Ever heard of the term earworm? I bet you have! Or if you for some inexplicable reason haven’t, I bet you have had the experience, time and time again!

I hadn’t heard of the term (in any language, go fathom!) as I googled for an explanation why is it so hard to get rid of a melody in my mind. Earworm? What a strange word for such a neat thing.

Earworms can be defined as “catchy songs or tunes that run continually through a person’s mind”. And we do get them don’t we?! Sometimes to the point of irritation, but mostly (I would like to think) as a companion for a while till something else comes and dominates your thoughts. But yeah, it’s no fun if some melody prevents you from falling asleep - there we can really talk about irritation.

Be as it may, we don’t even need to like the melody in order for it to get stuck in our mind, but more often than not it will be a tune that we do find appealing. Like the ones we sing along to our kids:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ix9wpslKwBE

How to get rid of an earworm? If you really want to do that, there are ways.

One way is to listen to the tune all the way through for this can help break the loop. Doesn’t always work though. Another way is to replace it with another piece of music - and risk turning that one into an earworm! And then you could just give your face/head something else to deal with and chew gum for example!

But if you don’t mind the melody playing over and over in your mind, why not just let it? Chances are it could boost your creativity.

Here’s an educational video on earworms:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NE_OoO-N54

Updated 12.4.2021