I’ve got a hypothesis about the ‘ear worm’ idea of music getting stuck in your head.
If it’s a song that you’re familiar with, but not a fan of it’s going to get stuck in your head easier than a song you’re a fan of.
If it’s a song you’re a fan of you know it really well, you know the lyrics, the rhythm, you know what it sounds like. You’ve heard it many times before. So it’s in your memory and it’s something you don’t need to actively engage any bits of your brain to really think about.
These ‘ear worm’ songs aren’t that. You’re familiar with them, but not a fan, when you hear them you’ve got to engage your brain a little bit, you might have heard the song many times in passing so it triggers a memory. But it’s not something you’ve heard enough times for it to become ingrained in your memories, it’s not a pleasurable song for you to listen to. That’s why it’s an ‘ear worm’ song, because you don’t like it, yet it still lodges in your memory by making you engage with it more so than something you like.
Extending on this hypothesis I would postulate this is why so many people like mashups, remixes and DJ sets of songs. Because it takes these familiar songs, both those we’re fans of and those we’re not and remixes, reinterprets them into something else. There’s enough of a remnant of the song there to still trigger recognition in our minds of it, but it’s been reframed so it’s not as much of a ‘ear worm’ as its original. It gives us a chance to reframe, rethink and reconsider this song once more.
If it’s a song that you’re familiar with, but not a fan of it’s going to get stuck in your head easier than a song you’re a fan of.
If it’s a song you’re a fan of you know it really well, you know the lyrics, the rhythm, you know what it sounds like. You’ve heard it many times before. So it’s in your memory and it’s something you don’t need to actively engage any bits of your brain to really think about.
These ‘ear worm’ songs aren’t that. You’re familiar with them, but not a fan, when you hear them you’ve got to engage your brain a little bit, you might have heard the song many times in passing so it triggers a memory. But it’s not something you’ve heard enough times for it to become ingrained in your memories, it’s not a pleasurable song for you to listen to. That’s why it’s an ‘ear worm’ song, because you don’t like it, yet it still lodges in your memory by making you engage with it more so than something you like.
Extending on this hypothesis I would postulate this is why so many people like mashups, remixes and DJ sets of songs. Because it takes these familiar songs, both those we’re fans of and those we’re not and remixes, reinterprets them into something else. There’s enough of a remnant of the song there to still trigger recognition in our minds of it, but it’s been reframed so it’s not as much of a ‘ear worm’ as its original. It gives us a chance to reframe, rethink and reconsider this song once more.