Abstract
When the world seemed to collapse due to the Covid‐19 pandemic in 2020, music was employed to promote positivity and strength among citizens and communities, especially during worldwide lockdowns. Because the general context of the pandemic was saturated with anxiety, uncertainty, and fear, music—in all its forms of production—became an ideal resource for entertainment and accompaniment, and helped people face the challenges associated with the crisis. Following a qualitative content analysis, this study deeply examines 13 examples of music production published by the United Nations during the Covid‐19 crisis, highlighting the narrative elements and how they relate to individual and social well‐being. In so doing, the study identifies eight main categories among both lyrics and performances in the music examples. These are: (a) desires, (b) emotions, (c) people, (d) practices, (e) reflections, (f) education/entertainment, (g) allusion to war, and (h) nationalism. The results suggest that music narratives have empowered individuals and social groups by evoking sentiments of solidarity and kindness at both individual and community levels and, in so doing, have contributed to individual and social well‐being.
Highlights
The SDGs of the 2030 agenda interrelate both health and well‐being to promote certain measures designed to improve life quality and inclusion of individuals in social activities (United Nations [UN], 2017)
This article builds on the work of scholars who have argued that music helps regulate one’s emotional state (Mas‐Herrero et al, 2020) to the point of being the most efficient activity and resource for the promotion of well‐being (Granot et al, 2021), by unravelling music narratives that emerged during the pandemic and criti‐ cally analysing their relationship with both individual and social well‐being
During the Covid‐19 crisis, and when lockdowns started being imposed, the difficulties that music helped people go through encouraged the individual to embrace collec‐ tive resistance and, in so doing, alluded to “war” and “battle.” Both of these scenarios would need to follow a strategy of fighting as a team and watching each other’s backs to be able to see life value and take back good moments with the loved ones
Summary
The SDGs of the 2030 agenda interrelate both health and well‐being to promote certain measures designed to improve life quality and inclusion of individuals in social activities (United Nations [UN], 2017). The situation evoked uncertainty and fear (González‐Sanguino et al, 2020; Ozamiz‐Etxebarria et al, 2020), which made the crisis even deeper and altered peoples’ lives in both their indi‐ vidual and social spheres In this context, professional and amateur musicians started to produce and share music to transmit positivity and strength (Cabedo‐Mas et al, 2021; Mas‐Herrero et al, 2020), thereby contribut‐ ing, perhaps unconsciously, to improving personal and social well‐being (Martínez‐Castilla et al, 2021). The UN (2020) article Music Does Not Cure a Pandemic, but It Cheers the Soul (author’s translation from Spanish) presented examples of music practices that had emerged during the pandemic, evoking the idea that music had been a source of optimism and sol‐ idarity throughout the crisis Within this context, the present study will analyse those music examples pro‐ moted by the UN and explore the relationship that music narratives might have for both individual and social well‐being.
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