Heathers

Wednesday, as I climb into my car to get ready to drive to school, the layer of thin ice on my car falls into the driver's seat. That’s right, ice all over my seat, melting fast and soaking my car and my pants. Now, I know what you're thinking, “What a great start to your day.” Of course add your own sarcastic tone or lingo to my phrase, but needless to say, my day did not look like it was going to be very good.

I was skeptical about my day from then on, this wasn't exactly how I expected my two-hour delay to start. But, nevertheless, I climbed into my car and drove to my neighbors house to pick her up for school. On this less than 30 second ride three houses down, my phones bluetooth automatically connected to the car and started playing the last album I had been listening to, “Heathers, The Musical.”

I’m not sure if you’re familiar with the 1980s cult classic “Heathers,” but it is a movie involving love, death, suicide, more death and a bomb or two. I really do recommend watching the movie to fully understand what goes on in these songs because honestly, sometimes I don’t even know what they’re trying to reference and I’ve watched the movie and listened to the soundtrack more times than I would care to share.

But even as my morning was not going too well, as soon as “Big Fun” and “Dead Girl Walking” started, my energy shot up. Claire walks to the car and I've already begun singing to whatever the first song was. Without much, this one musical had made my crappy morning do a 180.

Now, looking back on the past couple weeks that “Heathers” has been playing in my car, I realize how much of an affect this music has had on my moods. No matter how bad my Calc test was, as long as I had “Heathers” on in the car my day was so much better.

I think it’s crazy how much a song can influence you as a person, sappy songs to happy songs all have their own chord progressions mixed with poems that pluck the heartstrings of everyone differently. One person may enjoy a dissonant chord while others can not stand it. Regardless of how a piece may affect you, it does so, sometimes in the smallest ways.

The psychology of music and its effects on mood is a developing field that may never be completely understood, but it applies itself into the daily lives of all people, music connoisseurs or not.

While many people, including myself, have found the soundtrack or song that can greatly improve their mood within the opening measure, many people still haven't. I would like to encourage everyone to go and search for their happy music, the music that can, no matter what the situation is, cheer you up in a chord.