Playing music at work? Sure, but it depends on who’s on your playlist

It is not uncommon to find soft music playing across common work areas in the office. After all, listening to music is known to release dopamine, bringing pleasure, satisfaction and motivation.

Or does it?

Naturally, different employees have different preferences and tastes in music. But before organisations provide free rein for employees to choose their playlists, they might wish to consider which artists should, or should not, be allowed to feature.

According to a recent survey of 1,502 Singaporeans by Preply, listening to Linkin Park (14.1%) is most likely to make listeners feel angry, owning to the alternative rock genre and the passionate vocals of the late lead singer, Chester Bennington. 

Rapper Eminem takes second place with 12% of the votes, while heavy metal band Metallica took third place with 9.8% of the votes. When the team is rushing for a project that is nearing deadline, it is perhaps not the best idea to stir feelings of angst and anger.

At the other end of the scale, it is unsurprising that global pop icon Taylor Swift is the most likely to bring joy with her music. 23.6% of respondents say Swift’s music makes them happy, followed closely by Maroon 5 (19.8%) and Blackpink (12.5%).

To round up the diversity in preferences and tastes, “King of Mandopop” Jay Chou and Singaporean singer/songwriter JJ Lin, rounds up the top five artists whose songs are likely to bring joy to listeners.

There is a catch, however. Jay Chou, Taylor Swift and JJ Lin are also the top three artists who are likely to make listeners melancholy, with their brand of emotional and poignant music striking a chord with listeners.

READ MORE: Top five ways employees in Singapore can career cushion

Not that it should necessarily be a bad thing. A University of Alberta study in 2021 found that sad employees are devoting more energy to the task at hand to distract themselves from their sad feelings. In the process, they are committing fewer errors than happy employees.

Anti-Hero, anyone?