This is the year 2016. With all the crazy clown massacres, Mexican Walls and Pokemon hunting going on, I know it’s hard to trust a stranger on the internet but you have to trust me. You have to trust me and do what I say. I need you to close your eyes and think about your favourite song, and then play it in your mind. Good.
Now that you have enjoyed it, let’s talk about it.
Every song has basically two components, the music and the lyrics. Everyone had their own criterion of judging songs. Some people fall for dank lyrics, others prefer quality beats and background music over the lyrics. Truth is that a universally liked song maintains a balance between both. What makes lyrics good? Again, it varies from person to person. Generally talking about lyrics, they should be relate-able to the target audience, they should be synchronous with the music. They should have a flow and should strike a chord in the listeners heart. Honestly, if a song doesn’t give me goosebumps, its just not good.
What is good music? Oh that’s where things get interesting. Let us elevate the echelon from simple verbal discussions to a more ‘based’ and logical level. Lets talk maths and physics. (No, don’t desert me after just reading that). As we know sounds travel in waves (duh). It is a longitudinal wave, which means that the particles of medium vibrate parallel to the direction of wave. That is basically a sound wave:
I am sure you must have seen this somewhere:
Now that you get the idea, let’s come back to talking about what a good music is. It doesn’t take a keen eye to observe that most songs have repetition in them.
Yes I agree that Rihanna took that too seriously and repeated the word ‘Work’ throughout the song but that’s not the point.
Here listen to Beethoven’s 8th Symphony. Do you see the pattern? I cannot explain it here but the repetition of notes is quite clear. He doesn’t deviate much from the original tone. Thus it would be safe for me to say that the frequency of the sound waves in the music remains roughly same over many points. So sensational, melodious and beautiful. And this is quite true. Scott Rickard in a TED talk, presents the worlds ugliest music. The notes in the music have absolutely zero correspondence. There is no synchronisation. There is no repetition. Nada. After every moment, the sound emitted, produces notes with a frequency that have no correlation with the one preceding or succeeding it. With this we can conclude that a good song has a music which produces notes of similar frequency.
Now lets jump to another facet of the topic. Our brain is quite the weapon whose true potential is yet to be unlocked. Time and again, researchers and memory athletes have tried divergent methods to maximise the efficiency of their brains. All the studies and surveys agree on one point. All of them believe that repetition helps our memory. It aids in learning and memorising things quickly. So a repetition of words or lectures will concretely set those words in your brain. (This is basically the principal of brain-washing too)
You can see where I am going now. A good song has outstanding lyrics. Its ethereal music produces recurring notes of similar frequency. This replay and repetition of frequencies traces and imprints the song at the back our head. It helps us to recall it. And then when we are stimulated we go:
🎼 Baby, this is what you came for. Lightning strikes every time she moves.
Watch Scott Rickkard amaze you with the worlds ugliest song.
