Music, it’s just like reading a good book, only listening to the words. It takes your mind off your current life, no matter what’s going on, and for about 4 minutes, in your head you are captured, ensnared in the words, tune, beat, and flow of the song you’re listening to. Songs have many different facets to them. There are the one’s you listen to when you’re in love, want to feel someone else’s pain, to believe in yourself and not give up, and songs that tell you to forgive and forget. It’s songs that do these things to you that become the most successful, because you can relate to them and interpret them with your own life.

Always sung and talked about, love is a wonderfully abstract thing that’s different for everyone. Using your imagination, you can imagine what a person is going through when they sing about their experiences with it. Examples are songs like “I Call It Love” by Lionel Richie, where the singer is telling about how he doesn’t understand this big concept of love, but doesn’t care as long as he keeps on feeling the way he’s feeling. When the words run through your head they are interpreted differently than if you were just reading them. This is because you are freer to imagine a background or sort of story to the words instead of having to concentrate on what you’re reading. People usually apply their life to the song and suddenly their life is a whole lot better. Usually for the one little fact, they are now in love.

The song “Hurt” by Christina Aguilera, is a sorrowful tune, when listened to, one imagines something really sad going on. This isn’t so because of the piano in the background desolately plinking away, or the way she woefully belts out the words, but in the way that when you listen to it, you feel as if your heart were breaking. “I'm sorry for blaming you for everything I just couldn't do, and I've hurt myself by hurting you, some days I feel broke inside but I won't admit”, when she says these words, you know what she’s feeling and going through, because honestly, who hasn’t been there? When she’s singing, her pain is so evident in the lyrics and melody that when ever you think about it, it’s obvious that you will be thinking of something sad to go along with the music. Take Linkin Park’s “Leave Out All The Rest” for example, when lead singer Mike Shinoda says, “When my time comes forget the wrong that I've done, help me leave behind some reasons to be missed. Don't resent me, and when you're feeling empty keep me in your memory, leave out all the rest” He’s telling you that he’s a bad person and he knows it, but he doesn’t want to be remembered for that. And when listening to this, you can’t help but wonder the same thing, when you die, will you be remembered for the bad things you’ve done? Because when you think about, no one really does, and you’re going to re-evaluate your life after listening to it, and maybe even change some aspects of it, after opening your eyes and seeing that you can do something to change.

There are many songs that tell you to never give up. These songs also tell you to stay strong and believe in yourself, songs such as, “Bigcitydreams” by NeverShoutNever!, “Fighter” and “Beautiful” both by Christina Aguilera, and “I Don’t Want To Be” by Gavin DeGraw. It’s songs like these that get and keep you motivated, and make you want to follow through with whatever you are going to be doing. They also teach you to strive for what you want; “When You Believe” by Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston is a good example. When they belt out the lines that “There can be miracles, when you believe, though hope is frail, it's hard to kill. Who knows what miracles you can achieve, when you believe, somehow you will.” You know that you can get what you want no matter what, as long as if you try really hard, because someday, you will get that thing. Songs like these also look towards the future; to help you realize your goals and feel inspired to do something. “These walls can't be my haven, these walls can't keep me safe here. Now I guess I got to let them down”, these are the lyrics of the song “These Walls” by Teddy Geiger. When you listen to these words, it’s telling you that you can’t live your life the way you’ve been brought up, something has got to give. Everyone is brought up into a different culture, and lifestyle, but when they get older, most of the time something about the way they previously lived has changed. They’ve broken through the walls that surrounded them, reached out and found something that they wanted. And most of the time they are much better for it.

Listening to music provides a clear outlook on life. It influences you to make you feel certain ways, or to retain a certain feeling. Whether it’s love, suffering, or teaching you to believe in yourself. It helps you and impacts your mood, making you more prone to doing something that you have never done before, and inspiring you to get something done.