The Kate Bush song guaranteed to give you chills, according to science
Is there a science behind great music? A lot of artists would say no. For instance, Rick Rubin says in his book that true creativity is merely a way of life.
“Living life as an artist is a practice. You are either engaging in the practice or you’re not. It makes no sense to say you’re not good at it. It’s like saying, ‘I’m not good at being a monk.’ You are either living as a monk or you’re not,” he wrote, “We tend to think of the artist’s work as the output. The real work of the artist is a way of being in the world.”
In other words, you could never apply a scientific method to being an artist because it’s not really something that can be studied. While a good scientist is judged based on the research they carry out and what kind of work they do, an artist shouldn’t judge themselves in this way; otherwise, they will struggle to call themselves an artist. It has to be one continuous process as opposed to something split up into multiple different products.
Of course, Rick Rubin isn’t the definitive voice on all creative theory. There are a lot of people who believe that an artist’s efforts can be measured based on their output, in fact, it’s the way that most consumers think. Given art is something we engage with as a form of leisure, it would be strange of us to sit through something we didn’t enjoy for the benefit of the artist’s journey.
We instinctively look for that which moves us, and taps into something truly special. Subsequently, despite how much artists might agree with Rubin’s sentiment, they will also attempt to make something that equally moves people and ensures they engage with their art. Maybe Rubin’s method is the best way to get something authentic, but if there was a scientific method behind making songs that gave people chills, you can bet that people would adhere to it.
Well, listen up, you budding artists, it turns out there may be some science behind making a song that gives the average listener chills. Thanks to research conducted by Rémi de Fleurian, who went on a journey to try and find out what songs gave people chills, he developed a deeper understanding of what kind of music people should listen to if they want to be truly moved.
They put together a playlist of 700 songs that researchers had previously determined gave people chills and attempted to work out what common factors all of these songs had. Tracks on the list included the likes of ‘Purple Rain’, ‘Look On Down from the Bridge’ and ‘In the Flowers’. By taking a very literal approach to their research, Fleurian and his team were able to work out what general components should make up a song if an artist is looking to give the listener chills.
Their findings spoke for themselves, as it turned out that songs which were “sadder, slower, less intense and more instrumental than matched tracks,” were better when it came to possessing whatever magical gene it was that songs have which give you chills. They also said that these songs tended to be a lot more sophisticated, relaxing, quiet, and not the kind of music that anybody can realistically dance to.
With these new findings, they chose a select group of songs that were the best examples of tracks within these parameters. There were plenty of big names in the list, including the likes of David Bowie, Radiohead, and, of course, Kate Bush. Arguably, any Kate Bush song could be classed as a track that would give the listener chills, but in the interest of Fleurian’s research and what he defines as such a special track, the greatest example was the unrelenting beauty of ‘This Woman’s Work’.
