In a culture riddled with many art forms, music manages to hold the attention of millions. The vibrations stemming from its sound, lyrics conveying a multitude of meanings, and the many keys and instruments weaving rhythms catches the attention of a number of audiences — and has a much greater effect on our brains than we, as the audience, could anticipate.

Psychologists are eagerly seeking better clarity and understanding when studying the mystery of the human mind — and music allows a unique gateway into the brain. The feelings we experience are equal parts comprehensive as they are rich in curious disposition. And when encountering emotion, we are prone to seeking reinforcement in our mood through different outlets of media, including music.

This phenomenon is referred to as selective exposure. The idea is that media we choose to consume are driven by what we feel. More often than not, we ache to be reinforced in what we feel and how we are feeling it, and music is an easy way to do that.

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While one may assume that listening to sad music makes the listener even more sad, research considers a representation of the opposite effect. Listening to sad music can be comforting to certain individuals and shouldn’t be completely discounted.

A 2016 study conducted by researchers at Durham University and the University of Jyväskylä found that music can be therapeutic to different individuals. In some cases, sad music prompted feelings of pleasure and enjoyment — and in doing so, regulated people’s moods. For others, sad music offered comfort by evoking memories and offering a positive experience that way. Because of these therapeutic implications, people shouldn’t feel obligated to listen to upbeat or happy music when they are feeling otherwise. Listening to music that falls in step with people’s mood can have a way of pulling them through their period of sadness.

The music we listen to has the power to reinforce us in mood as well as move us forward in daily, or not-so-daily, experiences with positive momentum. And this is because of the intimate communication between areas of our brain with sound. The regions of our brain that are designated for every day planning, movement, attention, and even memory, are actively at work when depicting and discerning the sounds we are hearing in the various kinds of music we are exposed to.

Along with such influence in our minds, there is also a unifying force in experiencing music. Whether it be for enjoyment or reinforcement, music holds the attention of millions. It’s often used as a way of celebrating faith, the intricate beauty of culture, and even the interesting corners of life within community.

There is power in people, and such power is on full display within the production and unification of music.