There’s nothing quite like the anticipation of your favorite artist’s new album. As a bona fide Swiftie, I awoke early on April 19 and was surprised by not one new masterpiece from Taylor Swift, but a double album: “The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology.”
For the next 72 hours, I streamed the songs over and over. Swift’s new album is a departure from her mostly upbeat pop material, and to me it perfectly encapsulates heartbreak and how it feels to be a woman in your mid-30s. It even seemed like the weekend’s gloomy weather captured Swift’s and my moody dispositions.
It’s no surprise that music affects our mental health, but how and why? Danielle Sukenik, instructor of psychiatry at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, discusses how music affects our brains, our collective excitement about a new album and what to look out for when the excitement goes too far.