These days almost everywhere you will commonly find a Lo-fi song (extreme or mixed) along with depressing looping anime gif, with a VHS overlay.
The latest music craze, Lo-fi music, is helping youth, especially students to reduce stress, feel relaxed, and in studying. Let us know what exactly Lo-fi music is?
What Do You Mean By Lo-fi Music?
Lo-Fi, a short form of Low Fidelity refers to damaged, degraded, and recorded with intentional imperfections and inexpensive equipment. It is just opposite to High Fidelity or Hi-Fi music.
The term lo-fi is in existence since the 1950s. Japanese DJ and producer Nujabes and American rapper and producer J Dilla, both are considered pioneers of the genre.
Lo-fi expresses a subgenre of electronic music that shares qualities with downtempo music, the chillwave scene, and lo-fi hip hop.
What Are The Characteristics of LO-FI Music?
Let us now discuss three main characteristics of Lo-fi music:
- Drum loops: Lo-fi uses drum loops extensively to form its rhythms. Like hip-hop, it electronically produces samples and live recordings of drums. But beatmakers prefer live elements as they are easier to manipulate with a digital audio workshop (DAW). Beats range lies approximately between 70 to 90 beats per minute (BPM).
- Jazz chords: Jazz chord progressions plays important role in most lo-fi songs as they make music relaxed and thoughtful. Samples of rhythm –bass and drums– and piano are common in the genre, but sometimes artists also include horns and guitar depending on the composition.
- Samples: Sampling is to take a small excerpt from a track of another artist and use it in your way. Many lo-fi tracks feature sampling to support the music. Vocal samples are common these days, and many draw to anime to emphasize the connection between the two.
Why is LO-FI so Popular?
Everyone enjoys music, it’s a universal language. Music makes its listeners happy, relaxed, entertained. And so the lo-fi music does.
Some of the reasons behind the popularity of lo-fi music are as follows:
- Feeling of comfort: The drum loops in lo-fi music originate the feeling of comfort as it takes the place of environmental noise.
- Act as a mood booster: After a long hard day, listening to your favorite tunes will help you in boosting your mind.
- Reduces Anxiety: Listening to mesmerizing lo-fi music results in minimizing brain stress. The reduction of stress hormone levels in the blood helps in the aid of blood pressure and heart arrhythmias.
These days lo-fi music is so popular among students, they enjoy lo-fi tracks while studying. When we are in an enjoyable and pleasurable moment, Dopamine releases into our body. It is a neurotransmitter that brings out a focused response. The hormone Dopamine is responsible for increasing alertness, happiness, focus, and motivation. Dopamine can enhance any of these feelings when in great supply.
Moreover, the fruitful act of studying can further improve one’s mental health. The cycle of happiness, the release of the Dopamine hormone, and enriching focus all act as essential elements of improvement in study habits.
1 Comment
Good one