Spotify is giving its listeners the chance to embrace their sadness through its platform.
The popular audio-streaming platform recently decided to release a new playlist for its heavy-hearted users to listen to during the summer due to popular demand.
Spotify noted that many of its users listened to sad, melancholic songs during 2023's summer, leading to them creating a playlist to ease their search for such music.
Teardrops In The Summer Heat
Spotify mentioned in a statement it released it is releasing a "bummer summer" playlist its users can listen to while embracing their melancholic thoughts. According to the company, the playlist is the "ultimate lineup for moody jams and soul-filling songs."
Interestingly, Spotify noted that the playlist was borne from its users' frequent search of the word "Sad" globally. The company even revealed that its Gen Z users have been looking up songs using the sad search prompt to match their mood.
Krista Scozzari, Spotify's North American Marketing Lead, mentioned that people belonging to Gen Z embrace their feelings so much it's "really flipping the stigma of vuilnerability." As such, Spotify decided to create and launch its bummer summer playlist to celebrate Gen Z's embracing of their emotions.
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As a result, Spotify's new playlist consists of tracks from various artists specializing in various genres, such as d4vd, Frank Ocean, Phoebe Bridgers, Lana Del Rey, Big Thief, and Billie Eilish. A quick look at the playlist showed that it is made up of 50 songs from the previously mentioned artists, along with bands and singers like David Kushner, James Arthur, Coldplay, and even Taylor Swift.
The company assures users that the playlist "echoes the honesty and transparency that Gen Zs emulate in their lives and listening-and harnesses the ability of emotive, lyrical music to enhance any mood." These tracks, according to Spotify, evoke feelings of nostalgia, wistfulness, and wanting - songs that feel like a warm embrace to those listening to them.
Life In Every Tear
To further get more attention to its bummer summer playlist, Spotify launched a campaign that brings its playlist to life. According to Scozzari, the company wants to celebrate how sad music makes people feel more connected, along with how they help normalize people's feelings and humanity, with the campaign.
Scozzari's statement has its foundation secured by science. Dr. Michael Bonshor, Ph.D., a music psychology expert, stated that sad music could help people release, express, channel, or purge their emotions.
According to Bonshor, sad music often has slower speeds, allowing people to slow their breathing and heart rate to feel more relaxed and tranquil. Listening to such music also creates a sense of personal connection with the artists that wrote them, validating the experiences the artists' and listeners' experiences.
One of the targets of Spotify's campaign is Buffalo Bayou Park, which is in d4vd's hometown of Houston, Texas. People who visit there starting Aug. 21 can find a fountain of tears shaped like d4vd in homage to the sd songs they created that help Spotify users feel good after a good cry.
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