Hooks and Earworms: What Makes Pop Songs So Catchy? - Neuroscience News

Summary: Researchers explore why some songs constantly get stuck in our heads and why these “hooks” are the guiding principle for modern popular music.

These wise and catchy words are those of Canadian singer-songwriter Carly Rae Jepsen from her 2012 hit “Call Me Maybe.” The song topped the music charts across the world, including in the United States, Canada and Australia.

“It’s been said in radio that if people hear a song they don’t know, they’ll wait about seven seconds before changing the station and it’s probably the same for modern streaming services,” Dr. Byron said.

“I teach contemporary music and a lot of my students are songwriters, producers and performers and in class we often talk about this idea of ear candy,” Dr. O’Regan said.

The end result was a 459-page online textbook that covers everything from the psychology of memorability to the role of the study of hooks in popular musicology.

“Hooks in Popular Music” is a comprehensive piece of work that fills a gap in the literature discussing the importance of what makes a song catchy, and as Alanis Morissette memorably said in 1995, it’s the kind of stuff “You Oughta Know.”