10 Songs to Put You in a Better Mood — Happy, Chill Songs for the Summer

Ozzy Balkanli
3 min readJun 1, 2017

Science has suggested that listening to nostalgic music will put you in the mood you were in when you first listened to it and happy thoughts arise of that moment. Chill music is also known to calm you down and put you in a better mindset. Additionally, it is hard to be frowning when happy music is on, and if you force a little smile, your brain will automatically signal this as being happy

Okay, here we go:

1. Put Your Records On — Danielle Bradbery

I know the original artist is Corinne Bailey, but I actually love Danielle Bradbery’s version of this song from “The Voice”. I seriously get so happy when I listen to it. It feels like it’s good for my soul. This one reminds me of when I quit my first job after college and was walking around all in happy thoughts because I finally did something that scared me and I knew a better future was ahead of me!

2. Dog Days are Over — Florence + The Machine

Okay, this one just makes me want to have a dance party in my room….all by myself…no shame. I get so excited and happy listening to this song, and it automatically makes me smile. It also helps that they are so talented.

3. Where You Lead — Carole King (Gilmore Girls Theme Song)

The moment I found out Gilmore Girls was on Netflix was easily one of the happiest days of my life! This song just brings back all the memories of watching this show like my life depended on it. I love this song because it reminds me of how cute and loving the mom and daughter relationship is in this show.

4. I Don’t Want to Wait — Dawson’s Creek

Okay, another throwback show. My heart gets so happy when I listen to this as well. This brings back memories of my sister and I binge watching this on a Saturday with bunch of random snacks and having water contests of who could drink the most water. Yeah, a little weird, but hey I guess we were being healthy without knowing it! The frequent trips to the bathroom were no fun, though.

5. Born to Fly — Sara Evans

This one’s great as a confidence boost! Good reminder of your potential. This one also makes me want to have a dance party — if you didn’t get it by now, I like solo dance parties.

6. Life is a Highway — Rascal Flatts

I love listening to Rascal Flatts whenever I want to be in that chill, happy mindset. You just can’t be in a bad mood listening to this song. This one also reminds me of summer, and now that it is in the near future, it just gets me that much more excited!

7. Over the Rainbow — IZ

This one’s an oldie, but a goodie. It makes you want to be in an island somewhere drinking pina cooladas and relaxing. If you close your eyes and imagine it, you’re kind of already there

8. Who Says — Selena Gomez

Love this one for when I need a little confidence boost. I love the words in it and it’s a good reminder to stop listening to other people who make you feel insecure and who tell you you can’t do something — because, who says?

9. You Can’t Hurry Love — Dixie Chicks

Used to love listening to this when I wanted to fall in love with that special someone, and there was no one out there for this little girl. So, this was nice to remind myself that love doesn’t come when you want it to, you have to be patient, just like everything else in this life — “it ain’t easy.” This song also reminds me of my best friend Christina and I going on random car rides and listening to music as loud as possible because we had nothing better to do.

10. Chicken Fried — Zac Brown Band

I love any song from Zac Brown Band, but this one especially hits home for me. It reminds me of where I came from — Turkey. Everyone has a place they can truly call home and Turkey has a special place in my heart. It brings back all the good memories of growing up as a kid in Turkey and being so happy with not having a lot and just living the simple life! Never forget where you came from and always be thankful of where you are :)

Thank you for reading!

-Ozzy

--

--

Ozzy Balkanli

Innately curious about finding meanings, purpose and authenticity. OzzyBalkanli.com