Cringe Music: The Antidote to Trying Times
By Alex Barnard
Every flight necessitates a ‘take-off song’ to accompany its dramatic ascent into the sky, and to a new location. After a quick perusal of Spotify, I learnt of some popular choices. The hedonistic among us will choose something like Alphaville’s ‘Forever Young’, perhaps when about to hit up South East Asia for a gap yah. Others choose to self-lacerate, with titles like Phoebe Bridgers’ ‘I Know The End’ or Lorde’s ‘Ribs’. Whatever your preference, having a song to accompany the whirring of engines and inevitable popping ears marks a flight as a new beginning of sorts – at least in your own mind.
For me, ‘take-off songs’ are a great method of combatting the jitters I get entering the sky. Yes, I understand that turbulence is just the plane going through a jelly-cube of air, something totally harmless, but that doesn’t help the spookiness of hurtling across the globe strapped into a metal vessel, totally at the whim of its pilots.
What I learnt today, as the result of a rather bumpy (obviously Ryanair) flight home from Barcelona – is the importance of music that will pump you up in a stressful situation. On this flight from hell, as I fought (and failed) to hold in muttered f-bombs, audible to kids sat around me, a trembling finger scanning my Spotify revealed a masterful choice for mid-flight panic – ‘Fireflies’ by Owl City. No plane is going to crash with that as the soundtrack, and it was such a surreal listen that it jolted me from my trembling.
Just as listening to panicked music isn’t a great strategy to combat flight anxiety, more widely, this principle applies. It’s accepted that listening to My Chemical Romance religiously after a break up probably adds salt to the wound rather than flowers and rainbows. According to Psychology Today, we can alter our attitude to any given situation by reinforcing a preexisting emotion (e.g. he doesn’t love me and I’m ugly *sniff sniff*) or challenging it – listening to something so contrary that it manipulates a change in mood. Hence, my choice of Owl City, which reduced my iron grip on the armrests ever so slightly.
Music can be used to push through any trying event – for example, a marathon, or even waking up with a bad hangover. The principle applies in St Andrews, which comes with its own micro-challenges which music can remedy. A well-worn example is seeing someone you really wish you didn’t, be it on North Street, Market Street or – that other well-trodden path, South Street. My remedy – Kylie Minogue. Having been ‘educated’ by my fantastic and hugely camp friend on his North Castle Street sofa, from my viewing of every single music video, ‘Come Into My World’ is a very tenable option for awkward encounters. Its strong electronic beat leaves no space for emotional reminiscing, and provides a metronome to give you the ultimate speed-walk.
Another mainstay of St Andrews life is, of course, essay writing – and particularly here, competitive essay writing, after having sprinted across to Main Library at 9am. To prove yourself as a worthy occupant of a coveted 3rd floor seat, the soundtrack to study must firstly be of a single genre – no flying about between Mahler and Madonna, which could take up useful brainpower. It has to be something you might not listen to ordinarily, but designed to be focus-inducing, which explains the popularity of Mario Kart music. My personal favourite? Ava Max’s ‘My Head & My Heart’, whose verse and chorus cycle over and over – and, because of how Euroclub-appropriate it sounds, is very motivating. Soon, you’ll shed the cold of the library, strip off into a bikini and enter a Fred Again.., Chainsmokers fantasy (an Ibiza party boat). It certainly beats stress-typing to Einaudi, whose faux-classical Spotify dominion is beloved by so many.
Was this article written while my desk seemed still spinning post-flight? Arguably. But I made it. So, take heed of my recommendations if you so desire, don’t yuck another’s yum, and to that effect, respect the ‘Fireflies’ method. Weird music choices can be the key in trying times.