As anyone who listens to any music can tell you, it is powerful stuff. We as humans are rhythmic beings, and we love to identify with something and someone. Music is a safe place for that. We feel the same thing that the singer is singing about, we experience things that they write about just like they do and we feel connected to it. We listen to songs with certain people, and we are forever connected to that experience.
However, as you get older you aren't able to make those same kind of connections. So why is it that in our teens music is so important to us, and why is it that listening to certain songs in the company of certain people can and will make an impact on us forever?
Well, according to an article on Slate.com, the same hormones that caused you to cry about nearly everything are also responsible for the wiring in your brain that causes you to make connections with people, places and music.
Researchers have determined that this could be because between the ages of 12-22 we are creating our true selves. We feel pride and love for the people we meet, the things we do and (you guessed it) the music we listen to. It becomes our identity and things that happen in this 10 year time span are considered as important to our brain. Everything is in rapid fire mode and we make connections with it. This is also why the memories from this time are almost always happy ones. We crave the euphoria from feeling happy and reminiscing on the old times we had, so our brain thinks that everything is important in this time for us.
Nostalgia literally makes us warm, and who doesn't like to feel warm and comfortable?
The only sad thing about all of this is that no other songs in our adult life will make us feel the same way that the songs from our adolescence do and that is okay. We can still make great memories and everything that will happen will still make us happy. But nothing will every compare to the feeling I get when I hear "Cyclone" by Baby Bash or old Katy Perry.
It's the soundtrack to your first kiss, your best friend in high school, your prom or even just a drive you had with that one person that one time and now you dance like a fool to every time you hear it. So, next time you are in the car and a song from your high school days comes on the radio, don't be alarmed if you get in your feels a little bit...you are hardwired that way.
Keep making those memories, playing those songs and taking those drives. Embrace the moment as much as you can and one day you'll remember it all with just the click of a play button.
