Music Mood & Memory

COVID-19 quarantine has flipped our worlds upside down. It has heightened everyone’s anxiety and the sense of unknown has skyrocketed. The human brain and heart doesn’t do well with uncertainty, it creates a sense of life being out of our control and all the emotions that come with that. One sentiment that I keep going back to and have mentioned in my blogs before, is that all our waves of emotions and daily moods are valid. It is processing these feelings and not letting them get to you that is the challenge. We know where they are coming from, but how do we comfort ourselves when the best thing we can do for our physical health is to isolate? Physical and mental health really go hand in hand and it is extremely difficult right now when what we need to be doing for our physical health, by staying 6 feet apart and staying inside as much as possible, is inversely draining our mental health.

So what do we do? What do we do when these feelings take hold? Distraction? Bury yourself in work? Read a book? Binge a TV show? How many more documentaries of women feeding their husband to tigers can we take? Music has always been a vehicle to transport many to a different time and place. Music is a time machine, taking you right back to a moment or a feeling. I know I never feel as alone as I am when I immerse myself in someone else’s story that I can relate to. You truly can feel less alone and connected when a complete stranger can write a lyric that brings you back in time. It’s all intertwined, music, mood, and memory.

It's my favorite distraction from what’s going on right now. However, there is definitely something missing. Live music gives off an energy like nothing else. My dad used to say music is good for the soul. I hold onto those words more than ever these days. Music wasn’t meant to be experienced alone, the energy it gives feeds us, it feeds us creatively and emotionally. A summer feel good song, a sad heart break up song, a sassy empowering song. As Maren Morris says there’s a song for everything. What’s your time machine? Is it Springsteen or Teenage Dream?

I noticed my mood was a little different Sunday night with no scheduled “events” whether it be a live stream or a music release to dive into. I want to take the next few paragraphs to shout out the artists who have been doing their part in giving us ‘music lovers’ some sense of normalcy in this new world without live events.

First is Set Artist Management for their DJ live streams giving me the feeling of my Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights back. We still don’t even know what nightlife and the concert/touring industry is going to look like after this is over. For now I can pour myself a drink (definitely saving money on booze), dance in my living room , and chat with friends enjoying the same beats. Set DJs, including DJ Martial (@djmartial) are also showing love to the NYC restaurants and clubs holding down the fort until we can return. Kona Grill (@konagrill) and STK (@eatstk) have featured @setmgmt DJs Friday and Saturday nights.

Shout out to DJ Jonny Laz (@djjonnylaz)

and DJ MP3 (@_djmp3) killing the game from home too! You can catch DJ MP3 on @setmgmt Instagram live 9 pm EST this Friday! Keep checking SET's Instagram daily for the full dj rotation!

You can also go to Spotify's SET Artist Radio to check out all the Stir Crazy Mix Volumes. Original mixes from 12 SET DJs! Each with a clever corona virus opening.

Before I talk about the new releases that fit this nostalgic memory mold I want to revisit a song released last March. Almost (Sweet Music) by Hozier. Such a beautifully written song that hits the nail on the head of the experience of listening to music. It can almost transport you into a memory or a place in time. 'Almost' is Hozier’s love letter to jazz, it is my love letter to all genres. Same kind of music haunts her bedroom/Be still my foolish heart don’t ruin this on me/ let's get lost and let the good times roll. Hozier and his band came up with a snap and hand clap routine to really get a live crowd involved. Sorry Hozier, but no matter how many times you tried to teach it to the Good Morning America crowd in Central Park last year there was no way for unity. However, this song does give me a sense of unity. A sense that the same music I’m listening to can remind someone else 6 feet apart a memory we shared. Our memories are in our music, and this song embodies that.

Some memories that songs bring up aren’t always happy. Tucker Beathard’s new song You Would Think is about small things that you would expect would make someone think about you, the good, bad, and in between. The song can be applied to any kind of rocky relationship. The music video depicts a girl struggling with her alcoholic mother. With all this time on our hands we have all the time to think, and if you are missing someone or trying to get passed something you definitely get in the moods where all you think about is if that other person is thinking of you too: You would think some song, you would think some place would ring a bell or hurt like hell or make you feel something is missing. Some memories are hard to face, you get stuck thinking about them, this video and song is a punch in the gut and can hit home in more ways than one.

While some memories are hard to revisit some memories bring you back to summer time first love. Nobody paints a better nostalgia feeling than Ryan Hurd himself. His newest release out today, Every Other Memory, is classic Hurd and an epic follow up to his hit Love in a Bar. The imagery in this song is so vivid which is why I fell in love with it from the first listen, and the 100 to follow. Definitely got transported to the beach and summer and that feeling of that last call, first kiss. Ryan and I share our favorite lyrics which is when the sky lights up, it’s your shade of blue/cause every other memory is you. My heart melts with this song, this feeling of first love and summer time I can almost feel the sun on my skin and the sand on my bare feet.

Brett Eldredge has a response to Ryan in his new song Where the Heart Is. Remember when you felt the sun? Remember how the rain felt down on your skin? No Brett, it is hard to remember the feeling of the sun during quarantine, but these songs put me back in that head space. Brett returned to the social media stage and when he returned he came out swinging with three releases off of his upcoming album Sunday Drive out July 10th. Brett is bringing out all the vulnerability, especially in this song Where the Heart Is. What in the world are we doin here? Cause I’m just lookin for somethin true and I believe that I might find it/maybe I’ll find it in you. All the feels Brett, how more fitting is this song? We all are searching for something, anything, to hold on to. Something true, a small sense of certainty in this upside down, unknown universe of coronavirus. I don’t know what we are going to do day by day, but I do know I can show you where the world’s heart is through music. We can’t physically feel people, but we can feel where we are through lyrics, feel where we want to be, and transport ourselves into those moments. Until we can actually be together again let music bring back those memories and modify your mood. Let music, any genre and in any form, feed your soul these days.

Xoxo Rockin Rox