Springtide is excited to announce the next installment of our playlist project, which comes straight from the minds of our two summer editorial interns, Lucy Cobble and Arsema Belai. Together, they came up with the idea to curate playlists to correspond to the themes of our reports, with recommendations for music that suits certain moods. They crafted a survey, collected feedback on the role and meaning of music in the lives of other young people, crafted the playlist, and wrote up the preview below.

Work, Life, and the Meaning of Music

Over the summer, Arsema and I (co-editorial interns for the summer!) asked members of the Springtide Ambassadors Program to tell us about the role that music plays in their lives. We were curious to know the ways in which music helps our ambassadors practice productivity in their work and school lives, in honor of Springtide’s latest study, Work/Life: Helping Gen Z Flourish & Find Balance, which discusses young people’s relationship with working and studying. In addition to asking about the role of music, we also wanted to know just what songs ambassadors were listening to when they work and/or study, and you can find their curated playlist here! When we asked about how music affected their work lives, the Springtide Ambassadors offered a variety of commentary about the ways music motivates and encourages them to be their best (and most productive) selves. For some, music offered clarity. One of our respondents told us that “Music helps me by energizing and motivating me to get work done. Normally if I am studying and playing music I tend to remember what I am studying more clearly.” For others, music helps to distract. Abby, 24, said “When I studied, it helped me focus to have something else going on in the background. I would get less distracted by other things I might think about.” Another respondent said something similar, telling us that music “helps me focus because I’m not thinking about anything else other than the work I’m doing. In a way it distracts me from thinking about or doing anything besides my work.” Jesse, 22, told us that he listened to music for a spiritual “kick” that would encourage him to keep working: “Music keeps me focused and awake! I’ll listen to a song on repeat as I study, usually a song that lifts me up spiritually as a way to motivate and help me get difficult work done.”  Jesse noted that he uses both faith-based music and hip-hop/rap to focus. We love the variety! For young people like the folks in SAP, or like Arsema and me, it’s clear that music serves a variety of roles in our lives. Whether used as an energy boost or a spiritual, grounding moment, music can help us get our best work done. The playlist curated by our incredible team of ambassadors only begins to investigate the unique and diverse genres of music that help us to do our best work and be our best selves.