Music For Soothing Those Electoral Burnout Blues

Having spent a decade studying music usage in campaigns, Paul Christiansen surely thinks it impacts voters. The associate professor of music at Seton Hall University in South Orange, N.J., recently credited Republicans as being “more savvy at choosing music,” reports Jessica Mazzola of NJ Advance Media for NJ.com.

Christiansen points out that music used for political messages works pretty much the same way as it does in commercial advertising in that it appeals to people’s emotions. 

Phil Swibinski of Vision Media Marketing apparently agrees with Christiansen. Earlier this year the company won a national award for an attack ad created for a local mayoral race.

“The right music is essential for setting the tone and mood of a political ad and making sure it creates an emotional connection with the viewer,” Swibinski said, according to NJ.com.

Can individuals’ choices in music help predict election winners?  Jeff Smith, who founded music analytical outfit Smule, has studied music tastes nationwide and believes Hillary Clinton will win the United States presidential election with “276 electoral votes,” according to The Stanford Daily.

Smith’s company studied data involving 100 million people singing songs through their cell phones and found Latin music and musicals are more popular among folks in blue states while red state residents seem to favor country songs and Christian gospel music. 

“The broader objective is the scale of the impact of art and music across a global community,” Smith said.  “We were motivated to see if we could find the closeness in the election manifest in the cultural preferences for music and what we found is ‘yes.’  What the data showed us is that, in fact, there is a significant cultural divide in the country, and against that backdrop, the election makes a lot of sense.”

Regardless of which political candidates receive your vote, you’d probably agree that this election cycle has been one of the most stressful in recent memory.  Unauthorized email servers, accusations of alleged sexual assault and court  battles over failed private colleges were just some of the more volatile elements of Campaign 2016.

But how do you unload almost two years of stress?  Luckily, Quartz has you covered.  The news outlet has assembled a playlist of “music scientifically proven to soothe your election anxiety.”

The sounds of the sea play a part of the plan and Quartz helps you get your feet wet by providing links to an hour-long loop of ocean waves as well as recordings of whale songs to help relieve your campaign tensions. 

Quartz also recommends instrumental music, saying wordless songs “do not engage the brain’s language center.”

Throughout the centuries people have used the power of music to relieve stress and help diminish anxiety.  While this election has often seemed too crude, lewd and rude, the stress isn’t likely to melt away overnight.  You can bet that many will turn to their first choice for comfort music as soon as they awaken tomorrow.