Catchy is an adjective usually reserved for music. You know the type... The songs that cling to your brain and remain on repeat despite your best efforts to change the station. Baby Shark, Dancing Queen, or Miley Cyrus' Flowers. And if we've just given you an earworm, we do apologize.
Here's a distraction for you: have you ever wondered what makes a particular tune so darn catchy?
"Catchy songs in general tend to have three characteristics in common: simplicity, repetition, and incongruity," explains Dr. James Kellaris, a composer, musician, and Professor of Marketing at the University of Cincinnati, adding that creating an earworm is more art than science.
"Simplicity facilitates learning – perhaps ‘over-learning’. Repetition reinforces learning and may convey an implicit suggestion to the brain to continue the repetition mentally, even after the external source of the music is turned off," Kellaris reveals. "Incongruity is what causes a ‘cognitive itch’. Like a mental mosquito bite, when information is incongruous (or violates listeners’ expectations) it motivates cognitive effort to resolve the incongruity. This cognitive effort involves thinking about the offending song."
The expert notes that Baby Shark is a perfect storm of all three.
According to Kelleris, catchy tunes are similar to intrusive thoughts. The mental repetition of a certain melody can become involuntary. "Ironic process theory explains that to suppress a thought, one must remember the thought to be suppressed," he says. "Voilà – the ‘white bear’ effect. (If you tell someone not to think about a white bear, the harder they try the more they think about a white bear)."
The Mystic Keys site notes that a catchy song isn't just about great composition; it is a neurological event.
"When you hear a tune that feels instantly memorable, your brain is actively participating in the experience, processing patterns, decoding rhythm, predicting melodies, and seeking emotional satisfaction," it explains. According to the music educators at The Mystic Keys, the brain doesn't just like predictability. It also loves tiny surprises.
And that's what earworms play on...
"Musical patterns that are simple, repetitive, and easy to predict become embedded quickly. But when a melody contains small unexpected elements — like a surprising interval, a sudden rhythmic twist, or a unique hook — the brain becomes even more engaged," say the experts. "It tries to 'solve' the pattern, replaying it internally. This is why a song may loop in your head even after only one listen."
But there's something else at play, they say. Catchy tunes give us a hit of dopamine, the brain’s pleasure chemical, or feel-good hormone. This happens when a song resolves into a satisfying phrase or when a chorus reaches its emotional high point, explain the music educators.
The song becomes almost addictive. We keep craving more and more of it. It's a catch-22. The more a song triggers this reward system, the stickier, or catchier, it becomes.
