Data from Spotify (an online music platform) shows that Gen Z’s most popular music search
term is the word “sad.”
What It Tells Us
Today’s younger audiences have a few melancholy standout artists, spanning across all genres – Lana Del Rey, Drake, The 1975, Zach Bryan, Billie Eilish, Miley Cyrus, and Taylor Swift, to name a few. Folk and country music have surged in popularity with younger listeners, but it isn’t just about the artists; it’s about how they prefer to process and exist.
Today’s teens are able to build a sonic landscape (what kind of music they listen to) that is customized to their specific preferences, and it seems like Gen-Z’ers prefer slow, sad, and reflective (think minor key). They’re not all written in a minor key, but many of them are.
For years, people have listened to music for two reasons: to REFLECT their current mood and to CHANGE their current mood. Now, while it isn’t wrong to listen to music in a minor key, I think that it is primarily a testimony of two things:
(A) We live in such a busy and fast paced society that there is a part of us that really just wants to slow down
James 5:7-8 says, “Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.”
The truth is that we get ourselves into a lot of trouble simply because we are IMPATIENT and we are IMPULSIVE. We would do well to learn to slow down, to pause, and to think before making decisions.
(B) We live in such a CRITICAL and NEGATIVE world that it can almost seem impossible to be truly happy.
We don’t feel like we measure up to certain standards. Instead of CONTROLLING our emotions, we focus more on EMBRACING and EXPRESSING our emotions. While our emotions were given to us by God as a means to enjoy the life that He has given us, simply embracing and expressing our emotions will very quickly wreak havoc on and ruin the life that God has given us.
