Shut up and listen! When people sing soul music those people are pouring their hearts out to you and telling you a story through song. These emotions are all from the soul, and if not ignored a story is told behind it that could be glamorous or depressing. Aretha Franklin is an example of a soul singer who had a rough life. Franklin’s mother ditched her family, and her dad slowly died in a coma over a course of several years. Franklin took these things that happened in her life and poured them out through her voice, where she explains to us her thoughts and emotions.

   Whenever you hear just pure belting or the singer giving it everything some people might say it is just screaming, why would you want to listen to that? What they do not understand is that it is not screaming at all. Beneath the lyrics there is emotion that only the best soul singers can uncover and recreate in their own way and captivate their audience in a free will performance.

   These songs are easily relatable because they have such a wide range of meaning. They can resemble the hunger pains you feel when church goes too long, all the way to the pain you feel because you said you refused to see your parents before they died. Through these songs there are events and pains that are resurfaced that you never wanted to feel again, but the way it is done, it makes you feel a whole lot better. These songs do not shy away from hardships, rather they bring them to your attention for you to witness and acknowledge.

   Paying attention to the singers allows you to feel their emotions in the song. By watching their facial expressions you realize that you are not the only one that suffers. You begin to feel as if there are actually people in the world who want to unify. Listening to their voice gives you the same idea as if you are watching them in action. Throughout the song you will hear their pitch change, to allow the audience to feel the emotions of the singers.

   Soul music is music of the body and soul in which no other genre can take the place of. Do not judge it based on someone screaming at the top of their lungs. Begin to think about it as if it were a story being told, explaining every little heart wrenching detail. Understand the point of view the singer is coming from, and try to get there by listening to the lyrics and the artist’s pitch as they sing. If you do this, I will guarantee you soul music will have a whole new meaning to you, and you will become an even happier person.