Playing with My Heartstrings

If you’ve turned on the radio in the past year and a half, you will have undoubtedly heard Adele’s “Someone Like You” on multiple occasions, on multiple stations…at the same time. And if your friends are anything like mine, once they’ve heard it, it’ll be stuck in their head and played on repeat, especially in the plight of an unfortunate breakup. What is the magic behind Adele’s power to make you love her songs? In fact, what’s the magic behind any “good” piece of music? An article titled “Anatomy of a Tear-Jerker” by Michaeleen Doucleff attempts to find the answer to Adele’s secret, and Gary Marcus explores what makes a song “good” in general in his novel Guitar Zero: The New Musician and the Science of Learning.

Regardless of whether or not you know anything about music, you will have noticed from experience that different songs elicit different moods. Though this is an obvious phenomenon that probably didn’t need to be pointed out, there is actually a reason this occurs. Marcus explains that this is because of the different scales used in songs: “Happy Birthday,” a happy song, contains notes arranged from the major (or happy) scale, whereas a song like “Paint it Black” by the Rolling Stones has a more haunting melody, arranged of notes in the harmonic minor (Marcus 16).

Adele’s “Someone Like You,” as Doucleff describes, is famously sob-inducing. So much so, in fact, that it was actually on Saturday Night Live recently, and was played so a group of co-workers could “have a good cry together” (Doucleff). So what is it about this song, and songs in general, that causes deep, strong emotions? A twenty year old study by John Sloboda, a British psychologist, looked for the answer. The study had audiophiles (music lovers) identify song passages that set off a physical reaction such as tears. Of the 20 tear-triggering passages chosen, Sloboda analyzed that 18 of them contained what is known as an “appoggiatura,” which is defined as an ornamental note that clashes with the melody just enough to create dissonant sound (Doucleff).

But wait! “Dissonance?” you ask, “why would we like when the notes of chords clash?” Normally, we don’t. In Guitar Zero, Marcus points to studies experimentally showing that infants (and beyond) prefer consonance, where notes in the chord blend together smoothly (Marcus 24). Later in the book, he delves into the question from an evolutionary perspective, and likens dissonant chords to an out-of-focus picture; the brain struggles here, since its natural preference is obviously for that which it can most easily make sense of (Marcus 133). But I digress….The use of “appoggiatura,” or any kind of dissonances, creates tension. However, when the tension is resolved and the song goes back to the anticipated melody, it feels good. “Someone Like You” is full of notes similar to appoggiaturas, creating cycles of tension and resolution, taking the listener on an emotional mini-rollercoaster (Doucleff).

Psychologist Martin Guhn and his colleague Marcel Zentner wanted more information to see if they could find a “formula for a tear-jerker,” and, as it turns out, one exists. For their study, participants listened to musical excerpts that produced chills while having their physiological reactions (heart rate, sweating, goosebumps, etc) measured. What they found was that all of the most chill-provoking passages shared 4 features: beginning softly and suddenly becoming loud, abrupt entrances of a new “voice” (either harmony or instrumental), expansion of frequencies played (such as jumping up an octave), and unexpected deviations in melody or harmony (Doucleff). If you have ever listened to “Someone Like You,” you will immediately recognize that all of these features fit the song perfectly. 

Starting with a soft, repetitive pattern, “Someone Like You” brings you in slowly. If you think about it, music in general is filled with repetitions: Marcus asks, “When is the last time you heard a pop song that didn't repeat its chorus?” (Marcus 135). I’d be relatively surprised if you could come up with more than a couple examples. This is in part because we like repetition; we like to know what comes next because it’s familiar, and we can give ourselves a pat on the back when we’re right; Marcus calls this principle familiarity. However, repetition can get boring….At the chorus, Adele’s voice increases volume and jumps up an octave, shifting the harmony, and making the lyrics more dramatic. These breaks from the unexpected that happen each time the chorus comes around are what Marcus calls the concept of “novelty:” we like when there are alterations between the familiar and unfamiliar because it keeps us in the game and on our toes. Even better, we like when there is novelty and familiarity at the same time (Marcus 117). This is because all the changes make our sympathetic (“fight or flight”) nervous system kick in, making our heart race, sending dopamine rushing through our brains, similar to the rush you get after food, sex, and drugs; it makes you feel good, motivating you to repeat the behavior. The more emotional the song, the more you want to listen to it (Doucleff, Marcus 117).

As it turns out, there’s a logical explanation for why this song is everywhere. “Someone Like You” is a perfect tear-jerker, and hearing it only makes you want more. No wonder it’s always on the radio. 

Doucleff, Michaeleen. "Anatomy of a Tear-Jerker." Wall Street Journal (2012): 12 Feb. 2012. <http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203646004577213010291701378.html>.

Marcus, Gary F. Guitar Zero: The New Musician and the Science of Learning. New York: Penguin, 2012. Print.