“Sometimes you have to play a long time to be able to play like yourself” - Miles Davis



There is nothing wrong with enjoying popular music. Artists like Beyonce, Justin Timberlake, or Bruno Mars make great music that is culturally relevant and fun. The issue arises when we fail to move towards a deeper understanding of why we like certain music. Rather than engaging with new music, we tend to put our favorite (or more likely the most current) pop tunes on repeat. When asked why we like these songs, an easy answer is to say, “They just sound good”, or “I pretty much like everything”. Fortunately, psychological research can help teach us why we find popular music more instantly pleasing than more musically complex genres, and guide us past our current listening habits in order to take control of our own musical tastes.

Using Math, Physics, and Psychology to Understand Chord Structure

Humans tend to prefer simple chord structures that have been repeated throughout popular music (though there is likely cultural variation). These chord structures have been labeled the “ice-cream chords” because they are so instantly pleasing to the human ear.* The video below explains that these chords are generally pleasing due to the fact that the wavelengths created by the sound of each note in the chord are very similar and rather than competing with each other, sync together easily (watch the video for a more in depth description). Due to their catchiness, these chords are ubiquitous in popular music.

The Mere Exposure Effect

As explained in the next video, the forces that drive one artist to the top of the charts and another to the bottom have about as much (or probably more) to do with chance than some objective measure of quality (on average). There is little doubt that The Beatles worked exceptionally hard to get where they were, but research suggests that if we were able to replay history over again it is likely that a different hard-working band could have hit it big simply due to a mix of talent and luck. Once an artist is discovered, their music begins spreading through culture, and thus, it becomes very familiar.

Popular music is played on many radio stations, in stores, commercials and in movies. Even if you aren’t a die-hard Adele fan, you find yourself almost magically singing along as soon as you hear the word “Hello…”. Part of the reason for this can be explained by what psychologists call the mere exposure effect. As we experience a stimulus over and over again, that stimulus becomes familiar to us. That familiarity (or perceptual fluency) can result in positive reactions to the stimulus (in this case, music). It is worth noting that if we are aware of the fact that we are listening to the same thing over and over again, we can become over-exposed, and thus will begin liking it less. However, by the time most people are getting sick of a song, a new crop of pop songs is released, and the cycle continues.

Demonstrating Mere Exposure

In the previous youtube video, while the presenter was describing the mere exposure effect, two shapes were flashed very quickly on the screen (you probably noticed what appeared to be a glitch in the video if you watched). A number of viewers took part in a survey immediately after watching in which they rated how much they liked a number of shapes (two of which were the ones presented in the video). As described in the video below, people actually preferred the shapes that were presented in the video to shapes that were not! (Watch the video below for more detail.)

Making Use of The Mere Exposure Effect

So far, we have learned that preferences for popular music are largely driven by the use of simple, pleasing chord structures, chance, and repeated exposure to these songs. Naturally, listening to unfamiliar, more complex genres is going to be more difficult (i.e., disfluent), and this difficulty can be misinterpreted as distaste for this kind of music. One way to avoid this initial reaction is to find creative ways to make use of the mere exposure effect. A lesson I learned from a great music teacher was that I really can’t know if I like a piece of music or not until I’ve listened to it at least 50 times.** Pick a particular piece of music and play it during breakfast, while you travel to work, or quietly play it while studying for a period of time. Find alternate versions of the piece (acapella or live versions). Don’t be surprised if you find yourself humming along to a tune that once made no sense to you.

Another way to explore new music is to engage in activities that require paying close attention to the music in order to achieve alternate goals. For example, while listening, think about what mood the music is trying to elicit, or imagine how this music would be played in a film, listening for specific themes as the song plays. For example, when I hear Here and Heaven by The Goat Rodeo Sessions, I first think of wandering through a forest at dusk. Once the song hits the chorus, the darkened forest is suddenly lit up by the sun, and I am running through a snow-covered trail. When I’m preparing for a talk, or simply need to feel confident I go straight for Bach’s Violin Sonata in G minor: Fugue, a tune that will make you feel like you are walking up to the pitcher’s mound, about to make the first pitch in the World Series. If I want to feel a mix of joy, mixed with contemplation and discovery (think of what it must feel like to see the ocean for the first time, or looking up at the stars and realizing how big the universe is), I put on The Beauty of Dissolving Portraits by Ambrose Akinmusire. Try to engage in listening to figure out what the musician may have been thinking or feeling, or what others might feel as they listen. These techniques may help you to pay attention to the music without immediately judging a song in terms of whether you like it or not,

Challenge your own ability to judge a piece of music. Ask yourself why you like or dislike a particular piece (or genre). Require answers of yourself that make use of complex musical ideas that go beyond appeals to genre or lyrics. As this video demonstrates, although humans like to confine music to particular genres that they can then identify with, these barriers between genres are largely culturally enforced, and with a bit of effort, can be torn down.



Greater exposure to other genres can also increase your appreciation for music that you already enjoy. A great example of this can be found in the podcast Switched on Pop - a podcast that analyzes popular music from a historical and music theory perspective. These podcasters will be discussing the new Taylor Swift album in one moment, then they will be relating to Bach in the next. They demonstrate how musical motifs transcend genre, and are passed on through history.

Musical Exploration Matters

Exploring unfamiliar music can lead to a more sophisticated appreciation for music in general. Increased sophistication does not mean that you will stop enjoying popular music (or even listen to it less often), it just means that you will gain an understanding of how different genres relate to one-another both musically and historically. The next time you listen to a new song by Coldplay, you will be able to hear the influences that came from the Rolling Stones (who were themselves influenced by bluesmen like Muddy Waters).

Most importantly, increasing your musical knowledge and exposure will aid in developing your own musical identity. This will not eliminate the role of mere exposure in daily life - but it will give you the ability to step back and examine why you like certain music beyond the influence of exposure. You may realize that you love Top 40 radio - a realization that will come with confidence, because you have tried a variety of music. You will have developed musical tastes on your own terms.

*Here is a video by Hank Green, a popular content creator on youtube, co-founder of Nerdfighteria, and co-owner of DFTBA Records, demonstrating the ubiquity of the ice-cream chord changes in popular music. (At the end of this video, Hank admits that he doesn’t know why we like these changes. The answer to this can be found in the first video in this post!) Search youtube and you will find many other videos that cycle through pop tunes that use similar chord structures.

**Jane Corbin is a music teacher who played a large role in my own musical development (not to mention my development as a person - thanks Mom!)

***Thanks to Evan Wilhelms of Deciderata for the inspiration for this post (and fantastic videos). Please check out the Deciderata youtube channel for more great videos that examine human behavior.