Basically if you experience this, you might have structural differences in your brain and have an enhanced ability to feel intense emotions. Anecdotally, I get this. I never realized other people...
Basically if you experience this, you might have structural differences in your brain and have an enhanced ability to feel intense emotions.
Anecdotally, I get this. I never realized other people might not feel music as much. There are songs I can't even sing all the way through without choking back tears and they aren't sad songs at all. Just very emotionally intense to sing. I guess this might explain it.
Most of Two Ribbons by Let's Eat Grandma I struggle to listen to for the same reason. It's just too intense and it's not just mentally taxing but it exerts a physical demand on me. It's very odd....
Most of Two Ribbons by Let's Eat Grandma I struggle to listen to for the same reason. It's just too intense and it's not just mentally taxing but it exerts a physical demand on me. It's very odd. Sure, there are incredibly tough songs about loss on that album but there's also deeply joyful ones too.
Goosebumps from music is also known as frisson which appears to be distinct from ASMR (which I also get). It's so strange - and yet still totally normal because it's happened my entire life - to experience a physical response from a non-physical stimulus. Sometimes a very strong response too. Occasionally I have had to stop my car because the music playing has been too much for me to be able to drive safely too (once notably when John Grant's Glacier came on the radio)
I just can't listen to music and do anything else at the same time. In college most of my friends couldn't understand that if there was music playing, that it fucked with my emotions too much to...
Occasionally I have had to stop my car because the music playing has been too much for me to be able to drive safely too
I just can't listen to music and do anything else at the same time. In college most of my friends couldn't understand that if there was music playing, that it fucked with my emotions too much to study or whatever. It's interesting to see some science being done on this sort of thing.
I mean, technically sound is just another physical stimulous. Just one we also have dedicated organs to sensing better. Its possible some reactions are a product of this. Loud enough music,...
I mean, technically sound is just another physical stimulous. Just one we also have dedicated organs to sensing better. Its possible some reactions are a product of this.
Loud enough music, especially bass, you can feel beyond just hear.
Technically correct is the best kind of correct. :) I hadn't really considered it but I don't see why it would be impossible that aural nerve activity can, under certain conditions, cause...
Technically correct is the best kind of correct. :)
I hadn't really considered it but I don't see why it would be impossible that aural nerve activity can, under certain conditions, cause frisson/asmr responses as unrelated activations of other brain structures. Like how it's been theorised that that bright light making people sneeze is caused by parasympathetic generalisation in the cortex.
I also hadn't really considered bass and I don't think I get frisson from hefty amounts of bass. I think body-shaking bass evokes a different response, a sort of pavlovian "shit's about to get good" sort of thing.
Yeah, that would explain it as I'm on the spectrum xD I remember first time I got a goosebumps listening to music when I was a teen. It happened on a regular basis. Now, in my mid 30s, I'm...
Basically if you experience this, you might have structural differences in your brain and have an enhanced ability to feel intense emotions.
Yeah, that would explain it as I'm on the spectrum xD I remember first time I got a goosebumps listening to music when I was a teen. It happened on a regular basis. Now, in my mid 30s, I'm experiencing it more seldom. Last time it happened I was listening to a Radio Therapy show.
I used to feel chills/goosebumps as a teen? I was exploring a ton of music at the time, and songs like M83's We Own The Sky and Animal Collective's Brothersport would send me into aural heaven....
I used to feel chills/goosebumps as a teen? I was exploring a ton of music at the time, and songs like M83's We Own The Sky and Animal Collective's Brothersport would send me into aural heaven. Teen me called them "eargasms" or "soulgasms" depending on the intensity, with the latter feeling like an out of body experience.
But, as I grew older, the chills seemed to go away? I feel like I've become numbed to intense emotions as a whole. I used to be a more emotionally volatile person, but now I feel like my emotions have become neutered in a lot of ways. I just don't feel very strongly anymore, for anything. I worry about this a lot. :(
I'm somewhat similar, I can still get chills from music though. For example, I felt a little something from the first video in the article, and a good shiver run down my spine and into my arms...
I'm somewhat similar, I can still get chills from music though. For example, I felt a little something from the first video in the article, and a good shiver run down my spine and into my arms every few seconds throughout the second.
Back when I was in college I was in the height of my music & singing phase, and I was very in tune to sounds. So much so that I would get synesthesia from time to time. A lot of the time that sensation was magical, and I would see these beautiful lights when things really clicked. The down side of that was that when our tap dance teacher would use the knob to tune down the music (and slow it down so it was easier for us beginners to dance to) it would look to me like the world was melting. Every. Single. Time. Eventually I had to start shutting my eyes because it would make me dizzy.
I've since lost such a strong physiological connection to music since I haven't sung in a group in a good 15 years and have been struggling with depression & a whole lot of instinctual defensive emotional numbing, but I'm working to get through that and I hope one day I'll be able to recover some of what I've lost. Therapy is helping, but to be honest I keep wondering about mushrooms since I've heard more than once that they're very effective at helping with depressive symptoms.
When I was a kid I felt emotions so strongly they would physically hurt. It’s something I don’t miss. It was like a curse. It was probably the biggest reason why I was bullied, which only brought...
When I was a kid I felt emotions so strongly they would physically hurt.
It’s something I don’t miss. It was like a curse. It was probably the biggest reason why I was bullied, which only brought me more pain.
So returning to that is something I would not wish on others. I’ve seen others who feel the same way where it has become a stumbling block in their lives.
I still manage to find music that enraptures me, though. The key is that it can’t be the same music all the time.
A lot of Animal Collective songs give me goosebumps. I was washing dishes last night and got Fireworks stuck in my head and had to take a pause. I also relate to the feelings being suppressed as...
A lot of Animal Collective songs give me goosebumps. I was washing dishes last night and got Fireworks stuck in my head and had to take a pause. I also relate to the feelings being suppressed as we get older. When it got stuck in my head I felt like I warped back to those years when they were blowing up on the festival scene and really felt nostalgic for that era.
Gosh, Fireworks is such a nostalgic song for me. So many songs just... lose their "feeling" after repeated plays? They lose the special... mood that they craft? But for Fireworks, while it's not...
Gosh, Fireworks is such a nostalgic song for me. So many songs just... lose their "feeling" after repeated plays? They lose the special... mood that they craft? But for Fireworks, while it's not chills/goosebumps anymore, the song still sounds so unique to my brain all these years later.
I was just thinking this too. I used to get chills a lot from songs with heavy guitar. Pennywise, NOFX or even Show must go on. But now I'm on anxiety meds and I don't get it anymore. I wonder if...
I was just thinking this too. I used to get chills a lot from songs with heavy guitar. Pennywise, NOFX or even Show must go on. But now I'm on anxiety meds and I don't get it anymore. I wonder if there's a link?
Did you perhaps start taking an SSRI? I know that I felt emotionally numb once I started taking one, and pretty much nothing would make me cry. I stopped taking it, and now I feel more volatile.
Did you perhaps start taking an SSRI? I know that I felt emotionally numb once I started taking one, and pretty much nothing would make me cry. I stopped taking it, and now I feel more volatile.
20 students is a pretty small study. I'm sure there are structural differences in the brain for people who experience this. But I'm interested what the results of a wider study would show. I get...
20 students is a pretty small study. I'm sure there are structural differences in the brain for people who experience this. But I'm interested what the results of a wider study would show. I get that would be a lot more costly though.
The whole thing is a bit flimsy. It uses the words 'special' and 'unique', but surely the majority of people experience an emotion reaction to music? I imagine the the genre/song/artist will vary...
The whole thing is a bit flimsy. It uses the words 'special' and 'unique', but surely the majority of people experience an emotion reaction to music? I imagine the the genre/song/artist will vary from person to person.
This comes across as a very pandering to the Classic FM audience, especially given both of their examples are classical.
I can believe that there are people who don't get chills from music. I don't get chills from sights alone. I've traveled a bit and have seen some beautiful scenery and felt nothing. I appreciated...
I can believe that there are people who don't get chills from music. I don't get chills from sights alone. I've traveled a bit and have seen some beautiful scenery and felt nothing. I appreciated it, but still. So it's not out of the realm of possibility.
There's a quote from researchers saying that they believe chills/emotional correlation can from from other stimuli. It's just that they only tested music.
especially given both of their examples are classical.
I was curious and skimmed the actual research paper. The list of music seemed to cover a lot of genres. There were a lot of songs. The samples appear to be from the person who wrote the article.
That being said, I would like a larger study and one that covers other stimuli, like sight. Comparing the results would be interesting at least
I think that's it - different people have different thresholds for what makes them experience frission. No qualms with the study, just the article's framing - how can we claim the 50% who...
I think that's it - different people have different thresholds for what makes them experience frission. No qualms with the study, just the article's framing - how can we claim the 50% who experienced something have a 'special brain'? I can't help but think it's to give readers a sense of superiority.
I became a musician because of the feelings music gave me when I was a toddler. I just loved to hear all kinds of music, and the first time I saw a live band I knew I had to be a part of it. I...
I became a musician because of the feelings music gave me when I was a toddler. I just loved to hear all kinds of music, and the first time I saw a live band I knew I had to be a part of it. I still get the chills and shivers from my own music as I make it, and I'm now 55 years old. It's always strange when I meet someone who really doesn't get much from music. It always feels like they are missing out on something so fantastic in life, but I suppose I'm probably missing the things they enjoy as well. Certain note intervals really set me off, and I recognize them immediately when I hear them used in music, despite my lack of formal musical training other than things I've learned from playing so long.
I get this for music but also from reading a particularly profound or beautiful line of prose, or an impactful storyline, from seeing art or a beautiful landscape, from soft touch etc. Never from...
I get this for music but also from reading a particularly profound or beautiful line of prose, or an impactful storyline, from seeing art or a beautiful landscape, from soft touch etc. Never from a smell, yet, but I presume it would be possible as it’s all sense related.
I get it in a completely unpleasant way with certain sounds too, hard bristles against a stone floor or someone brushing their teeth (I’m getting it now just talking about it).
The feelings are so similar but one feels lovely and the other makes me want to rip my skin off.
I am endlessly fascinated by the distinct ambient aroma of different places. One of the things I enjoy most about travel is experiencing the way new places smell. I don't know that I've ever...
Never from a smell, yet, but I presume it would be possible as it’s all sense related.
I am endlessly fascinated by the distinct ambient aroma of different places. One of the things I enjoy most about travel is experiencing the way new places smell. I don't know that I've ever gotten a tingly spine from a scent, but it's definitely an intense emotional response.
It’s incredible, isn’t it. Sometimes a smell hits you just so, and you’re in Barcelona or Nairobi or in your granny’s kitchen 25 years ago helping her make an apple crumble and sneaking bits of...
It’s incredible, isn’t it. Sometimes a smell hits you just so, and you’re in Barcelona or Nairobi or in your granny’s kitchen 25 years ago helping her make an apple crumble and sneaking bits of the apple peel. It seems like a much more instant response than other memories, which often take a second to pull up from the depths; I wonder if there’s an evolutionary explanation for that!
There is! This article (at BBCfuture.com) has a good summary. As a summary of the summary: smell is the "oldest" sense, and it also has the most direct path into memory areas of the brain. The...
There is! This article (at BBCfuture.com) has a good summary. As a summary of the summary: smell is the "oldest" sense, and it also has the most direct path into memory areas of the brain.
The fact that it's less "processed" than the other senses might be a reason we describe smells relative to other things but don't really have direct language for smell qualities (like we have "red", "loud", "smooth", or "salty" for other senses).
Thank you, that was a really interesting read! I’ve never before considered that we don’t generally have names for smells. The only one I can think of is “musty”, which I don’t believe relates to...
Thank you, that was a really interesting read!
I’ve never before considered that we don’t generally have names for smells. The only one I can think of is “musty”, which I don’t believe relates to a thing - dictionary says it comes from “moisty” in Middle English, though it can also be used for a taste or general description and I’m not sure which came first
I didn't get it or didn't notice it at all until I discovered this was a thing in my 30s, and then I started feeling it? I've been very confused about how that works. But I do sometimes cry when I...
I didn't get it or didn't notice it at all until I discovered this was a thing in my 30s, and then I started feeling it?
I've been very confused about how that works.
But I do sometimes cry when I watch music videos though. But not because it's sad, but it's just a sensory thing. It could be a very happy music video and I would cry.
I definitely get pretty intense chills from music. Thought that everyone did if the music really speaks to them. As I'm writing I'm listening to a Taylor Swift playlist and the bridge in the...
I definitely get pretty intense chills from music. Thought that everyone did if the music really speaks to them.
As I'm writing I'm listening to a Taylor Swift playlist and the bridge in the Champagne Problems literally never fails to give me massive chills. Not even because of the lyrics (tho they are great.) But how it keeps building and building until trailing off...I'm not much for musical terms but the composition here is really something else.
I recommend Oliver Sacks book Musicology that touches this although it’s also about how the brain works with music and is a bit scientific in its approach. I’ve always had very intense emotions...
I recommend Oliver Sacks book Musicology that touches this although it’s also about how the brain works with music and is a bit scientific in its approach. I’ve always had very intense emotions and reactions when it comes to music in all genres from classical to metal so this is really interesting for me. I sometimes feel really alone in describing this to others.
This happens to me, even sometimes just thinking about a particular song. I wonder what is the evolutionary benefit of having this quality that gets filtered out for some but not for others
This happens to me, even sometimes just thinking about a particular song. I wonder what is the evolutionary benefit of having this quality that gets filtered out for some but not for others
I also have strong responses to music. The earliest account I can recall is being around 10 years old and listening to Peter and the Wolf by Sergei Prokofiev. I was so affected by each characters'...
I also have strong responses to music. The earliest account I can recall is being around 10 years old and listening to Peter and the Wolf by Sergei Prokofiev. I was so affected by each characters' theme music. The flute for the bird made me smile, the clarinet theme for the cat was cute, but the French horn theme for the wolf scared me so bad, I literally hid under a blanket and plugged my ears because the foreboding and sinister theme for the wolf terrified me. I later studied music and dance due to my strong attachment to music.
music does it for me, but what really gets my emotions and frisson going is watching documentaries about scientists working hard on deploying space probes and rovers. like, watching the emotional...
music does it for me, but what really gets my emotions and frisson going is watching documentaries about scientists working hard on deploying space probes and rovers. like, watching the emotional rollercoaster that they go through when their decades of work successfully lands on mars, i dunno why it has such a big impact on me.
of course, my reaction is still only a few tears and a quivering lip for a few minutes, but for me that's huge
Oh god, when you read about how they programmed the (mars? Moon?) rover to sing happy birthday to itself - goddamn they love those little robots it’s almost unbearably charming.
Oh god, when you read about how they programmed the (mars? Moon?) rover to sing happy birthday to itself - goddamn they love those little robots 🥹 it’s almost unbearably charming.
I honestly thought everyone had this. If I'm watching a movie and something is emotional it's different for me if music is playing, I feel it more. With music, it's bass lines and how the music...
I honestly thought everyone had this.
If I'm watching a movie and something is emotional it's different for me if music is playing, I feel it more.
How apropos. I was telling my wife not two days ago that the song I had on in the car gives me chills. Had no idea why, but everytime I listen to it, I just get shivers. In fact a lot of the...
How apropos. I was telling my wife not two days ago that the song I had on in the car gives me chills. Had no idea why, but everytime I listen to it, I just get shivers. In fact a lot of the catalogue of that particular artist does the same to me; had no idea it had a name or was "a thing." I just assumed everyone felt strong emotions when listening to music.
Sometimes I get overwhelmed by background music in movies/TV shows and what's really frustrating is usually the movie or show isn't very good or is being overly sentimental or dramatic and I hate...
Sometimes I get overwhelmed by background music in movies/TV shows and what's really frustrating is usually the movie or show isn't very good or is being overly sentimental or dramatic and I hate that it gets to me lol. I usually give the composer/sound designer credit in those moments over the writer for eliciting a reaction I would've have had otherwise
I have only ever felt this super mild, and the only song (yet) that has done it to me is Music of the Mind, by Jamiroquai. No idea why it's this in particular, but that song just does something to me.
I have only ever felt this super mild, and the only song (yet) that has done it to me is Music of the Mind, by Jamiroquai. No idea why it's this in particular, but that song just does something to me.
Basically if you experience this, you might have structural differences in your brain and have an enhanced ability to feel intense emotions.
Anecdotally, I get this. I never realized other people might not feel music as much. There are songs I can't even sing all the way through without choking back tears and they aren't sad songs at all. Just very emotionally intense to sing. I guess this might explain it.
Most of Two Ribbons by Let's Eat Grandma I struggle to listen to for the same reason. It's just too intense and it's not just mentally taxing but it exerts a physical demand on me. It's very odd. Sure, there are incredibly tough songs about loss on that album but there's also deeply joyful ones too.
Goosebumps from music is also known as frisson which appears to be distinct from ASMR (which I also get). It's so strange - and yet still totally normal because it's happened my entire life - to experience a physical response from a non-physical stimulus. Sometimes a very strong response too. Occasionally I have had to stop my car because the music playing has been too much for me to be able to drive safely too (once notably when John Grant's Glacier came on the radio)
I just can't listen to music and do anything else at the same time. In college most of my friends couldn't understand that if there was music playing, that it fucked with my emotions too much to study or whatever. It's interesting to see some science being done on this sort of thing.
I mean, technically sound is just another physical stimulous. Just one we also have dedicated organs to sensing better. Its possible some reactions are a product of this.
Loud enough music, especially bass, you can feel beyond just hear.
I can give myself this feeling just by thinking about sounds/music/words, so it is at least not always physical
Technically correct is the best kind of correct. :)
I hadn't really considered it but I don't see why it would be impossible that aural nerve activity can, under certain conditions, cause frisson/asmr responses as unrelated activations of other brain structures. Like how it's been theorised that that bright light making people sneeze is caused by parasympathetic generalisation in the cortex.
I also hadn't really considered bass and I don't think I get frisson from hefty amounts of bass. I think body-shaking bass evokes a different response, a sort of pavlovian "shit's about to get good" sort of thing.
Yeah, that would explain it as I'm on the spectrum xD I remember first time I got a goosebumps listening to music when I was a teen. It happened on a regular basis. Now, in my mid 30s, I'm experiencing it more seldom. Last time it happened I was listening to a Radio Therapy show.
I used to feel chills/goosebumps as a teen? I was exploring a ton of music at the time, and songs like M83's We Own The Sky and Animal Collective's Brothersport would send me into aural heaven. Teen me called them "eargasms" or "soulgasms" depending on the intensity, with the latter feeling like an out of body experience.
But, as I grew older, the chills seemed to go away? I feel like I've become numbed to intense emotions as a whole. I used to be a more emotionally volatile person, but now I feel like my emotions have become neutered in a lot of ways. I just don't feel very strongly anymore, for anything. I worry about this a lot. :(
I'm somewhat similar, I can still get chills from music though. For example, I felt a little something from the first video in the article, and a good shiver run down my spine and into my arms every few seconds throughout the second.
Back when I was in college I was in the height of my music & singing phase, and I was very in tune to sounds. So much so that I would get synesthesia from time to time. A lot of the time that sensation was magical, and I would see these beautiful lights when things really clicked. The down side of that was that when our tap dance teacher would use the knob to tune down the music (and slow it down so it was easier for us beginners to dance to) it would look to me like the world was melting. Every. Single. Time. Eventually I had to start shutting my eyes because it would make me dizzy.
I've since lost such a strong physiological connection to music since I haven't sung in a group in a good 15 years and have been struggling with depression & a whole lot of instinctual defensive emotional numbing, but I'm working to get through that and I hope one day I'll be able to recover some of what I've lost. Therapy is helping, but to be honest I keep wondering about mushrooms since I've heard more than once that they're very effective at helping with depressive symptoms.
When I was a kid I felt emotions so strongly they would physically hurt.
It’s something I don’t miss. It was like a curse. It was probably the biggest reason why I was bullied, which only brought me more pain.
So returning to that is something I would not wish on others. I’ve seen others who feel the same way where it has become a stumbling block in their lives.
I still manage to find music that enraptures me, though. The key is that it can’t be the same music all the time.
A lot of Animal Collective songs give me goosebumps. I was washing dishes last night and got Fireworks stuck in my head and had to take a pause. I also relate to the feelings being suppressed as we get older. When it got stuck in my head I felt like I warped back to those years when they were blowing up on the festival scene and really felt nostalgic for that era.
Gosh, Fireworks is such a nostalgic song for me. So many songs just... lose their "feeling" after repeated plays? They lose the special... mood that they craft? But for Fireworks, while it's not chills/goosebumps anymore, the song still sounds so unique to my brain all these years later.
I was just thinking this too. I used to get chills a lot from songs with heavy guitar. Pennywise, NOFX or even Show must go on. But now I'm on anxiety meds and I don't get it anymore. I wonder if there's a link?
Did you perhaps start taking an SSRI? I know that I felt emotionally numb once I started taking one, and pretty much nothing would make me cry. I stopped taking it, and now I feel more volatile.
I am on an SSRI, yes! But, I only started relatively recently, and I've been feeling emotional numbness for years, sadly. :(
20 students is a pretty small study. I'm sure there are structural differences in the brain for people who experience this. But I'm interested what the results of a wider study would show. I get that would be a lot more costly though.
The whole thing is a bit flimsy. It uses the words 'special' and 'unique', but surely the majority of people experience an emotion reaction to music? I imagine the the genre/song/artist will vary from person to person.
This comes across as a very pandering to the Classic FM audience, especially given both of their examples are classical.
I can believe that there are people who don't get chills from music. I don't get chills from sights alone. I've traveled a bit and have seen some beautiful scenery and felt nothing. I appreciated it, but still. So it's not out of the realm of possibility.
There's a quote from researchers saying that they believe chills/emotional correlation can from from other stimuli. It's just that they only tested music.
I was curious and skimmed the actual research paper. The list of music seemed to cover a lot of genres. There were a lot of songs. The samples appear to be from the person who wrote the article.
That being said, I would like a larger study and one that covers other stimuli, like sight. Comparing the results would be interesting at least
I think that's it - different people have different thresholds for what makes them experience frission. No qualms with the study, just the article's framing - how can we claim the 50% who experienced something have a 'special brain'? I can't help but think it's to give readers a sense of superiority.
I don't disagree with that. That's the feeling I got from the this article too
Is this also true when MRI's are involved? Instrument time on those isn't cheap.
Frisson? I thought everyone had that. In fact it's how I know a song is really effin' good.
I don't have that - no chills or goosebumps. I do feel something though. A kind of reverie. Music is able to change my state of mind.
I still remember the first time I ever heard Jimi Hendrix play guitar. The hairs on my arm literally stood straight up.
I became a musician because of the feelings music gave me when I was a toddler. I just loved to hear all kinds of music, and the first time I saw a live band I knew I had to be a part of it. I still get the chills and shivers from my own music as I make it, and I'm now 55 years old. It's always strange when I meet someone who really doesn't get much from music. It always feels like they are missing out on something so fantastic in life, but I suppose I'm probably missing the things they enjoy as well. Certain note intervals really set me off, and I recognize them immediately when I hear them used in music, despite my lack of formal musical training other than things I've learned from playing so long.
I get this for music but also from reading a particularly profound or beautiful line of prose, or an impactful storyline, from seeing art or a beautiful landscape, from soft touch etc. Never from a smell, yet, but I presume it would be possible as it’s all sense related.
I get it in a completely unpleasant way with certain sounds too, hard bristles against a stone floor or someone brushing their teeth (I’m getting it now just talking about it).
The feelings are so similar but one feels lovely and the other makes me want to rip my skin off.
I am endlessly fascinated by the distinct ambient aroma of different places. One of the things I enjoy most about travel is experiencing the way new places smell. I don't know that I've ever gotten a tingly spine from a scent, but it's definitely an intense emotional response.
It’s incredible, isn’t it. Sometimes a smell hits you just so, and you’re in Barcelona or Nairobi or in your granny’s kitchen 25 years ago helping her make an apple crumble and sneaking bits of the apple peel. It seems like a much more instant response than other memories, which often take a second to pull up from the depths; I wonder if there’s an evolutionary explanation for that!
There is! This article (at BBCfuture.com) has a good summary. As a summary of the summary: smell is the "oldest" sense, and it also has the most direct path into memory areas of the brain.
The fact that it's less "processed" than the other senses might be a reason we describe smells relative to other things but don't really have direct language for smell qualities (like we have "red", "loud", "smooth", or "salty" for other senses).
Thank you, that was a really interesting read!
I’ve never before considered that we don’t generally have names for smells. The only one I can think of is “musty”, which I don’t believe relates to a thing - dictionary says it comes from “moisty” in Middle English, though it can also be used for a taste or general description and I’m not sure which came first
I didn't get it or didn't notice it at all until I discovered this was a thing in my 30s, and then I started feeling it?
I've been very confused about how that works.
But I do sometimes cry when I watch music videos though. But not because it's sad, but it's just a sensory thing. It could be a very happy music video and I would cry.
I definitely get pretty intense chills from music. Thought that everyone did if the music really speaks to them.
As I'm writing I'm listening to a Taylor Swift playlist and the bridge in the Champagne Problems literally never fails to give me massive chills. Not even because of the lyrics (tho they are great.) But how it keeps building and building until trailing off...I'm not much for musical terms but the composition here is really something else.
I recommend Oliver Sacks book Musicology that touches this although it’s also about how the brain works with music and is a bit scientific in its approach. I’ve always had very intense emotions and reactions when it comes to music in all genres from classical to metal so this is really interesting for me. I sometimes feel really alone in describing this to others.
This happens to me, even sometimes just thinking about a particular song. I wonder what is the evolutionary benefit of having this quality that gets filtered out for some but not for others
I also have strong responses to music. The earliest account I can recall is being around 10 years old and listening to Peter and the Wolf by Sergei Prokofiev. I was so affected by each characters' theme music. The flute for the bird made me smile, the clarinet theme for the cat was cute, but the French horn theme for the wolf scared me so bad, I literally hid under a blanket and plugged my ears because the foreboding and sinister theme for the wolf terrified me. I later studied music and dance due to my strong attachment to music.
music does it for me, but what really gets my emotions and frisson going is watching documentaries about scientists working hard on deploying space probes and rovers. like, watching the emotional rollercoaster that they go through when their decades of work successfully lands on mars, i dunno why it has such a big impact on me.
of course, my reaction is still only a few tears and a quivering lip for a few minutes, but for me that's huge
Oh god, when you read about how they programmed the (mars? Moon?) rover to sing happy birthday to itself - goddamn they love those little robots 🥹 it’s almost unbearably charming.
I honestly thought everyone had this.
If I'm watching a movie and something is emotional it's different for me if music is playing, I feel it more.
With music, it's bass lines and how the music comes together. Tracks such as Hey Man, Nice Shot by Filter or My Own Summer (Shove It) by Deftones absolutely give me goose bumps on bass riff and then when the song properly kicks in, I get chills.
How apropos. I was telling my wife not two days ago that the song I had on in the car gives me chills. Had no idea why, but everytime I listen to it, I just get shivers. In fact a lot of the catalogue of that particular artist does the same to me; had no idea it had a name or was "a thing." I just assumed everyone felt strong emotions when listening to music.
Sometimes I get overwhelmed by background music in movies/TV shows and what's really frustrating is usually the movie or show isn't very good or is being overly sentimental or dramatic and I hate that it gets to me lol. I usually give the composer/sound designer credit in those moments over the writer for eliciting a reaction I would've have had otherwise
I have only ever felt this super mild, and the only song (yet) that has done it to me is Music of the Mind, by Jamiroquai. No idea why it's this in particular, but that song just does something to me.