Stress relief: The best songs to sing in the shower

A great way to relieve stress is by singing in the shower as it forces you to be mindful with your breathing…

As Stress Awareness Month comes to an end, shower enclosures retailer Showers to You has been looking into the ultimate shower anthems. To do so, the experts connected to Spotify’s API to extract audio feature analysis of the popular “Songs to Sing in the Shower” playlist.  The study ranked songs based on multiple variables which included: BPM, danceability, valence, loudness, acoustics, vocabulary density and percentage of repeated words, ultimately revealing the top songs to sing in the shower.

‘Shivers’ by Ed Sheeran is the best song to sing in the shower with a shower singing score of 8.87/10, followed by Gwen Stefani’s ‘The Sweet Escape’ (8.8/10) and ‘Dynamite’ by Taio Cruz (8.69/10)

‘Glad You Came’ by The Wanted wraps up the top 15 ranking with a shower singing score of 8.22/10 while ‘This is What You Came For’ by Calvin Harris is the song with the most energy (93/100)

Nilou Esmaeilpour, a Clinical Counsellor shares the psychological and health benefits of singing in the shower:

“Singing in the shower is not only a unique experience but also has a unique psychological effect where safety, creativity, and stress relief coexist. The closed space combined with running water and absence of any audience gives a sensorial insulation from the outside world. The estimated privacy reduces self-consciousness to an extent that freedom is felt, allowing individuals to vocalise easily. Acoustics play a part too as the hard surfaces in most bathrooms create natural reverberation that enhances our voice, making us sound richer and more in tune, which can be a nice little ego boost.”

Esmaeilpour, who is also the founder of Lotus Therapy adds:

“As for health benefits, singing activates the vagus nerve, which is involved with the parasympathetic nervous system, which helps influence mood and stress. When we sing, especially if we take in some deeper breaths and sustain long notes, it mimics the diaphragmatic breathing used in meditation or yoga, which brings down cortisol levels and reduces people’s stress. 

“Research shows that singing can release endorphins and dopamine, to make people feel good, and arguably contribute to pleasure that can be attributed to group singing in therapy settings as applied to people with anxiety and depression. Even if it is not therapy, shower singing alone can indeed be a daily effortless enhancer of moods. It is a form of self-soothing that helps in emotional regulation and personal expression.”

Data reveals the best songs to sing in the shower:

‘Shivers’ by Ed Sheeran is the best song to sing in the shower with a final shower singing score of 8.87 /10. With a high energy rating of 86/100, the song is ideal for shower singing as the upbeat tempo and lively rhythm naturally boosts serotonin levels, helping you feel more awake, positive, and confident—perfect for starting your day on a high note. This song also ranks well for its dance score (79/100) making it a memorable and super energetic song. A good shower anthem should be a song that makes individuals want to dance and puts them in a good mood.

Ranking in second is Gwen Stefani’s 2006 hit ‘The Sweet Escape”, with a shower singing score of 8.80/ 10. This song ranks highly for repetition  with 92% of its lyrics being repeated, making it an extremely catchy song—ideal for a shower anthem. ‘The Sweet Escape’ also has a tempo of 120 BPM and an acoustic score of 19. Acoustics play a huge part too as the hard surfaces in most bathrooms create natural reverberation that enhances our voice, making us sound richer and more in tune, which can be a nice little ego boost.

In third place is ‘Dynamite’ by Taio Cruz, with a shower singing score of 8.69/10. Dynamite was yet another hit produced by Benny Blanco, and therefore has his signature 120 BPM.  Blanco recently stated he stuck to this tempo in his songs due to not knowing how to use the ProTools’ bpm function when producing his songs in the 2010’s. Despite the song having a very low acoustic, it ranks very highly for danceability (76/100), energy (81/100), and percentage of repeated words (93%). Memorable phrases such as “I came to dance, dance, dance” and “Saying AYO  Baby  let’s go” which are easy to sing along to and encourage a ‘shower boogie’.