Have you ever had a particular line, beat, or melody stuck in your head that you just can’t seem to get rid of? Maybe you’re grocery shopping, writing an email or taking a shower, and suddenly a random part of a song you may have heard earlier that day or five years ago starts playing in your head. That seems to happen to me all too often and sometimes drives me up a wall.
There’s nothing like a great song to get you through an emotional situation, an exciting milestone, or a night out on the town. But what do you do when a song you love almost becomes an enemy to your subconscious, or worse, a song you dislike becomes a top hit in your head? The constant looping of phrases, rhythms, and nuances of a song you may or may not enjoy can be distracting and almost haunting at times.
While this could be a small thing to some, my curiosity and desperate search to get to the bottom of why Cyndi Lauper’s phrase “they just wanna, they just wanna” was on repeat in my head. It could no longer be ignored. I found out, like many of us, that I was suffering from a condition called “Earworm”, or an electric parasite. Eww!
Earworms are more figurative than literal, so there is no need to run off to the hospital if you find yourself humming the same tune for more than a day. An electric parasite is the helpless repetition of music that is completely involuntary. Music psychologist and memory expert Vicky Williamson calls this syndrome cognitive itch — a neurological effect of listening to music.
Musicians and producers are very much aware that music affects our thoughts, emotions, mental states, and dreams, and there are various ways one can acquire an earworm. Listening to a song for the first time is the simplest way. This occurs because of encoding in music that directly affects the multi-sensory stimulus. Repeated exposure to the song (which is a tactic for most offline radio stations), word triggers, situation triggers — like weddings, graduations, funerals, or a night out — can lock in a song for a lifetime. Stress, dreams, and mind wandering can also strike up an earworm. Musicians and people with neurotic conditions like OCD have a higher risk of suffering from earworms. I'm totally at risk.
An attack springs spontaneously and is usually only 15-30 seconds of the song. This part of the song is equal to or less than an individual’s auditory short-term memory. Catchy, simpler tunes are more likely to become a parasite. James Kellaris, an associate professor of marketing at the University of Cincinnati, discovered that 78% of music with lyrics causes earworms as opposed to instrumentals or beats, which are only 7%.
Think of Rihanna’s smash hit “ Umbrella”, written by The Dream, which plagued us with basic melodies and catchy lyrics. I don’t know about you but, I couldn’t get “ella ella “ out of my head for months.
If you are currently experiencing the cognitive itch you are not alone. Ninety-eight percent of all individuals experience earworms, and women tend to carry them a lot longer. Explains a lot!
Luckily, there is a natural and painless treatment to remove these pests. A scientist at Western Washington University suggests assigning the working memory that is not exposed to the song to a task. Reading a book, engaging in anagramic games like scrabble, crossword puzzles and Sudoku can free you of mental music looping. Another treatment, discovered this year by a scientist at The School of Psychology Clinical Language Sciences at the University of Reading, is chewing gum.
While I am happy to know there is relief, I can’t help but wonder if the goal for all artists, musicians and producers is to infect us with musical parasites. I’m pretty sure genres like pop, rock and hip hop are loaded with intentional and unintentional earworms. Perhaps this is the way they can ensure their song will be a hit, drive sales, and evoke memories in a particular era.
I'm sure you can name at least five songs with a serious case of earworms. We either love them or love to hate them. They may appear suddenly and you may find yourself singing or humming it. Here’s my top 20 list of songs that can go from pleasant to painfully annoying if it's stuck in your head. Trust me, it was hard to scale this down to 20.
1. Fireworks- Katy Perry
2. Temperature- Sean Paul
3.You're Beautiful- James Blunt
4.7/11 -Beyonce
5.You Are Not Alone-Michael Jackson
6.Your Love- Nicki Minaj
7.Unwritten- Natasha Bedingfield
8.Mandy- Barry Manilow
9.Lolipop- Lil Wayne
10.Call Me Maybe — Carly Rae Jepsen
11.Poker Face- Lady Gaga
12.Fancy- Iggy Azalea Ft. Charlie XCX
13.Trap Queen-Fetty Wap
14.Party Rock Anthem- LMFAO
15.Hustling- Rick Ross
16.We Will Rock You — Queen
17.Hynotize- Notorious BIG
19.Hey Mickey-Toni Basil
20.Umbrella-Rihanna
Photo Courtesy:npr.com