What Music Means to McGill Students

CC: Public Domain

By Hillary Wright

I have spent the past few weeks reflecting on my relationship to music. Tasked with writing a piece on how students use music to cope, I have grown more aware of my own personal reliance on music. I admit, with constrained vulnerability, that my 2026 has gotten off to a rough start, and alongside that, I have abused my Spotify account. It has heard me, it has coached me, it has relieved me of what seemed like insurmountable pain.  

In preparing to write this piece, I had the chance to discuss music and coping with some of my undergraduate classmates at McGill. My opening question asked them to recount their first memories of music: it was “Moves Like Jagger,” by Maroon 5 (student 1); “‘Empire State of Mind’ on my mom’s old iPod,”  and “whenever I hear it, it reminds me of being a kid again… it kind of takes me back to that quite a cool time,” (student 2); “the Shrek soundtrack… and then like Leonard Cohen and a bunch of Dixie Chicks [now The Chicks],” (Student 3); “my mom had four young kids at home… the five of us having dance parties in our kitchen.” (Student 4) 

Similar to these students, my first memory dates back to the music my parents played, specifically Jack Johnson, on our way to and from Saturday morning ski lessons. A 40-minute drive, taken on repeat, and that only felt right when it was accompanied by the sounds of “Banana Pancakes” and “Better Together.”  

While none of us choose to keep these songs on our everyday playlists, we all bonded over the nostalgic feel they have. When we happen to hear these songs come on in a restaurant, or when we choose to put them on in a moment of discomfort, we experience something very unique – a sense of nostalgia, of comfort, and of warmth. 

“I kind of hate that music [Moves Like Jagger], like, I really don't like it, but, at the time, I didn't know, because it was the first song  I ever heard, and I was like, Oh, this is awesome. But I definitely get like, yeah, definitely get transported back… I appreciate it in terms of the nostalgia.” (Student 1) 

Despite no longer appreciating these songs for their artistry– remember Student 1’s memories of “Moves Like Jagger” – we can appreciate them for the sense of comfort we glean from them, for their nostalgia, and their ability to transport us back to simpler times and what we all described as happy memories.  

Listening to music directly engages our senses and leads to a deeply somatic experience. As Student 4 put it: “It makes every beautiful experience in life even more beautiful.” Other students recounted feeling transported when they listened to music,  able to escape their current reality and feel something new and different. In a time of loneliness and longing, we might choose to listen to the songs of our youth to ease the pain, a sort of remedy to homesickness, and in a time of pain, we might turn to music as a distraction or a tool to help us better understand what we are feeling.  

Students tend to choose their playlist based on their current mood. Sometimes this looks like playing a “summer-y song in the winter” to “get back into it… get the energy up,” (Student 1),and other times it is leaning into hard emotions and playing a sadder song when you are sad to feel more heard and seen.  

“I know that some people have the experience of music as a distraction, but I actually feel the opposite. I really think it just helps me be more aware of my feelings, instead of letting me “escape” or suppress my anxieties. I also know there’s a trope of listening to sad music when you’re already feeling down and then feeling much worse, but the right song will let me take some of my sadness and stash it in the space that the music has created in my head, lifting the burden a bit.” (Student 4) 

The students I interviewed often agreed that there are certain songs that have a ‘something’, something that hits you in the core and really pulls on your heartstrings.  

“Not just like sad music, but like, there’s something about it… like that song, “Swing Lynn”… if you heard it, you know exactly what it’s like… this wave of like, what the hell just like washes over you and you’re like oh my god, really immersed, really puts you in some kind of mood.” (Student 3). 

Some students prefer not to listen to this music, not wanting to experience their intensity, while others opt for these songs, looking to “feel something.” Personally, I love a good sad song that really takes me somewhere, and Mazzy Star’s “Fade Into You,” is here to stay. But I can appreciate that we all use music in different ways to better understand ourselves and cope with our days. While one student may prefer to play a song that will pull them out of their current state, another may use it to sink deeper into it, to really be there, in the present.  

Irrespective of what songs we choose for what mood, every student I spoke with agreed that listening to music today is not the same as it once was, and that some of the meaning we take from music is diffused by the sheer amount of music we hear.  

Born in the era of CDs, raised in the time of iPods and iTunes, and then living in a time when Spotify Premium and Apple Music  is available, music is not what it once was.

Listening to music has become a much more passive act, and in that way, we all bonded over how we sometimes find ourselves “overusing music.” (Student 2) While there is both intentional and unintentional listening, a lot of the meaning we take from songs has changed, and it takes much more for us to develop these kinds of somatic relationships to certain songs or tunes.  

While this accessibility might mean that not every song we listen to will transform us, it also means we have something that can help us process at our fingertips. Unable to replace professional services, music might just help fill gaps in emotional processing. We use it to help motivate us during a hard workout or for a long study session. We use it to imagine we are back home when we are living on our own for the first time. We use it to process a breakup, to deal with anger, and to know that we aren’t alone with all of the complicated thoughts and emotions of our young adult lives. 

In speaking with my peers, it is clear to me that we use music in a variety of ways, and that each of us seeks something different from it. It is also clear to me that music serves a unique purpose, that music bonds us to others and ourselves, that it is deeply somatic, and that it is a critical part of many students’ emotional lives.  

Hillary G. Wright

is a fourth-year undergraduate student, studying Economics (Arts) at McGill University. She complements her primary curriculum with minors in History and Health Geography. Hillary is from Ottawa, Ontario and shares a deep passion for health policy and health care systems, while considering the socio, political, economic, and environmental influences on health. She looks forward to pursuing a career in health policy and health research.