Maslow's Hierarchy Of Needs: A Music Analysis

“It’s because deep down we know that our taste in music is not just a reflection of our musical preference, but also insight into the very essence of who we are” (Dovey, 2015). Dovey is saying that music is something that can describe us in a way that we can’t with words. Music can evoke a feeling in us that we can’t describe with words, but they can help us discover the feelings that we have buried down in your heart, souls, and mind. The biggest psychological theory that shows what a human needs to survive was Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. This theory show what every person needs and the superiority of each need: the base being the basic needs to the top being self-discovery, only available when the other levels are fulfilled. With
Affiliating, being part of a group (family, friends, work) are apart of Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs, love and belonging.(McLeod 2016) The song for this category “It Comes Back To You” by Imagine Dragons. “4am beside myself/ And what I think of mental health / All the things that worry me/ All the things you don't believe/ I've been told just what to do/ Where to look and point my view/ All the things that I could be/ I think I learned in therapy/ Am I just a shadow you drew?” My interpretation of the song it that it seems to talk about how the artist staying up one night thinking about how their lover abused them, but they still loves them. “All the things that worry me/ All the things you don't believe/I've been told just what to do/ Where to look and point my view” These couple lines in the middle of the verse describes the artist’s thoughts about their lover’s abuse because they never listened, forced the artist to act “normal” in public, and told them how to believe in their mental illness. “All the things that I could be/ I think I learned in therapy.” These lines dives deeper into the artist’s mind as the realization of what they can be floats in his head with the memories of their lover; however, they are not sure if they discovered these thoughts, or if the therapist taught them during sessions. “Am I just a shadow you drew?” I think this line is when the artist reached a point in their thoughts that they ask whether their lover loved them: was their love like a shadow, only appearing when light, family, in public, or at the therapist’s office or was it never there and they had to fake their love to the artist because of their mental illness or the lack of love since the very beginning. (Imagine Dragons 2015) “It Comes Back To You” is about thinking about a remorseful love, a lack of acceptance of what happened in the relationship and the unhealthy aspects of it; on