What Makes A Song Catchy?

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[rastas]

The "spanish phrygian" (frígia española) has the minor and major third in it and suits the melody and progression perfectly

[markop.]

In greek/arabic music this sound is known as hicaz. There is a sensitivity when using the minor vs major 3rds and 7s almost like cadences in western music.

[paurodriguez]

Never heard this song before, but the harmony is kind of interesting and reminded me a lot like and Arabic/Hispanic sound (The feeling reminds me of “Toreros”, “Flamenco” and the musical “Carmen”)

[darelfinkbeiner]

Yes. Musicality is what makes you "want" to sing along. It isn't about being able to sing it, or it even being singable, or easy, or in a small range, or whatever, by most people. It can be insanely hard for the average person ( re: Hallelujah chorus ). I realized this when, on a single watch of Frozen, every 4 year old girl was trying to sing Let It Go even though it's basically impossible for them. But they want to, because it's catchy even though it's actually hard to do.

[RamiroLeiva]

Would be cool to turn that into classical piano masterpiece

[Nerdydolfin]

I hadn’t heard this song too much, but watching this video makes me realize how similar the harmonies are to Montero. Interesting how chords that aren’t traditionally standard in pop music catch on across the genre

[pedromagalhaes]

super excited about this track, because it seems to fulfill the late producer SOPHIE’s vision of what pop music should sound like.

[rawali]

What got me hooked to this song above all other tik tok overused tracks is the harmony in the choir. I don't have the music harmony chops to analyse it but there's something incredibly haunting and evocative.

[fearitselfpinball]

Amazing analysis. I’m not someone who believes that repetition = catchy. It’s a popular, reductive simplification to me (although repetition has some part in it). I think you’re right about the importance of a melody’s rhythm. The rhythmic units for this song are not simply repetitious—they’re intelligent, conversational modifications of expected rhythmic repetitions. It’s both predictability and interesting deviation from the predictable that explains, in part, why something feels catchy. Also, although the harmonic context is D and Db alternating I think a lot of the interest is in the way the melody differs from what we might expect to get in a major (or minor), diatonic context. Some of the lines surprise me in the way they return to major or imply a ‘minor’ scalar move. It keeps handing us back chromatically altered versions of what we expect that are (interestingly and intelligently, ) “almost what we expected”.

[lost_star]

Heard this song on YouTube first and instantly I liked it. It wasn't because it was played over and over. It's haunting and beautiful. I didn't know the lyrics but its musically gorgeous.

[zarinloosli]

I think the repetition explanation can also be informed by studies that show that earworms come when a song is only partially remembered—not being able to finish it is key to getting it stuck in your head. So if the song can have an extremely memorable melody that gets reused in so many places that you DON'T have a single lyrical phrase to learn backwards and forwards, it's more likely to stick around

[zeromech]

You should definitely do breakdowns on halo and destiny music. Nobody that does what you do has done a video on stuff like that. Loved the doom video.

[soaribb]

I think this song fits that 2000's trends of R&B pop with middle eastern-esque arrangements.

[juliawhitmore]

I had to pause this video and come back to it, and lo and behold, despite having never heard this song before, I am finding myself whistling the tune. The pop gods are truly powerful.

[lolzlarkin]

Literally never heard this song before.

[robo]

i’m a sucker for choir stuff, since i sing in one, so this song’s in my head mainly for that reason.

[channalbert]

I have noticed, after listening to this song for a million times, that quite cleverly the melody right before the chorus has an interesting rhythm. It contrasts a 4:4 polyrhythm in one line with a 4:3 (in the “keep-your-bus-iness-clean” part). I don’t think it’s mind-blowing or revolutionary but I haven’t picked on it before (probably because there’s no other song I’ve heard so much lol)

[tubeo]

I dont agree tho. I’m in love with it within the first phrase. The writing, the production, the performance, mixing. Everything just blends into each other so well

[drakanDS]

11:48 Bro slipped that Rite of Spring lick and thought noone would notice

[pantheon]

I'm pretty sure the melodic line was lifted from a Middle-eastern folk song. I knew I heard it before this song came out, and has probably already been used in Arabian Pop or in film scores.