

Upbeat music specifically can provide the listener with an energy boost and prime the brain for learning. Music activates certain regions in the brain, lighting up nerve pathways related to planning, attention, and movement. In general, music can reduce anxiety, stress, and blood pressure, as well as improve one’s mood, memory, and quality of sleep.

Music has the power to affect the brain regardless of genre. You can search the PremiumBeat library for similarly uplifting tracks to hear a range of feel-good music across numerous genres. Perhaps it comes as no surprise that a popular feel-good song such as Pharrell Williams’ “Happy” has a musical positivity rating of 96.2. Some musical streaming platforms use emotional valence to more accurately describe a given track’s likeliness to convey positivity to a listener. Valence determines when something is likely to make a person feel happy (positive valence) or sad (negative valence). Audio analysts have actually found a way to measure the emotional impact of music by using “valence,” a concept from psychology. Researchers suggest finding upbeat, positive songs within your favorite genre in order to raise your spirits. The music a given person will consider upbeat is subjective, however. Other research suggests that jazz and opera fans are the happiest music listeners. These songs are usually positive both in terms of lyrical content and musical style and tend to include pop and various types of rock. Some studies have found that people can raise their mood by listening to happy, upbeat songs.

Upbeat music generally refers to the type of song that inspires a feel-good mood in the listener.
