Study Finds That Sad Country Songs Are As Prevalent As Ever

Sad country songs are having a moment – and that’s technically a fact.

Here at Whiskey Riff, we love to keep an eye out for scientific evidence that supports country music. Considering we’re big proponents of sad country music, this might be the best news that we could have ever stumbled across. In a recent study published by Scientific Reports,

researchers discovered that from 1980 to 2020, country music has progressively become more personal and emotional:

“Song lyrics have become more personal and emotional over time: all genres increased their use of anger-related words, while both positive and negative lyrics increased in rap, and emotionally negative lyrics increased in R&B, pop and country songs.”

So I’m reading that as “country songs love to be sad.” Am I paraphrasing a bit there? Possibly. But an increase in “emotionally negative lyrics” is certainly synonymous with “sad country songs have never been more popular,” is it not? Seems as though country artists are just trying to give the people what they want.

The study also found that simpler, shorter songs tend to be more successful – which might help to explain the pop country movement that’s plagued the industry since “Bro Country” reared its ugly head (though the tide seems to be turning now). They also found that, in general, song lyrics are getting simpler and more repetitive. Researchers cited that more and more music listeners are just throwing music on as background noise, which in turn is lowering the need for newer music to be complex.

Don’t know if I personally agree with that, but I guess I’m not accredited researcher.

And funny enough, another study that we recently covered showed that country music listeners tend to be the happiest. The study conducted by Tebra that looked into the best types of music for positive mental health found that those who listen to country music tend to be happier. Of all the people that were surveyed, it was discovered that those who enjoyed and preferred the country genre also reported the best mental health levels:

“As for genres, people who listened to country and reggae reported the best mental health, with 52% of each music fandom indicating strong well-being. In contrast, listeners of indie/alternative and heavy metal reported the worst mental health, with 30% and 28%, respectively, saying their mental health was poor.”

So to conclude (feel like I’m back in school writing a research paper as I say that), music in general is getting simpler and more repetitive, but country music is as “emotionally negative” as its ever been, yet country music fans report the best levels of mental health. Thus, I am confirming my somewhat ironic hypothesis: Sad Country Songs Make People Happy.

Cue up a Whiskey Myers classic:

And while we’re on the topic of mental health and country music, you might as well hop off over to the Whiskey Riff Shop and take a look at all of our “Sad Country” merchandise. You can wear it and display it proudly, assuring everyone that you are a part of the happiest fandom in all of music.

Plus, we all know buying new clothes is “good” for mental health, right? Ever heard if retail therapy? You know what to do…

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