Monday, August 12, 2013

Music Videos That Make Me Feel Better

Sometimes I just have a really bad day. Depression starts to rear its ugly head again, or a series of bad circumstances and frustrations leaves me feeling helpless and angry, or I'm worried about something and can't focus on anything else.

Whatever the reason the day is bad, I find music is one of the most helpful tools for me. If I can really engross myself in something musical, I can find release for a little while and come back a little bit more mentally prepared to deal with the emotions.

Depending on how bad a day I'm having, though, sometimes I can't just put on an iTunes playlist and calm myself. I need to, in a way, overwhelm my senses. I need to have something to listen to and look at. I've discovered in the last year that watching video + listening to music can be a lot more powerful than just music when it comes to fighting off horribleness.

With that in mind, I have begun compiling a playlist of "Music to Heal My Soul" on YouTube. I am filling it with music videos and clips and performances that fill me up in one way or another.

Sometimes it fills me up with joy because I can't help but smile as I watch it:



Sometimes it fills me with cathartic sadness by allowing me to cry for somebody else:



Sometimes it's a beautifully performed song that keeps me spellbound from beginning to end:



Sometimes it's a classy, elegant dance number:



And there are a few things in there that I don't exactly know why I love them so much, they just make me feel better:



I only have a couple dozen videos in the list right now, but I'm going through some of my favorite musical performances from musical movies, concerts, actual music videos (though I don't know that many of those will be in there... maybe some OK Go, though)... pretty much anything. The goal is to have a nice big collection of videos I can go to on days when I just need whatever emotions are in me to replaced by... something else. And these clips are guaranteed to do that.

If you want to check out my playlist as I add to it, it is here.

If you were making a playlist like this for yourself, what would you include?

1 comment:

  1. I would probably go for something silly. Silly cheesy stuff makes me happy like nothing else. (For instance, when the opening theme to the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon comes up on my MP3 player, it never fails to make me grin.)

    A few silly videos I like to watch every so often:
    Jinnai and the Bugrom, an anime music video of El Hazard combined with the song "Hubba Hubba Zoot Zoot" by Caramba
    The Picard Song
    Leonard Nimoy - The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins

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