Overview
There’s no doubt that music can have an intense effect on your disposition. If it’s one of those days when you’ve woken up in a fog of negativity, sometimes the only answer is to put on your favourite misery album (mine used to be Nina Simone’s Greatest Hits) and wallow. But whilst cathartic, it doesn’t often leave you bouncing out the door. If anything you’ll end up clutching a box of tissues and feeling sorry for yourself. Which is why the website Emotional Bag Check is such a brilliant idea.
This new site lets you unload your worries to a perfect stranger, who will in turn read it and send you a song they think will make you feel better (or at least let you sing along to someone else’s heartbreak). And if you’re feeling the urge to spread a little cheer, then you have the chance to give back by reading someone else’s baggage and suggesting a song of your own choosing. You can even include a message if you think you have some worthwhile advice, making a real, helpful and meaningful connection over the internet.
I dumped my own emotional baggage and got 'Are We There Yet' by Ingrid Michaelson, sent as a link to Grooveshark, a free music website that lets you immediately listen to your medicine. I didn’t mind the song at all, so thought I’d give back and picked up some baggage about a kid who kept getting Cs in one of his subjects and was pretty bummed. I sent back ‘Vintage Books’ by Cloud Control, not because it really had any relevancy but because it makes me pretty happy and thought it could do the same for my patient. There’s a lot of Katy Perry and Bob Marley in the list of most sent songs, so if you think you have a slightly more diverse compendium of tunes, you may be just the right person to pick up some baggage and share the blues.