These summer jams may boost your mood more than coffee

Nothing can flip a mood from bad to good like cranking up your favorite summer jam. When “Juice” by Lizzo starts playing, my brain immediately switches gears. I could be feeling really bummed but when that song comes on, my gait speeds, a huge smile crosses my face and, for the moment, I feel positively awesome. Sure, Lizzo’s latest album is filled to the brim with messages of positivity and self-love, but the upbeat tempo does a lot to drive that positive message home. Does music literally have the power to motivate you and lift your mood?

Jeff Smith, Ph.D., consulting music professor at Stanford University, and co-founder/CEO of Smule, a social network for music aimed at bringing music back to its roots through performance, says music itself really can elevate your mood, and it does this by giving your brain an instant chemical boost.

“Studies have shown that listening to music engages neurochemical systems associated with reward and pleasure, as well as stress and arousal,” Smith explains. “Music triggers the release of neurotransmitters like dopamine — the “feel-good” hormone — and serotonin, which contribute to the euphoric feeling we get when we hear our favorite song.”

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And, as it turns out, music may even influence how you walk and how motivated you are to move. One recent study of 24 young adults set out to determine how mood affects gait, and whether it could vary depending on how familiar you are with the music. After researchers observed how the young adults walked to music they liked and were familiar with vs. music they found unpleasant and unfamiliar, they found respondents walked faster and took longer strides while listening to their favorite songs.

Hoda learns beautiful message hidden in Lizzo's hit song 'Juice'

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So, what’s the special sauce of a feel-good, serotonin-boosting song? Are there common denominators in songs that make you smile and quicken your step? “At its core, music is an art form that enables creators to combine different musical elements and emotions to reveal a global observation and create a shared human experience,” explains Smith. “When approaching the songwriting process, musicians look for ways to conjure up familiarity by utilizing tried-and-true conventions, like time signature and chord progression. We see these manifested repeatedly in pop songs that feature the I–V–vi–IV chord progression, or the common 4/4 time signature that provides a base for most pop and rock songs,” he says.

Now that we’ve cracked the code of what comprises a mood-lifting song, we’d like to recommend four of our current faves to start your day off on the right foot.

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Lizzo, “Juice”

This song is everywhere — and for good reason. This infectious dance song (as Smith mentioned, in 4/4 time!) spreads self-love like butter and has more than enough to share:

“If I'm shinin', everybody gonna shine (yeah, I'm goals)

I was born like this, don't even gotta try (now you know)

I'm like chardonnay, get better over time (so you know)”