Posted on 02/13/2012 10:11:22 AM PST by nuconvert
Why does Adele's 'Someone Like You' make everyone cry? Science has found the formula.
-Excerpt-
Twenty years ago, the British psychologist John Sloboda conducted a simple experiment. He asked music lovers to identify passages of songs that reliably set off a physical reaction, such as tears or goose bumps. Participants identified 20 tear-triggering passages, and when Dr. Sloboda analyzed their properties, a trend emerged: 18 contained a musical device called an "appoggiatura."
An appoggiatura is a type of ornamental note that clashes with the melody just enough to create a dissonant sound. "This generates tension in the listener," said Martin Guhn, a psychologist at the University of British Columbia who co-wrote a 2007 study on the subject. "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. When several appoggiaturas occur next to each other in a melody, it generates a cycle of tension and release. This provokes an even stronger reaction, and that is when the tears start to flow.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
When the Grammies were on I walked through as some black chick was shackled to a big wheel chanting weird stuff.
Asked my daughter what in the heck was that. Got the “Oh, Daddy” with the big eye roll.
in the words of Mr. Spock...”fascinating”.
I think she’s that chubby girl who won all the Grammys last night. Can’t say I’ve ever heard the song, and I doubt it would make me cry - only two songs have done that to me over my 50+ years.
I'm pretty much an Allman Brothers/Pink Floyd kind of guy, but that woman can sing.
I'm pretty much an Allman Brothers/Pink Floyd kind of guy, but that woman can sing.
Me too. Before last night I’d never heard of her. She seems like a pretty decent lady. I was pretty amused that Gaga was so ignored.
Also, she just had to have an operation on her vocal chords and last night was her first performance.
Not a fan and I don’t even watch the Grammys...but she can sing.
A good rendition of America the Beautiful can get me misty.
It’s a good song but cry? Come on.
The one that always gets me has a similar intro: it is the scene in Les Miserables where Fantine welcomes Jean Valjean to come with her to heaven. My eyes well up, my face heats up, and I sob as imperceptibly as possible, but I can never seem to stop my shoulders from shaking involuntarily. From the “Epilogue” scene of Les Miz:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oh8HnwVZQM&feature=related
Doesn’t make me cry - low class fat girl who looks like a 19th century streetwalker, singing corny lyrics, nothing melody. Makes me wonder about life on this planet.
interesting
Is this the, “we could have had it all” song?
I like it. It did jump out from the radio, when I first heard it. The thing I noticed about the song is that that line is the only significant melody. The rest of the song is a off-kilter rhythm, carried along only by her voice. So when the melody appears, it stands out. Maybe this is what the author is getting at.
The other important part of that line is that everyone who has endured a breakup can relate to it.
I have the DVD. So many great songs.
Not to mention that she credited Sarah Palin for her career boost on Saturday Night Live. I heard she said that in an interview, not at last night’s Grammy’s.
Mike & The Mechanics, “The Living Years”. Everytime.
“Is this the, “we could have had it all” song?”
No, that’s “Rolling in the Deep”. I prefer that to ‘Someone Like You’
Rap music makes me cry. It also makes me reload.
lol
Ray Charles’ version of america the Beautiful is the best!! The most reverent tune I may have ever heard. It makes me wish for his version to be our National Anthem.
Can’t imagine this ssong making me cry but boy oh boy can this lady SING! What a voice...and no sleaze, blasphemy or cursing!
Ha - ya got me
If you have kids, “She’s Leaving Home” by The Beatles always chokes me up.
“Set Fire to the Rain” is a much better song, IMHO.
“Mike & The Mechanics, “The Living Years”. Everytime.”
I hated my father but that song makes me cry, too. It’s a lament for lost opportunities and it’s also a classical requiem in many ways.
” low class fat girl who looks like a 19th century streetwalker,”
Actually, I think she looks a lot like Margaret Thatcher
Laughed out loud with that one.
The video of that guy shooting his daughter’s laptop, coupled with my hatred of rap “crap’ makes me want to do the same. Same with ringtones. I already told my daughter that cell phones aren’t bulletproof, either.
John Michael Montgomery’s “The Little Girl” always chokes me up near the end.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvLyJs2FHh0
I refuse to watch that video right now because I have to get work done. But yes, every single time.
Ballad of the Green Beret by Staff Sergeant Barry Sadler and Robin Moore, copyright 1966 Fighting soldiers from the sky Fearless men who jump and die Men who mean just what they say The brave men of the Green Beret Silver wings upon their chest These are men, America's best One hundred men will test today But only three win the Green Beret Trained to live off nature's land Trained in combat, hand-to-hand Men who fight by night and day Courage peak from the Green Berets Silver wings upon their chest These are men, America's best One hundred men will test today But only three win the Green Beret Back at home a young wife waits Her Green Beret has met his fate He has died for those oppressed Leaving her his last request Put silver wings on my son's chest Make him one of America's best He'll be a man they'll test one day Have him win the Green Beret.
I'm not a Whitney Houston fan, but her rendition of the National Anthem at the Super Bowl was incredible as well, probably in large part because it happened during the Gulf War. I was in a combat unit, so we didn't see or hear it or the game, but we did hear about it. And when we finally boarded the planes to come home after the War, that's the first thing they popped up on the scream -- her singing the National Anthem.
Yesh, I cried.
Yes, I’m old enough to remember that playing on the transistor radio.
Speaking of Sarah McLachlan, I can’t watch “Toy Story 2” without choking up when Sarah sings “When She Loved Me”.
If the Ballad of the Green Baret doesn’t give you a ‘spec in your eye’ then nothing will.
Thanks, but now that I’ve heard it I’d say it’s more of a “channel-changer” than a tear-jerker for me...
Ragged Old Flag, by Johnny Cash
I like Adele, but I’m not crying :)
Ennio Morricone? ONE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HEnIt1SMyo&feature=related TWO http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jj5Xczethmw THREE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuyYc0gINbU&feature=fvst
They still hit the harmonies well.
Rest of it? I dunno. I know so little about pop music anymore that I can't comment. Most all it all either 1) sounds the same to me or 2) was stuff that I already heard 10, 15 or 20 years ago.
I'm sure that my dad would say the same thing to me. Pop culture never changes, it just recycles itself. Rarely is there any real innovation.
Some of folk/pop singer Victoria Williams’ songs can bring tears to my eyes.
Yeah, I miss him every 4th of July when I watch the specials on TV.
He wasn't just singing the song. He meant every word of what he sang.
I always like to keep up with newly minted music (not dance, sampling mixing or unintelligible lyrics, or spoken lyrics (hip-hop) or profanity).
Adele is the best that has come along of her genre, since Jewel in the 1990s. Some of Gaga’s stuff is OK sans dancing. There’s a 2007 song “Hey There Delilah” by the Plain White T’s that evokes Simon and Garfunkle. So there’s some good new stuff; you just have to weed out so much crap.
Adele’s “Chasing Pavement” is her best song. The vidio is sombering, 2 lovers die in a car crash and come back together
I am 60 and addicted to “Someone Like You”. Love it.
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