Do you ever feel like you have no one? Ironically, you’re not alone in that feeling. After all, loneliness is an emotional state that plagues everyone, and whether it’s constant or flares up occasionally depends on the individual.
Students in college are particularly susceptible to experience the crippling heartache of having no one around but themselves. That said, a less obvious solution to help get through feelings of loneliness and isolation is to listen to Christian rock.
Unfortunately, the connotations of both Christianity and rock may immediately cause people to disregard the idea. Some could see this as a ploy to urge non-religious people to convert to Christianity, or it could be a turn-off due to the general attitude toward the rock genre.
While it may not initially sound appealing to you, don’t let that stop you from experiencing the comfort that the songs express in their messages.
Although I’m not religious, I’ve found Christian rock bands that I enjoy. In fact, I didn’t even realize that they fell into that genre until a friend told me, but I haven’t stopped listening to them since.
As a result, I’m comfortable in my non-religious lifestyle, and I can still indulge in songs that express a heavenly presence or spirituality.
The “Christian” label doesn’t mean you have to start professing your love for God if you listen to the genre. As a matter of fact, it merely means that a certain band has publicly declared their faith, and some or all of their songs express sentiments of it.
While the affiliation of the bands in this genre is religious, the lyrics from some bands “don’t [necessarily] contain overt references to religion or faith.” Usually, they simply feature implied religious themes.
As autonomous thinkers, people have the ability to interpret meanings and shouldn’t feel ashamed to find solace in music that doesn’t align with their beliefs. Furthermore, faith should not separate or stop people from indulging in beneficial music.
For example, a song that can give people a sense of company is “Not Alone” by Red. In other words, the sole purpose of this song is literally meant to express the notion that you’re not alone. The lyrics say, “I won’t leave you. I will catch you when you feel like letting go. ‘Cause you’re not, you’re not alone. And I will be your hope.”
Unfortunately, people can lose sight of the message because they can’t look past the religious connotation. In the comments on the YouTube video for “Not Alone,” some people have started arguing about religion rather than listening to the song and extracting the core meaning. However, why can’t people just find comfort from the lines?
When you’re experiencing a headspace that makes it hard to see light in your life, music has a healing nature to it. The sentiments conveyed in Christian rock are particularly powerful because, while they depict a spirituality and celestial existence, they can make someone feel less detached.
Although the implications lead to God, no one is forcing you to look at it that way. In fact, listeners can simply take the notion of a heavenly presence as a different form of companionship. Ultimately, it can make you realize that there is some type of company out there.
If you’ve never listened to Christian rock before, looking for bands and specific songs may seem daunting, so I took the liberty of creating a playlist. This includes four different bands that I enjoy, but they’re also good starting points, and you can expand from them. I added the songs I chose specifically for when someone is feeling lonely.
In addition, this site ranks the top Christian rock bands — two of the top three are included in my playlist — which can help you branch off into other bands. As with any type of music, finding the right band that works for you is key, so take a look at the site, and try to find a band you connect with.
In this specific genre, getting over the religious connection is one part of the process. After that, unfortunately, the rock aspect can still cause people to cringe.
With the notion of the rock genre, there are varying degrees of intensity. Consequently, some people tend to think about rock as a genre full of screaming and excessively loud music, but they ignore the possibility for other melodies.
At the core of it, people have a hard time looking past the perceived relationship between rock and deviant behavior. What they fail to understand, however, is that the rock style has a spectrum. Many of the Christian rock bands tend to fall closer to alternative rock rather than metal on the rock genre spectrum.
Realistically, rock works better than any other genre when conveying tender messages because of the melodies that alternative rock achieves. Other genres, such as pop and hip-hop, wouldn’t work as well to focus on your loneliness because writers in those genres gear their styles toward being upbeat and fast.
In reality, when you’re feeling lonely, something upbeat doesn’t give you time to think. The softer music that Christian rock portrays allows people to take in every word and extract meaning from it.
With this intention, I’m not implying that you can’t extract meaning from other genres, but Christian rock has the ability to tackle any feelings of loneliness.
Usually, pop artists focus on relationships, hip-hop artists use rhythmic speech to express their feelings on social movements and artists of other genres have different unique focal points, as well. Each genre has something that it’s known for, and Christian rock is no exception; ultimately, it’s capable of providing comfort in times of peril.
Loneliness is something that individuals can’t eradicate because, at one point in their lives, they will experience it. Why not give yourself hope and feelings of comfort? Ultimately, if you experience the negative emotion of loneliness, then listen to Christian rock; you’ll understand and hear what it can do for you.
