I’ve had a few skirmishes with the Sunday Scaries, so, after some experimenting, I’ve found some strategies that help.

There’s the take-it-easy self-care route, which might include taking a bath or cooking dinner or lighting a candle. This is for when you’re craving something lazy and cozy to ease the worries of a new week.

On the other side of the refueling spectrum is more of a heavy hitter. It comes with specific ingredients: Go to a dive bar. Grab a chair at the bar. Order a Reuben sandwich and a beer. Sometimes greasy food and good vibes can cure all.

This is where I was sitting when I discovered another way to shake off worries. It sounded like a metal song, but not one I could place. And then I placed the lyrics, which belong to a category I know about better than most things on this Earth, and that would be Taylor Swift.

It was Swift’s iconic and edgy “Blank Space,” but even edgier, as this version playing through the bar’s speakers was a screamo-esque cover by I Prevail, a punk rock band that rose to fame in 2014 with the unlikely release.

Hearing my favorite singer’s song in such an angsty tone proved just as satisfying and comforting, in a cathartic way, as bites of that sandwich.

It opened me up to a new subcategory of my favorite music category, which can be summed up with a Spotify playlist titled “Taylor Swift, but make it emo.”

You know when you feel like screaming into a mountaintop abyss would really make you smile and make everything better? These songs offer that feeling without the hike.

It reminded me of the odd sort of comfort we can find in the angsty, angry and emo.

Some research backs this up. A study released from the University of Queensland, an Australian public research institution in Brisbane, “found that listening to extreme music may actually have a calming effect,” according to an article in Psychology Today.

Participants spent time in an “anger induction” session where they described relationship, employment and financial issues that upset them and they were randomly assigned to one of two groups.

One group spent 10 minutes listening to songs of their choice from their personal playlist. The other group sat for 10 minutes in silence.

“Results showed that extreme music did not make participants angrier, rather it helped them feel better,” the article stated. “Furthermore, it provided participants with an outlet to help process their emotions in a healthy manner.”

This is evidence of what lovers of emo music already know. It feels good to get that out. It’s what I felt while seeing Halsey at Red Rocks Amphitheatre, where thousands of people collectively let out their own rages.

It might be why emo music is having a revival, thanks to the Gen Z generation.

It’s why the Emo Night Tour comes to The Black Sheep so often and often sells out. The show, featuring a deejay playing emo favorites of the past and present, returns Saturday to the Colorado Springs venue.

It might be a good way to prepare for any Sunday Scaries.

What: The Emo Night Tour

When: 8 p.m. Saturday

Where: The Black Sheep, 2106 E. Platte Ave., Colorado Springs 

Price: Tickets, $17-$20, are available at blacksheeprocks.com. 

Music instruments. Ukulele, drum sticks, tambourine on piano. Top view with dark vignette. (iStock photo)

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