It Turns out Crying Is Cool—and Mysterious

We’ve been doing it for longer than we can remember and it is a universal indicator that something is amiss, amazing or perhaps that you’re an insane attention-seeker. Either way, considering why people cry is an interesting question because it turns out it’s quite a mystery. Most people who study tears, or emotional crying, disagree on why people do it. (It might be important to point out that not too many people have chosen this field of study.) 

What’s really intense is that there are people who don’t cry, as well as people who cry for a living: the outliers and actors of our society. In the first instance, the non-criers, their inability to express themselves in this way does appear to have an effect on how they interact with other people. In the second instance, actors are people who make a profession out of empathizing, of climbing into another person’s character and if it’s sad, well, of crying in the same way that person might. And this art form is a part of our lives, a part of our collective appreciation of life. While neither of these examples gives us a clearer idea of why we cry, they do highlight how intrinsic tears are to dealing with life, emotions and other people. 

There’s something about putting on a sad song when you need to have a good cry. The original “Teardrops” was a mid-tempo banger, but Los Angeles-based alt-pop-duo Neil Frances’ cover is way more mellow and moody and lets the yearning in the lyrics shine.  Sway, sing and cry to it if you want to. 

Listen

• 2020s
• altpop
• indie