We all have one of those playlists. You know the one I’m talking about. That one that is craftily titled “We Are Never Getting Back Together – EVER. Jerk” or “Here’s to the heartbreakers” or “Go away world, I’m busy hating you”.

No, just me?

The thing about music is that it is an incredibly powerful force, so it can ignite a vast range of emotional responses. Everyone has that breakup playlist rife with vengeance oriented, payback loving, hatred filling, punch the wall kind of music that inevitably reinforces the feelings of anger, sadness or hatred you may be feeling towards a particular person or persons.

The thing is, these sad playlists are, well, sad and as gratifying as it may be to burrow yourself into an infinity pool of pity, sometimes it’s the happy music with upbeat melodies and commanding lyrics that get you off your feet, out the door and back into the world you initially thought had wronged you.

Happy music is a blanket remedy: for the days you want to curl up and cry or the days where the spring in your step is just a little extra buoyant than usual.

Dog Days Are Over – Florence And The Machine

“Happiness hit her like a train on a track, coming towards her, stuck still no turning back”

Us – Regina Spektor

“We’re living in a den of thieves, rummaging for answers in the pages, we’re living in a den of thieves, and it’s contagious”

Starlight – Taylor Swift

“Look at you worrying so much about things you can’t change, you’ll spend your whole life singing the blues if you keep thinking that way”

Dark Blue – Jack’s Mannequin

“You were swinging for Mars and then the water reached the West Coast and took the power lines (the power lines), and it was me and you (this could last forever) and the whole town under water”

Pocket Full of Sunshine – Natasha Bedingfield

“Do what you want, but you’re never gonna break me, sticks and stones are never gonna shake me”

Grace Kelly – Mika

“I could be brown, I could be blue, I could be violet sky, I could be hurtful, I could be purple, I could be anything you like”

Take A Walk – Passion Pit

“All these kind of places, make it seem like it’s been ages, tomorrow some new building will scrape the sky”

Love Song – Sara Bareilles

“Head under water and they tell me to breathe easy for awhile, but breathing gets harder, even I know that”

Some Nights – Fun

“No. When I see stars, when I see, when I see stars, that’s all they are, when I hear songs, they sound like this one”

Pumped Up Kicks – Foster The People

“All the other kids with the pumped up kicks, you better run, better run, faster than my bullet”

Written by Nikki Gladstone
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