Adele... The Tear Jerker

So Adele, and rightfully so, won 6 Grammys this past Sunday and cleaned house with songs that everyone can connect with on some level. But did you know there is a reason why her song "Someone Like You" is so hauntingly beautiful and people can't stop singing and listening to it.

When we listen to music our brains are always trying to predict the next notes and lyrics in a song. Her song "Someone Like You" has a classic example of APPOGGIATURA which in Italian means "To Lean." The term basically means that when you're hearing her sing the word in the chorus "YOU" she dips down and then comes right back up again. Our brains are expecting to hear a nice pleasant continuous note but instead quickly hear that unpleasant dip. It triggers an emotional response and lets the listener connect with her pain. Once she bounces back to the original note we are then brought back to a more pleasant melody we expected to hear.

Plus who hasn't been through a heart ache at least once in their life?