Whether you’re upset, happy, sleepy, or active, there is always a song to enhance your experience. A single song can change your mood, and that’s both a lovely and wild thing to think about. There is no denying music is significant in all our lives. Here are some facts and thoughts about music and its effect on us.

There are many factors as to why music affects us the way it does and why we like the music that we do. Whether the mood is sad or uplifting, there’s music to fit it. Music is not just the beat or tune of a song: it’s the lyrics, the instruments, the vocals. Music is largely agreed to be the universal language. Oliver Sacks, M.D., says, “We humans are a musical species no less than a linguistic one. We integrate all of these and ‘construct’ music in our minds using many different parts of the brain. And to this largely unconscious structural appreciation of music is added an often intense and profound emotional reaction to music.”

Music is important, and not just to the listener. Whether a singer, an instrumentalist, or a producer, music is a way to express what you feel and why it matters. Musicians never know when a song will be a success. It’s the passion in their art that has made music timeless. Violin player Ariadne Berthon says, “just because it’s only instrumental doesn’t mean it’s lacking—if anything, it helps focus on the many details and sides to the violin.” The effort of making music, according to Berthon, should not be overlooked.

No matter your position as a musician or listener, music is important to us. Taking into account the enormous amounts of effort music artists take to give us the music we love so much, whether from playing the instruments to composing the song, let’s remember to appreciate their effort. Take a moment to reflect what music has done for you, and try expanding that thought to taking into account what it has done for millions of people. Not a fan of any music? No problem. That’s the beauty of music—there is always more to explore.