Lyrics do matter: how “coping songs” relate to well-being goals. The COVID pandemic case

IntroductionIn stressful times, people often listen to “coping songs” that help them reach emotional well-being goals. This paper is a first attempt to map the connection between an individual’s well-being goals and their chosen coping song.MethodsWe assembled a large-scale dataset of 2,804 coping s...

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Main Authors: Adi Levy, Roni Granot, Renana Peres
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2024-12-01
Series:Frontiers in Psychology
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Online Access:https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1431741/full
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author Adi Levy
Roni Granot
Renana Peres
author_facet Adi Levy
Roni Granot
Renana Peres
author_sort Adi Levy
collection DOAJ
description IntroductionIn stressful times, people often listen to “coping songs” that help them reach emotional well-being goals. This paper is a first attempt to map the connection between an individual’s well-being goals and their chosen coping song.MethodsWe assembled a large-scale dataset of 2,804 coping songs chosen by individuals from 11 countries during COVID-19 lockdown. Individuals reported their well-being goals and also named their coping song. We applied an unsupervised topic-modeling approach to identify 15 self-emerging topics from the song lyrics, and connected them to well-being goals.ResultsWe found significant association between certain lyrics’ topics and specific well-being goals. This association weakened for participants for which music is highly important. No significant patterns were found for the songs’ acoustic features.DiscussionThis paper posits that song lyrics, despite their brevity and presumed simplicity, can be meaningful for self-regulation of emotional states, and should receive more attention by researchers and streaming services alike.
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series Frontiers in Psychology
spelling doaj-art-1f2108ee33db40608dfe4e1114fff8912025-08-20T02:39:59ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782024-12-011510.3389/fpsyg.2024.14317411431741Lyrics do matter: how “coping songs” relate to well-being goals. The COVID pandemic caseAdi Levy0Roni Granot1Renana Peres2The Hebrew University Business School, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem, IsraelMusicology Department, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, IsraelThe Hebrew University Business School, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem, IsraelIntroductionIn stressful times, people often listen to “coping songs” that help them reach emotional well-being goals. This paper is a first attempt to map the connection between an individual’s well-being goals and their chosen coping song.MethodsWe assembled a large-scale dataset of 2,804 coping songs chosen by individuals from 11 countries during COVID-19 lockdown. Individuals reported their well-being goals and also named their coping song. We applied an unsupervised topic-modeling approach to identify 15 self-emerging topics from the song lyrics, and connected them to well-being goals.ResultsWe found significant association between certain lyrics’ topics and specific well-being goals. This association weakened for participants for which music is highly important. No significant patterns were found for the songs’ acoustic features.DiscussionThis paper posits that song lyrics, despite their brevity and presumed simplicity, can be meaningful for self-regulation of emotional states, and should receive more attention by researchers and streaming services alike.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1431741/fullsongswell-beinglyricsemotion regulationtopic modelingacoustic features analysis
spellingShingle Adi Levy
Roni Granot
Renana Peres
Lyrics do matter: how “coping songs” relate to well-being goals. The COVID pandemic case
Frontiers in Psychology
songs
well-being
lyrics
emotion regulation
topic modeling
acoustic features analysis
title Lyrics do matter: how “coping songs” relate to well-being goals. The COVID pandemic case
title_full Lyrics do matter: how “coping songs” relate to well-being goals. The COVID pandemic case
title_fullStr Lyrics do matter: how “coping songs” relate to well-being goals. The COVID pandemic case
title_full_unstemmed Lyrics do matter: how “coping songs” relate to well-being goals. The COVID pandemic case
title_short Lyrics do matter: how “coping songs” relate to well-being goals. The COVID pandemic case
title_sort lyrics do matter how coping songs relate to well being goals the covid pandemic case
topic songs
well-being
lyrics
emotion regulation
topic modeling
acoustic features analysis
url https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1431741/full
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AT renanaperes lyricsdomatterhowcopingsongsrelatetowellbeinggoalsthecovidpandemiccase