Reacción a "Pop lyrics increasingly talk about stress and are more negative, except in times of social crisisomentos de crisis social"

This study shows that, over the past five decades, American pop lyrics have become more stressful, negative, and simplistic. It also shows that during social crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic, this trend has slowed, suggesting that music can act as an emotional regulator. These results are consistent with empirical models of musical preferences and neuropsychological evidence on the role of musical familiarity in stress regulation (Freitas et al., 2018). Furthermore, these studies coincide with other findings on musical emotional regulation (Fernández-Company et al., 2024) showing that young people use music to modulate affective states depending on the context, which may fit with a homeostatic interpretation of the study: music can compensate for the emotional burden of the environment. However, publications on the paradox of pleasure in sad music (Sachs et al., 2015) could help explain why, in non-critical conditions, people may be attracted to negative music without this implying the perception of real discomfort. From a practical perspective, this paradox may be therapeutically useful, as emotionally intense but non-invasive music could allow connection with patients who are going through processes of grief, deep sadness, or despair.