'Depressing' ballads make us happier because they remind us of romance Music considered to be sad or sombre can actually boost a person's mood This is because sad music can provokes romantic feelings If you've ever reached for the ballads of Adele or blasted out Sinead O'Connor when feeling upset it might not be because you are wallowing, instead you could be subconsciously doing it to make you feel happier. According to a Japanese study, listening to slow music considered to be sad can actually provoke positive emotions. The researchers from Tokyo University claim this is because sad music can remind people of romantic films or situations and these romantic feelings make people feel ultimately happier. Listening to sad music could actually make you feel happier, according to researchers from Tokyo University. This is because music considered to be sombre can also provoke romantic feelings which cheers people up A study from the University of Missouri found that listening to an upbeat song can lift your mood. But this only works if you're consciously aware you're trying to make yourself happier by listening to the songs. If the upbeat music is on in the background, or you're not consciously aware that you're listening to it to boost your mood, the songs have no affect on how you feel. Researchers concluded that actively seeking out happiness through music, and other techniques, can then improve your health and relationship satisfaction. The findings help to explain why people enjoy listening to sad music, said Ai Kawakami and colleagues from Tokyo University of the Arts and the RIKEN Brain Science Institute in Japan. Kawakami asked 44 volunteers, including both musicians and non musical specialists, to listen to two pieces of music considered to be sad and one piece of happy music. Each participant was required to use a set of keywords to rate both their perception of the music and their own emotional state. The sad pieces of music were Glinka's La Séparation in F minor and Blumenfeld's Etude Sur Mer in G minor because minor keys are considered to be more sombre. The happy music piece was Granados's Allegro de Concierto in G major. To control for the 'happy' effect of the major key, they also played the minor-key pieces in major key, and vice versa. The researchers explained that sad music evoked contradictory emotions because the participants of the study tended to think sad music was more tragic, less romantic, and less blithe than they felt themselves while listening to it. In general, sad music induces sadness in listeners, and sadness is regarded as an unpleasant emotion. 'Yet if sad music actually evokes only unpleasant emotion, we would not listen to it,' the researchers wrote in the study. Music that is perceived as sad actually induces romantic emotion as well as sad emotion. And people, regardless of their musical training, experience this ambivalent emotion to listen to the sad music. Also, unlike sadness in daily life, sadness experienced through art actually feels pleasant, possibly because the latter does not pose an actual threat to our safety. This could help people to deal with their negative emotions in daily life, concluded the authors. Emotion experienced by music has no direct danger or harm unlike the emotion experienced in everyday life. Therefore, we can even enjoy unpleasant emotion such as sadness. Singer Adele, pictured, is renowned for her ballads and love songs and her popularity could be caused by the fact listening to sad music can make people happier. The research claim sad songs help people deal with their negative emotions in daily life 'If we suffer from unpleasant emotion evoked through daily life, sad music might be helpful to alleviate negative emotion,' they added. This study contradicts previous research that found people had to listen to happy music to improve their mood. Research from the University of Missouri found that listening to an upbeat song can lift people's emotions. But this only works if the person is consciously aware they're trying to make themselves happier by listening to the songs. If the upbeat music is on in the background, or the person is not consciously aware they're listening to it to boost their mood, the songs have no affect on how they feel. Researchers concluded that actively seeking out happiness through music, and other techniques, can then improve people's health and relationship satisfaction. VIDEO: Granados's Allegro de Concierto in G major VIDEO: Blumenfeld's Etude 'Sur Mer' in G minor