Let's start by understanding what an "interesting song" means. Neuroscientists have been studying the impact of music on listeners' brains, and in recent years they've uncovered some fascinating insights. In short, music somehow triggers a significant release of dopamine and endorphins in people — something that amazes researchers.
Here's the catch: typically, our brain's so-called "reward system" releases these chemicals for what's considered "good biological behavior." Got yourself some tasty, calorie-dense food? Good job, here's your dose of endorphins. Managed to score some sex? Great work, here are your endorphins and dopamine. These responses are tied to very basic, animalistic stimuli. Music, however, is an abstract stimulus, far removed from any kind of biological activity. In theory, the reward system shouldn't be rewarding us this lavishly just for listening to some harmonious sounds.
But facts speak for themselves. Back in the 2010s, a team led by Valorie Salimpoor at Canada’s McGill University found out how powerfully dopamine gets released when subjects listen to music they enjoy. Specifically, using positron emission tomography, the researchers were “spying” on what happens inside listeners’ brains as they experience those characteristic musical chills or “goosebumps.” By the way, neuroscientists refer to it with the French term "frisson," but there's also a more colloquial and sensual expression—eargasm.
And then, in 2025, Finnish scientists used PET scans and fMRI imaging to discover that listening to beloved music activates opioid receptors in humans—notably, across no fewer than six (!) different regions of the brain. Interestingly enough, this effect was measured particularly during moments of experiencing those delightful goosebumps, aka frisson. The findings were published in the European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging. Although only women participated in the study, it's likely that men experience similar effects too.
In short, listening to really enjoyable music prompts the release of what could be called "legal internal drugs" within the brain. And nature rewards us—somehow—for engaging with one of the most abstract forms of art there is. A mystery? Not quite.
It seems that our brain, among other things, is essentially a "prediction machine" that never stops working. We consciously—but mostly unconsciously—constantly predict how events will unfold in every life situation. Based on studies of music perception conducted by neuroscientists, we can infer that the brain predicts future events even when receiving abstract stimuli like music.
Many experts believe that the "reward system," also known as the "internal reinforcement system," kicks into action not only under specific circumstances but especially when someone acquires new valuable experiences. For this system, novelty translates into non-monotonous, unconventional, and varied input.
Through her experiments, Valorie Salimpoor's research group discovered that goosebumps usually begin when there's a clear yet relatively sudden change in the music—a moment that's both unexpected and anticipated. This might include the onset of singing, abrupt shifts in harmony, or an explosive chorus following a quiet passage. What's interesting is that participants experienced this "eargasm" regardless of genre. Some listened to classical pieces, others enjoyed jazz, pop, rock, or electronic tracks.
We can speculate why goosebumps occur specifically during changes in music. Dopamine isn't merely a pleasure-rewarding neurotransmitter—it primarily motivates you throughout the process. It's dopamine that creates that feeling of anticipation right before the chorus hits, while other neurotransmitters contribute to peak enjoyment during the musical climax.
After reaching its climax and achieving maximum dopamine release, the part of the brain known as the striatum—or striped body—seemingly sighs contentedly. That's when goosebumps run down your skin.
A similar effect takes place in the human brain when anticipating and obtaining desired outcomes in gambling games. The same phenomenon occurs in smokers who've had to abstain for several hours and finally light up a cigarette.
While the phenomenon hasn't been fully explored yet, another experiment conducted by Valorie Salimpoor and her colleagues provided additional insight. Using MRI technology, the researchers tracked brain activity in participants who listened to the first 30 seconds of 60 previously unknown songs. Afterwards, participants were given the opportunity to purchase their preferred tracks using real money through a special program designed as an auction format where bids ranged from $0 to $2 per track.
Using MRI, the area commonly referred to as the "pleasure center" was scanned. As a result, connections between this region and various other parts of the brain were observed. During both listening sessions and the auction phase, areas such as the amygdala (processing emotions), hippocampus (responsible for learning and memory), and ventromedial prefrontal cortex (involved in decision-making processes) became active.
As Dr. Salimpoor explains, participants' choices and bid amounts depended heavily on their prior musical experiences: "Whether you're aware of it or not, each time you hear music, established patterns in your brain become activated."
"The pleasure center," utilizing these patterns, predicts the reward you'll receive from listening to music. Its predictions are based on past exposure to melodies you've heard before.
Eureka! Here's what we, as songwriters, should do to captivate our audience:
1. Tease them with hints of upcoming changes in the track.
2. Deliver a genuine explosion teaser.
3. Make sure this explosion defies conventional expectations.
As we've learned from the aforementioned 2025 study, the "reward" for enjoying good, non-conventional music includes not only dopamine but also endorphins, which activate opiate receptors. Needless to say, this reward is incredibly powerful and beneficial for both the body and nervous system.
Overall, the pleasure derived from music involves dopamine, endorphins, oxytocin (not definitively proven; subject to debate), and serotonin. Quite a killer cocktail indeed. However, the brain serves it up only when we're exposed to truly pattern-breaking compositions. Paradoxically, though these pieces must be full of novelty, they're best presented in somewhat familiar formats. People develop a sort of musical "vocabulary" in their brains, even without knowing anything about music theory.
This statement remains partly speculative since neurobiological studies exploring music perception are still rather scarce—we want more! Nonetheless, centuries of musical evolution have prompted composers and musicologists to identify certain recurring patterns. For instance:
- In minor keys, the use of the sixth degree, without resolving to the fifth, evokes a sense of "sharp dissatisfaction"; upon resolution, it depicts a "flash of pain."
- In major keys, the sixth behaves differently. When left unresolved, it produces an impression of "prolonged pleasant expectation"; upon resolution, it expresses the effect of a flash of "sweet desire." — Deryck Cooke, British musicologist.
Even the brain of a person who has never studied music distinguishes phrases, individual words, and even letters in music. For example, in music theory, there are concepts such as consonance and dissonance. Simply put, these terms describe pleasing and unpleasant intervals (two notes) and chords (three or more notes).
From a physics perspective, these combinations represent air vibrations with complex frequencies. Individual sound frequencies overlap and relate to each other either simply—say, in a ratio of 2:3 ("pleasant")—or complexly, such as 8:9 ("unpleasant").
Scientists investigated the brain's response to these combinations using positron-emission tomography. Consonant chords activated the orbitofrontal cortex, which is part of the internal reinforcement system in the right hemisphere. Additionally, activation occurred in a region beneath the corpus callosum.
Dissonant chords triggered activation in the right parahippocampal gyrus, an area involved in the limbic system responsible for instincts, emotional behavior, and many other functions. Dissonant chords presumably elicit instinctive anxiety and tension.
Music alternates between creating tension and releasing it ("resolution" in music theory) by moving from dissonances to consonances, effectively telling stories. Naturally, listeners prefer narratives that give them emotional ups and downs.
A song composed solely of sweet major chords and melodies doesn't engage listeners. It takes true compositional mastery to craft a compelling story using only these elements of the "musical vocabulary." The same applies to monotonously sad minor keys and standard minor melodies. Humans worldwide have already heard all of this countless times. Even subconsciously, their brains accurately predict exactly how such songs will progress—and thus find them dull!
Of course, there's no universal recipe for cooking up a super hit song. Another challenge lies in discussing songwriting theory because only 18% of musicians globally have formal music education. Most are self-taught or semi-self-taught.
However, over generations, musicians have identified and summarized certain general principles for writing engaging songs. Here’s a brief overview:
It's impossible to cover all methods for making songs engaging in one article. That would require an entire textbook developed collaboratively by seasoned composers, producers, pop artists, and music theorists. Nevertheless, now you understand where to dig deeper and what kinds of experiments to initiate to achieve massive musical chills first for yourself and subsequently for your audience.
