On the podcast “Music as emotion processing tool: an explorative talk”
By MIES: Maud Hagens, Isa Bijker, Ebbie Putmans and Sophie van Mensvoort
Isn’t it fascinating how listening to music can have such an impact on our emotions and feelings? Imagine this, you walk around in the supermarket after a long day of work, drained by the rain, feeling moody. Then, you notice the song “Walking on Sunshine” playing on the supermarket-radio. All you can think is “what are the odds?” as you continue shopping. Suddenly you realize that you are humming the lyrics and notice that you let the melody take over. The day is not too bad after all.
Even though this is just a small example, it does illustrate the impact music can have on our mood. Interestingly, it is even argued that music can positively impact our mental wellbeing in general, through stress-reducing effects (Shapiro et al., 2021). Mental health is a serious issue within today’s society, as we all experience psychological difficulties on some level. We all handle these difficulties in different manners. While numerous people reach out to a psychologist to talk about their problems, others put their feelings aside and try to ignore them. When you find it hard to translate your emotions into words, music can serve as a tool to help regulate and express these emotions.
To familiarise and inspire a broad audience with this concept, the podcast Music as emotion processing tool: an explorative talk sheds light on the relationship between music and emotions.
A podcast, why?
The podcast forms an accessible and powerful contribution to the Sustainable Development Goal of Good Health and Wellbeing that is set by the United Nations. The value of utilising this medium lies in the opportunity it offers to informally and interactively address, for example, political and social issues. The political goal of mental health improvement fits seamlessly within the framework of prefigurativism. Please don’t let this word scare you off. Prefigurativismis a form of political activism that seeks to obtain a desired future in the present day. Researchers Green and Street (2018) argue that music, and specifically the lyrics, can act as a vehicle to address certain social structures and cultures, in order to reach a predefined goal. This shows the relevance of our podcast: it actively addresses the impact of music as a tool for mental health improvement.
It is proven that a podcast is an effective medium to educate listeners on health issues, particularly because of its accessibility and flexibility (Kakkhi et al., 2025). In addition, in this podcast several people have shared their experiences where music had an influence on their emotions. This also reinforces the impact of the episode, since the World Health Organisation states that storytelling is a powerful method to intellectually and emotionally connect people with the information that is provided (World Health Organization: WHO, 2024).
Sharing is caring
All these day-to-day issues that many of us can relate to, concretise the impact music can have on our emotions. So, let’s dive into a couple of the experiences that made this specific podcast a success.
The way lyrics of a song can touch us is beautifully described by Pleun. This young woman sent in her experience with Gardensong by Phoebe Bridgers. The straightforward songtexts often move her deeply: “It is as if I’m hearing someone singing out loud, what I have been feeling on the inside”. This resonates with how many of us feel from time to time: flooded with emotion but not able to grasp it or put it into words. This is related to Hess’ (2018) research on navigating identity through music. For artists, music can function as a site to convey complex emotions and experiences. It is incredible how music can positively support the process of expressing emotion for creators as well as enable listeners to give words to their own feelings. Pleun also mentions that she experiences difficulties dealing with anger. “I find it very hard to be angry. To find a way to express it, I listen to somewhat aggressive punk or rock songs, which I put my feelings into”. This shows that besides lyrics, specific genres, rhythms, and maybe even instruments or voice types can help process the feelings that are sometimes hard to regulate.
Babette, another woman that shared some of her experiences in this podcast episode, also relates to this: “I have this playlist called De-stressed. When I feel overwhelmed by everything that is going on, I just put on that playlist. Sometimes it even makes me cry, but in essence the music helps me to release the tension and offers me a bit of peace”. Interestingly, Amy looks at dealing with overwhelm and sadness from a different perspective. She emphasises the impact ‘happy’ songs can have on her: “I know that if I listen to sad songs, I will feel even more sad. I prefer to listen to upbeat, happy music that makes me feel energetic and helps me flip my mood”. The contrast between these experiences explains that music can mean something different to everyone. Fortunately, the accessibility of music allows you to take your time to figure out what works for you!
Besides the assistance of music with regulating current emotions, music can also function as a time machine. Specific songs can carry memories, either positive or negative. Pleun: “A song that always makes me emotional is Ribs by Lorde. It makes me feel very nostalgic; a little bit sad, but also happy. I used to listen to it a lot in my youth and it still hits home”. Feelings of nostalgia are something Amy also relates to: “Listening to music from my childhood makes me happy. For instance, on road trips we always listened to CDs by Bløf, Amy Winehouse and Alicia Keys. When I listen to this music now, it allows me to relive past experiences”. Music is omnipresent in our lives and can contribute to solo-experiences, but also shared experiences. Babette mentions Loyle Carner’s concert she recently went to: “Especially the song Loose Ends really got a deeper layer because of the experience I shared with my friends at the concert. I feel so grateful and happy when I listen to that song now”. Music can take you back to a certain moment and help you reflect on your experiences. It can evoke feelings of gratitude, but also allow you to feel past emotions that you may still carry with you.
All in all, these experiences are what make this podcast so powerful. It offers the possibility for listeners to identify with common struggles regarding dealing with emotions and may inspire them to deploy music when they get stuck in everyday mental obstacles. Unfortunately, the experiences discussed in this podcast only belong to young women. This could cause men and other demographic groups to feel underrepresented which would decrease the impact of the episode on a diverse audience. However, the experiences described in the podcast are not necessarily bound to gender. Therefore, the podcast still illustrates the accessibility of music as a tool to help regulate emotions.
Music and the brain
What actually happens inside our brain when we listen to music? This question is still puzzling as well as intriguing to many scientists nowadays. Even though there is still much to uncover, some insights can already be provided. The podcast reflects on these scientific insights by linking it to personal experiences. Based on the literature, the podcast reveals how music can not only evoke emotions, but also regulate them, whether consciously or unconsciously.
When you listen to a song with special attention to the lyrics, something special happens. The words don’t just tell a story; they help your brain recognize feelings that it already knows. The emotional centers of the brain – known as the limbic areas, responsible for emotion, motivation, memory and behaviour – start to light up (Alluri et al., 2013). This could explain why a breakup song can feel so real and relatable at certain points in life. Besides the lyrics, instrumental parts of a song have a strong impact too, as the rhythm and melody is likely to make your mind wander (Alluri et al., 2013).
But music not only affects our mind and emotions – it physically changes what is going on in our body. The rhythm of a song has direct effects on our autonomic nervous system, which is responsible for our heart rate and breathing (Eck, 2025). Some sounds can therefore make us feel calmer or more alert (Eck, 2025). So, it makes sense that you might unconsciously match your footsteps to the tempo of the song in your headphones, or feel calmer after listening to something soothing and slow.
Beyond that, music can actually help us train our emotions. It can help people experience, identify, express, perceive and modulate emotions (Neilsen et al., 2016). Think about those moments when you put on a song that perfectly fits your sadness – and somehow, it helps you release that feeling. Some scholars argue that humans have been using music like this for centuries, as music can guide the listener towards a desired mood (Csikszentmihaly, 1990).
What makes all of this research so valuable is that it validates what we already feel every day. The effects of music on the brain are not random or strange: they are literally wired into our body. The podcast connects this scientific understanding to real, personal experiences, showing that the emotions we feel through music are natural, human and valuable. These scientific theories add depth and reassurance. We are not overreacting when a song moves us, we are simply experiencing how our brains are built to respond. When we use music to feel, express or modulate emotions, we are tapping into one of the most powerful and universal tools for mental wellbeing.
Music therapy: Do It Yourself
In the podcast, music therapy specialist Monica Wagner adds a professional layer to the discussion (Bijker et al., 2025, 2:35-5:10). In her profession, she focuses on two main forms of music therapy: a receptive approach, where you listen to music, and an active one, where you create music yourself. This episode highlights the receptive side. For Monica, this form of therapy is powerful because it is accessible to everyone. Even people who claim not to be musically-oriented at all are still affected by it. As she puts it, music reaches you whether you want it to or not.
What Monica deeply values about music therapy is its ability to process emotions – even the uncomfortable ones. She believes that real healing happens when we stop trying to think our way out of processing emotions, and instead feel our way through it. When we face sadness, fear or frustration, those emotions become smaller and eventually lose their power over us. In her sessions, she uses the elements of rhythm, melody, tone and harmony with clear intention, showing that therapy is not just about “playing songs together”. Finally, Monica shares a piece of advice that shows how personal and accessible music therapy can be – it can be as simple as creating your own playlist. This playlist could consist of songs that gradually move from calm or even sad songs, toward more uplifting ones. This playlist can quite literally help you listen to your emotions.
While the podcast explores the interesting receptive side of music therapy, the active side remains undiscussed. As a result, the podcast misses the chance to show how actively making music can be transformative as well. Active music-making must engage with different areas of the brain, which fosters a different kind of emotion processing. Including this side of music therapy could have offered a more complete understanding of how music can heal, not just by entering our ears, but by flowing out through our own voices and actions.
What to take away
In the end, music is not just something we listen to – it listens back. Whether you belt out a punk song in the car or quietly let a melody soothe you, you are tuning into your emotions. As Monica Wagner says, “music reaches you, whether you want it or not.” So next time life feels offbeat, press play, feel your feelings and let the music do its thing.
References
Alluri, V., Toiviainen, P., Lund, T. E., Wallentin, M., Vuust, P., Nandi, A. K., Ristaniemi, T., & Brattico, E. (2013). From Vivaldi to Beatles and back: Predicting lateralized brain responses to music. NeuroImage, 83, 627–636. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.06.064
Bijker, I., Hagens, M., Putmans, E., & van Mensvoort, S. (Hosts). (2025, October 22). Music as emotion processing tool: an explorative talk (Nr. 1) [Podcast episode]. In Popular Music & Social Change. Radboud University. Accessed on October 28, 2025.
Csikszentmihaly, M. (1990). Flow: The psychology of optimal experience. Harper & Row.
Eck, B. A. (2025, October 17). How music resonates in the brain. Harvard Medicine Magazine. https://magazine.hms.harvard.edu/articles/how-music-resonates-brain
Green, A., & Street, J. (2018). Music and activism. In Routledge eBooks (pp. 171–178). https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315475059-18
Hess, J. (2018). Singing our own song: Navigating identity politics through activism in music. Research Studies in Music Education, 41(1), 61–80. https://doi.org/10.1177/1321103×18773094
Kakhki, S. K., Aghebati, N., & Moonaghi, H. K. (2025). Exploring the impact, challenges, and integration of podcasts in patient education: a systematic review. BMC Medical Education, 25(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-025-07217-4
Neilsen, P., King, R., & Baker, F. (2016). Creative arts in counseling and mental health. In SAGE Publications, Inc. eBooks. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781506306049
Shapiro, S., Center for Music Ecosystems, Sound Diplomacy, UN Costa Rica, UNICEF, & UN SDG Global Action Campaign. (2021). Your guide to music and the SDGs. https://playfair.act4sdgs.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/SDG_Music_Guide.pdf
World Health Organization: WHO. (2024, 1 oktober). The power of storytelling for health impact. https://www.who.int/westernpacific/newsroom/feature-stories/item/the-power-of-storytelling-for-health-impact.
Culture Weekly 