What BRAND BUILDERS can learn from the HIT MUSIC you can’t get out of your head.

Have you ever wondered why many hit songs are so difficult to get out of your head? And that you start humming along, even when you try not to? Hit songs come in many different forms, but there is one trick of the trade that is very often used in the songs we sing along to, and that is the power of repetition. The following text highlights 3 things that brand builders can learn from the songs you can’t get out of your head. Because brand building is, in the same way as writing pop music, a memory game.?

#1. Hit songs repeat something to remember, repeatedly, and then again.

If you sing along to Taylor Swift's fantastic “Shake It Off” and start counting how many times you sing “Shake” and “Shake It Off”, you may find that it's several more times than your regular advertising repeats the benefit of the brand, it’s slogan or the brand name. It may be something like 50 times more, in the same space of time. Or if you get positively annoyed by Drake’s fantastic “Hotline Bling”, you may find that he sings that strange phrase more often than you would feel comfortable with, if it was the key message of your brand. And if you multiply this with 1,9 billion views of the song on YouTube alone, that will add up to many repetitions of “Hotline Blings”. Other artists are using repetition even more, to make their songs instantly recognizable and easy to remember, such as the continuous stream of “Because I’m Happy” in Pharrell Williams’ catchy song, and the feelgood “Watermelon Sugar” by Harry Styles.

In school we learned that repeating is good for remembering something. And that the more we repeated something, the more likely we would remember it, almost without thinking about it. Well, this is what great songwriters do. And they repeat what they want people to remember, much much much much more than brand builders often do.

According to the research by Behavioural Psychologist and Nobel Prize winner in Economics, Daniel Kahneman, the brain not only remembers but prefers anything that makes life easier for the brain (called “cognitive ease”). Repeating something over and over again “primes” the brains memory, making the brain not only remember, but also become more positive to it. This “priming effect” implies that something you have heard of before is easier to remember and choose later, and this makes the brain feel good.

Key learning: Brand building is about building memories, then why not think like Taylor Swift, or Drake or Doja Cat, repeating something to remember, repeatedly, and then again, and again?

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#2. Don’t just wake me up before you go… Wake me up before you Go-Go

To really leverage the power of repetition, writers of hit music repeat something that is a bit strange, funny or in some way distinct. As presented in the warm Netflix documentary "WHAM!", the inspiration for the song "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" came from a scribbled note that Andrew Ridgeley had left for his parents where he by accident had written "up" twice. An extra "go" was then added for fun, bringing magic and distinctiveness into the sentence – inspiring George Michael's song writing genius. Another example is “Take On Me”, in the fantastic song by the same name, which is a phrase I reckon your regular English teacher would not let pass. But that’s what creates the magic. So, great songwriters do not only repeat a word or a phrase, they often repeat something that is a bit strange, funny or in some way distinct. Making it much easier for the brain to remember. And, adding that extra magic that makes a word or a phrase go from being just information, to being something that makes the brain feel good.

Key learning: Why not think like Drake or Wham! and repeat and repeat what you want to say, but say it in a funny, or strange or distinctly different way.

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3# Dance to the algoRHYTHM ?

One of the biggest changes in the music industry is how TikTok can help songwriters reach a very big audience, given that their songs go viral. There are no quick fixes in making music go viral. Still, there is one characteristic among many of the TikTok hits – and that is how easy the song is to play in loop, which again is linked to how it uses and enables repetition. Many of the viral hit songs on TikTok have a short repeatable part that includes a distinct moment (ref learning 2), which can be looped over and over again. Just listen to the great Beyoncé song "Texas Hold 'Em". The song is repeating and repeating different parts and can be looped in different ways, again and again. Put on your camera and dance to the algoRHYTHM!

This implies that a song that is made specifically for going viral (which is not exact science) has to get the essence of the song over in a very short sequence, maybe something between 5-15 seconds. And, then make this easy to repeat. So they are not making a full song, but the essence of the song, and this is what they want people to sing and dance to, and remember.

Key learning: Songwriters that try to make songs that go viral, often build their songs around a very short sequence, that contains the essence of the song, and can be looped indefinitely. If your brand was a viral song, what would it repeat?

If you liked this article, feel free to share it, and it would be very interesting to hear your thoughts and examples on the power of repetition! And just for the record, how many times does Kylie Minogue repeat “can’t get you out of my head”???

References

Thinking, Fast and Slow – Daniel Kahneman, Penguin Books, 2011. ? Daniel Kahneman.

Netflix documentary, "WHAM!". Directed by Chris Smith. Production by Ventureland / Passion Pictures / Nemperor Production / Library Films. Distributed by Netflix / Altitude Film Distribution.

Wikipedia: Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go

Further reading

Linked to the topic of distinctiveness, in learning #2, I highly recommend Professor Jenni Romaniuk's great book "Building Distinctive Brand Assets", Oxford University Press. That is, if you haven't read it yet.