Relaxing Music 2 | 13 calming song and their stories behind

• Want to chill out while taking a bath, like Chandler from ‘Friends’ ? Well, get ready because we kick off the relaxing music playlist with ‘Only Time‘ by British singer Enya, one of the most zen tracks ever 🧘
• As its title suggests, the song talks about time and its healing power. Enya explained it like this:

‘Only Time’ talks about the fact that time will heal. It won’t get rid of the wound, but time will bring back a sense of normality that is important to your life.

• Enya performed the track live at the commemoration of attacks to the twin towers on September 11, 2001. She also re-released the song and donated the proceeds to an association in support of the widows and orphans of the firefighters who died in the attacks.
• This song has always inspired me, I hope I can have the same effect with you.

• Time for classical music, ideal for working, studying and concentrating or simply to relax your mind. This tune comes from the hand of Cecilia Bartoli and is none other than ‘Sposa Son Disprezzata (The Spurned Bride)‘ 🎭
• Bartoli is especially known for her interpretations of compositions by Mozart, Rossini or even Baroque music, but…
• … where does ‘Sposa son Disprezzata’ come from? Well, it is an Italian aria written by Geminiano Giacomelli in 1734, although its authorship has always been attributed to Vivaldi.
• Specifically, the piece was part of the opera ‘La Merope‘ by Giacomelli and years later was adapted and used by Vivaldi in the opera Bajazet, which led to the confusion of many about its origin.
• In fact, Cecilia herself attributed to Vivaldi the authorship in the credits of her album ‘If You Love Me – Se Tu M’ami‘, since the mezzo-soprano used the piano version by Alessandro Parisotti, dating from the 19th century. What a mess!
• By the way, did you know that originally the piece was titled ‘Sposa, Non Mi Conosci‘? This means, ‘bride, you don’t know me‘. From not knowing him, she went on to being scorned 🙄

• If we talk about calming music we can not ignore ‘Mad World‘, first released by the duo Tears For Fears on their debut album ‘The Hurting‘ in 1983.
• So, why are we talking about Adam Lambert? It’s because he chose to sing an alternate version of this song for one of his performances on the American Idol competition 🎤
• This was because they asked the contestants to choose a song released during the year of his birth. Strange, isn’t it?
• This song has also been covered by Gary Jules (version in which Lambert was inspired) Kelly Clarkson or Demi Lovato, who confessed that she ran to the studio to record this song after the assault on the U.S. Capitol in January 2021.
• A decade after his participation in the aforementioned contest, Lambert returned to perform this song during the virtual LGTBQ+ Pride celebrations in 2020 🌈

• Although it may sound like we’re joking, ‘Dooset Daram‘ may be the ideal music to take a nap 💤
• Iranian singer Arash teams up with Swedish singer-songwriter Helena Josefsson to delight us with a track that I would define as delicate.
• Arash is even better known in Sweden than in his native country.
• In 2009 he participated in the Eurovision Song Contest, but he did not represent Iran, but Azerbaijan with the song Always.
• If you’re wondering what ‘Dooset Daram’ means, we’ll tell you that it’s quite romantic and the lyrics of the song are entirely in English, except for these 2 verses:

Bargard nazar dobare (Every night)
Az chesham baroon bebare (You are in my memories)
Bia ke ghalbe tanham (Anywhere in the world that you may go to)
Paize bi bahare (I’ll follow you)
Paize bi bahare (I’ll follow you)

Dooset Daram  (I love you)
Bemoon ba man (Stay with me)

• We now dive right into what is probably the most relaxing track on the whole list.
• ‘September Song’ is an alternative pop tune played exclusively on piano.
• Its creator, Danish Agnes Obel sings on all her tracks, but this time she let the music tell the story:

I recorded everything quite closely, miking everything closely in a small room, with voices here, the piano here – everything is close to you.

So it’s sparse, but by varying the dynamic range of the songs I could create almost soundscapes. I was able to make something feel big with just these few instruments

• The track was part of the 1st season of ‘Big Little Lies‘ series 📺 If you want to know the meaning of Cold Little Heart by Michael Kiwanuka, the theme song of the series, we tell you the whole thing.

• We continue with ‘Return To Innocence‘, the first single from ‘The Cross of Changes‘, Enigma’s second CD.
• The song was a huge success, reaching number 1 in countries like Norway, Ireland or Japan. 3 years after its release, it had again a great repercussion when it was used as the theme song for the promotions of the 1996 Summer Olympics 🏊
• Return to Innocence features the voice of singer-songwriter Angel X.
• The track uses several samples:
  • On the one hand, it contains fragments of ‘Jubilant Drinking Song‘. Some Taiwanese tribal chants were extracted, which, were included without the permission of their original performers. Finally, after a lawsuit, in 1998 the duo formed by Kuo Ying-nan and Kuo Hsiu-chu obtained a financial compensation and the recognition of the authorship of their songs.
  • On the other hand, we can hear the rhythmic base of Led Zeppelin’s ‘When the Levee Breaks’.
  • Finally, the voice of Michael Cretu’s wife, Enigma‘s founder, can be heard in one of the verses.

• Sorry, this is the end of our playlist of music to relax body and soul. But we’re going all out with ‘A Love Before Time‘ by Coco Lee.
• We’ve included the English version, but the original track is in Mandarin Chinese.
• The song is part of the soundtrack of the movie ‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon‘.
• Thanks to it, Coco Lee was the first ethnic Chinese artist to sing at an Oscar gala 🎬
• Coco Lee worked during her youth singing karaoke. One day her best friend recorded her and distributed the cassette at her father’s restaurant. She later participated in a TV show hoping to get money to repair her mother’s car. After that, she started her career in Taiwan in 1994 and has since released albums in Cantonese, English and her mother tongue, Chinese, languages she masters perfectly, in addition to French.
• That’s the end of it. We hope you liked it a lot, that you share it with your friends, and, above all, that you are very relaxed 😊