Adele’s monster hit song from 2011, “Someone Like You” shot a jolt of electricity directly through me within seconds of hearing it for the very first time. This very rarely happens…
It stopped me dead in my tracks with no choice but to listen, and just feel it… and then negotiate the pending emotions produced.
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Perhaps it was the moving piano line, or the husky and soulful vocal, or the poignant and universal lyrics telling a story of love lost and found.
Mostly, it’s all of it… fused into a 4 minute mini-movie of any one of our lives…
“Never mind; I’ll find someone like you; I wish nothing but the best for you…” ~ Adele
It turns out there may be scientific, psychological, and physiological reasons why the song, and many others like it, are such tear-jerkers…
According to an article in The Wall Street Journal: Researchers have found that certain features of music are consistently associated with producing strong emotions in listeners. Combined with heartfelt lyrics and a powerhouse voice, these structures can send reward signals to our brains that rival any other pleasure. Research also indicates a musical device called an “appoggiatura,” which is a type of ornamental note, that typically falls on the beat, but that clashes with a song’s main melody just enough to create a dissonant sound, generating tension in the listener. When the notes return to the anticipated melody, the tension resolves, and it feels good. Chills often descend on listeners at these moments of resolution. And when several appoggiaturas occur next to each other in a melody, it creates a cycle of tension and release, provoking an even stronger reaction, and that is when the tears start to flow… hence why it’s called a “Tear-Jerker”…
Whatever the cause, be it scientific or simple superstition, this is art worth pursuing.
That which is so real, so honest, and so instantly emotional that few who experience it can deny its power.
Make someone FEEL something, and you have their attention.
This is THE way to truly communicate for impact. Authenticity and transparency is required.
It’s a form of what I call Communichology™.
It’s shocking to the system because it rings so true to those tuned-in.
This is the type of content and output I’m impelled and aspire to produce… come what may… for someone just like you.
Stay tuned-in…
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