song and sound as part of ceremony and healing. And yet, here in the modern world, where anxiety is endemic and everyone’s in therapy, we rarely stop to question the soundtrack playing underneath it all.

Because music is more than mood - it’s manipulation.

Ever noticed how every phone company on earth uses the same kind of on-hold music? It’s never punk, pop or Mozart. It’s always light, ambient, repetitive. Why? Because it’s designed to numb you. To pacify. It tells your nervous system, “Wait. Don’t be angry. Everything’s fine.” Except it’s not. You’ve been on hold for 47 minutes and the refund still hasn’t come. But your cortisol spike gets dulled just enough to stop you from going postal.

Now think about heavy metal, industrial techno, or horror film soundtracks. The frequency changes and the tension rises. You feel it in your gut before you even register it in your mind. That’s not a coincidence, it’s a formula. A study by the University of California, Los Angeles found that music can trigger the same brain regions that process fear, pleasure, and reward - especially when the rhythm is looped or contains unexpected changes in pitch or tempo.

Music literally hijacks our emotional regulation system.

That’s why brands use it. Politicians use it. Hollywood most definitely uses it. And the music industry itself? It thrives on repetition and nostalgia, because the psychology of music is deeply tied to memory. Neurologist Dr. Oliver Sacks wrote, “Music evokes emotion, and emotion can bring with it memory… it brings back the feeling of life when nothing else can.” This is why TikTok sounds are built to go viral. Why we keep hearing the same 10-second samples everywhere. They’re not just catchy. They’re engineered to stick, and to sell.

It’s not just the lyrics. In fact, it rarely is. It’s the loop. It's the beat. It's the chord progression that feels like something you’ve heard before, because you probably have because music producers often sample older tracks and weave them into new ones, creating a subliminal thread between your emotional past and a consumer present. It’s marketing, dressed up as music and memory wrapped in monetisation.

But that doesn’t mean all music is commercial poison. Quite the opposite. At its best, music is literally healing. Music is medicinal, its movement is medicine, and music makes us move, sometimes without even realising it. The beat syncs with our breath. Our shoulders drop and our hips sway. We dance because something ancient inside us remembers that rhythm is a way to release. In trauma therapy, bilateral stimulation - rhythmic, side-to-side sound - is used to calm the nervous system. Binaural beats, which play slightly different frequencies into each ear, are now used to aid sleep and even induce meditative states.

And it’s not just anecdotal. A 2013 meta-analysis published in Trends in Cognitive Sciences found that music activates multiple areas of the brain simultaneously, including those involved in emotion, memory, and even motor control. Another study published in The Lancet Psychiatry in 2015 found that music therapy significantly reduced symptoms of depression and anxiety in people with psychiatric disorders, particularly when combined with movement or art-based activities. Music doesn’t just reflect our mood - it rewires it.

There’s a reason we reach for music when we’re sad, or when we need to feel something, or anything. It’s why we create playlists for heartbreak, road trips, or giving birth. It’s emotional scaffolding. Sometimes the music understands us before we do. It gives us permission to cry, or remember, or dream, or dance it out. And that’s powerful.

And just as music can heal, it can also trap. There’s a fine line between release and rumination. Listening to sad music when you’re already in a dark place can sometimes help you process, but it can also reinforce depressive neural loops. Researchers from the University of South Florida found that individuals with higher rumination tendencies often used sad music as a form of emotional expression but reported feeling worse afterward. The music made them feel seen, but not better.

So do we need to enlist music police, ban sad songs or demonise pop or heavy metal music? Perhaps that's going a tad too far, so we've got to focus on awareness. Remembering that music is not neutral, it’s influential. It’s a tool, and like any tool, it can be used with intention or it can be used to manipulate. And when it comes to our mental health, that distinction matters.

Because we’re living in a world that’s loud, overstimulating and always on. And as more and more of us are turning to music as a refuge, a reset, or even a coping mechanism, it’s worth asking who’s choosing the playlist? Are we using music to feel something real, or are we just numbing out? Are we connecting, or checking out? Are we tuning in, or just tuning out?

For some people, especially neurodivergent minds, music is a lifeline. It can soothe sensory overload. It can bring structure to chaos. For others, it becomes a kind of emotional metronome, a way to self-regulate when the world feels overwhelming. But it can also be used to avoid, to delay the discomfort we’re not ready to feel. And when music is pumped into every shop, cafe, elevator, gym, and petrol station, that’s not accidental, that’s control.

Because sound is vibration. And vibration affects matter. Including our bodies. Including our brains. There are whole schools of sound healing now, from solfeggio frequencies to gong baths to crystal singing bowls. Not because it’s 'on trend', but because there’s ancient science in sound. The same way ultrasound can heal tissue, the right sound can shift stuck energy. And we’re only beginning to scratch the surface of what that means for mental health.

So maybe the most powerful question isn’t what we’re listening to, but why. Why do we crave certain songs when we’re grieving? Why do some voices feel like home? Why do we feel pulled toward chaos or calm depending on our inner weather? That self-awareness can turn music from a passive experience into an active part of our emotional toolkit.

In an industry driven by algorithms and ad placements, taking back our relationship with music is a small act of rebellion. It’s also a deeply personal one. So if you’re going through something? Make a playlist, just for you. Not for your followers or your brand. For your nervous system. For your soul. Fill it with songs that speak your truth, that bring you back to your body, that remind you of who you were before the noise got too loud. Because sure, music can sell, but it can also save. And sometimes, the right song at the right time is more powerful than a thousand therapy sessions.

So go on. Hit play. But this time, do it with your whole heart listening.

P.S. You can tune in or zone out with the official YOU Magazine Spotify playlist, a curated mix of all the tunes featured across our Instagram posts. Listen now via the link in bio. #MusicAndMentalHealth #HealingThroughMusic #SoundTherapy #MusicForTheSoul #MentalHealthAwareness #MindBodyMusic #EmotionalHealth #BinauralBeats #TherapeuticSound #FrequencyHealing #WellnessTools #NeurodivergentSupport #EnergyHealing #MusicIsMedicine #VibrationHealing #SelfSoothing #ModernMystic #TraumaInformed #ConsciousLiving #YouNorthernBeaches #MusicPsychology #BrainOnMusic #SomaticHealing #NervousSystemRegulation #CognitiveWellness #AuditoryTherapy #HealingFrequencies #MusicInfluence #SoundscapesForHealing #ScienceOfSound