The Earworm

Have you ever turned on the radio, or your favorite music app and a song came on that was just so catchy? A real banger of a tune? You listen to it and can't help to keep looking it up and play it on repeat until you've listened to it at least a hundred times or more? I know I definitely have! Out of nowhere, you have become victim to what is called the "earworm".

No, it's not some contagious thing you'll have to take a parasitic medication for. Wikipedia describes earworms as sticky music, or stuck song syndrome, where something catchy like a tune, or music or anything memorable can basically go on repeat in your head for hours, days or weeks.

Sometimes, it's really annoying. Like songs from Cocomelon, "The Excavator Song" and "The Raspberry Song" from my sons favorite YouTube show Blippi. I can't tell you how many times I've caught myself singing the excavator song because it's just so darn catchy, though that's the point since they're supposed to be catchy for kids!

The earliest English sources documenting earworms was in a Desmond Bagley's 1978 novel, where he got the coinage from German origin. Did you know that even though men and women both get earworms equally, for women they tend to last longer? I know my most recent earworm has been Ed Sheeran's "Bad Habits" and it's been a week long one so far. Though I can't really complain because, Ed Sheeran.

There's been a few studies on why we get these songs stuck in our head. A Harvard blog I found stated how earworms rely on our parts of the brain that use perception, emotion, memory and spontaneous thought. It also seems that if you are more inclined to music and have a musical background, you can be more susceptible to them! The human brain is a wonderous and wild thing and has always astounded me with these things.

A researcher from the University of St Andrews, Bede Williams, has found that earworms need to have five components to be able to work: surprise, predictability, rhythmic repetition, melodic potency and receptiveness to the song in particular. Queen, coming in the top ten three different times, has been said to have the most addictive earworms.

The thing with earworms also, is that they're hard to get rid of and usually you find yourself with another one not long after the previous one has finally left your head! Trying to resist the song or tune can make your brain want to play it over and over even more. Sometimes, the best thing to do is listen to whatever it is your brain has latched on until it finds it's next tune as frustrating as it might seem.

If you can't wait for the next repetitive track, there's been a few tests done that have seem to help with earworms. Scientists have found that using your 'working memory' while doing semi-difficult tasks can actually help like; puzzles, Sudoku and reading novels. Or if you want to try something easier, try singing Happy Birthday!

As weird and inconvenient that earworms can be, they're intriguing. The way your brain latches on something and plays it over and over. Weather it's a song or tune you like or not, the earworm is a normal and naturally thing that occurs in our daily lives.

So don't fret and crank the volume up on "We Will Rock You", "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) or "Mambo No.5"and enjoy the weird way our brain reminds us how it enjoys the things we listen to!

Sources:

Wikipedia/Earworm

https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/why-you-cant-get-a-song-out-of-your-head-and-what-to-do-about-it-2017100412490

https://qz.com/290202/science-this-is-the-catchiest-song-of-all-time/

https://www.nme.com/news/music/queen-1203599