As we all know, Covid-19 has not only affected our physical health, but our mental health has also gone for a toss. Amidst these tough times, people have become even more depressed while being house arrest and isolated, especially those living alone in the lockdown. In such a situation, most people have deteriorated their mental health because of not being in contact with family or friends and almost zero social life. Many adopted hobbies like gardening, cooking, drawing, crafting to overcome the aloofness, and many people resorted to music as their escape route to feel better and realized the importance of music during the pandemic.

Now you must be wondering, in this pandemic, how can music help our lives? Well, people all around the world are turning to music during the coronavirus pandemic to wade through the gloomy days. Many doctors have also acknowledged the importance of music during COVID and are using the world’s most potent medicine, music. They have played songs to their patients suffering from the disease to make them less anxious while being isolated in their wards. Music has become a therapy in these testing times for people forced to leave their everyday routine lives and caged in their houses. Most people walked down the memory lane and revisited their good old days with all-time hits like O Sanam by Lucky Ali, Saathiya by Sonu Nigam, Kal Ho Naa Ho by Alka Yagnik and Such Keh Raha Hai by K.K, and the list is so on.

According to Everything Experiential, approximately 72% of people in India have made self-isolation playlists which have helped them calm and soothe their minds. Most people worldwide believe that music is a biggest stress buster, and people are listening to music more often than they used to since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. As people worldwide are finding it hard to come to terms with the new normal, lockdown and quarantine, have only added to the anxiety of the people. Centers For Disease Control and Prevention have stated that more and more people have complained of anxiety, stress, and depressive disorders due to the ongoing pandemic.

We’ve come across many videos where health care professionals have touched many lives with soothing sounds and rhythms in the operation theatre and Covid-19 wards. As most of our social activities are at a screeching halt for over a year, we have minimised going to restaurants, meet friends, family and extended family and left many of us feeling bored, anxious thinking about what should we do. Some of us started making music together from windows and sang the song along from balconies to curb the anxiety. Not just the collective music-making making in times of crisis helped people to overcome the tiring situation, but also it has allowed musicians to develop their musical skills for brilliant music production. Many aspiring musicians have found a way to learn music production classes online.

“Music has become our first choice to cope with the anxiety of the pandemic and the deadly coronavirus disease,” says Himanshu Mishra, founder of GrooveNexus. GrooveNexus is a content platform for young and independent music artists. We help artists establish their social media presence and increase their fanbase on digital platforms. With our exceptional services like website building, social media content, SEO, graphics, etc., we help artists amplify their work on various channels.

When the lockdown started, videos of people singing with their neighbours from across the balconies went viral. This became a trend in Spain, Germany, Italy, India and the US as well. People were playing violins, flutes and in India, people used their utensils too. When we sing or listen to music together, the love hormone ‘Oxytocin’ is produced in our brains that makes us feel better. Many people turned to social media to cope with the pandemic anxiety and started creating content. Many new content creators have emerged in the lockdown with relatable and funny content. Due to this, many creators and influencers became viral and started with their Instagram trends, and everyone on social media joined the bandwagon. From cricketers to celebrities to common people and audience, everyone started making Instagram reels and Facebook stories to get in on the latest trends of social media. Many people started creating content around problems we are facing due to covid; this included reels, IGTV videos, YouTube videos, and songs. One such example is Rahul Raj Singh, a General Manager of a company by profession but holds an immense passion for music. He got inspired to write a song about the current covid situation and released it under the GrooveNexus label. His song “The Purge” is about what the world and humankind is going through, and how are they suffering due to natural calamities. Corona virus is only adding fuels to this fire. This song is the perfect representation of the plight of people across the globe.

This is the kind of effect music has on society. Probably, that’s the reason why we need the essence of music in our lives, every time. Music keeps us charged and Groovin’. Do you agree?

• By Himanshu Mishra, Founder, GrooveNexus.