Why Some People Get the Chills While Listening to Music

When was the last time listening to music gave you chills? Is there a certain song that always sends shivers down your spine? Does the thought of a certain guitar solo or soprano note make you feel moved and inspired? 

If these questions have you enthusiastically nodding your head (and pulling up your YouTube or Spotify), you’re in good company. However, not everyone responds to tunes in such a physical way. Musical reactions and experiences exist on a long and fascinatingly complex spectrum.

Let’s slide along the scale and dig deeper into what separates those with musical “hyper-hedonia” and “anhedonia.” Hint: It’s all about a little thing called frisson.

What is frisson?

Frisson describes a moment of excitement in response to aesthetic stimuli—be it music, art, films, or books. It’s usually characterized by tingling, tickling, and chilling sensations. The word itself is French for "fever, shiver, and thrill," stemming from the Latin root frigere "to be cold." 

This musically induced chill can happen anywhere in the body—from the ears to the shoulders to down the spine and back—and it may be accompanied by tears, lumps in the throat, and muscle tension or relaxation. 

Frisson in all its forms tips us off to when a piece of music is resonating with us deeply, causing simultaneous physical and emotional responses. 

Researchers suspect frisson is most likely to occur when music surprises us or challenges our expectations in some way. 

“Musical passages that include unexpected harmonies, sudden changes in volume, or the moving entrance of a soloist are particularly common triggers for frisson because they violate listeners’ expectations in a positive way,” Mitchell Colver, a music and psychology researcher, writes in The Conversation. 

One thing that challenges this definition of frisson is that people can still feel it for pieces of music they’ve listened to hundreds of times. Even if they’re no longer “surprised” by the direction a song takes, they can still be deeply moved by it. This could be partially explained by the ability of music (even familiar music) to evoke awe. Awe occurs when we feel surrounded by something vast or outside of our immediate understanding, and it challenges our place in the world in a way that can cause personal growth.

The frisson spectrum

Music is subjective. As the r/frisson subreddit shows, everything from a Dua Lipa orchestral show to an acapella performance of “Somewhere over the Rainbow” can be chills-inducing and awe-inspiring depending on who you ask.

Songs that send some people into full-on frisson mode may be total snoozers for others. And some people may never feel chills from music at all. 

Those who are more likely to feel heightened pleasure from music may have musical “hyper-hedonia,” while those who have a reduced autonomic response to pleasurable music fall more into the “musical anhedonia” camp.

Research shows that no reaction to music is “right” or “wrong.” Those who don’t feel a physical response to music might just have different temperaments, musical backgrounds, or neurochemistry than those who do.

One landmark study on 100 college students found that those who tended to feel more frisson while listening to music also scored higher for a personality trait called “openness to experience.” Mitchell Colver, the co-author of this study, notes in The Conversation that those who possess this trait tend to seek out new experiences, love variety in life, and have unusually active imaginations.

His study also found that participants who more actively engaged with the music (i.e., by guessing where a certain song would head next as it played) tended to feel frisson more than passive listeners. 

Genetics may also play a role in frisson, as a recent study with twins found that approximately 36% of variance in aesthetic chills can be attributed to genes.

Those who feel frisson and those who don’t also may have slight variations in brain chemistry.

It seems that for those who get musical chills, certain sounds can set off a “craving” reflex, similar to what they might feel for food. Certain moments in songs engage their reward pathways and spur the release of dopamine.

Those who don’t feel frisson don’t have the same response—even though the reward system in their brain is totally healthy. Just because they don’t find music rewarding doesn’t mean they have trouble finding pleasure in other things in life.

On a neurological level, those who feel frisson seem to have more white matter (nerve fibers that transmit electrical signals) in certain brain regions that control emotional processing, reward, and auditory associations.

Wherever you sit on the musical spectrum, Spiritune is for you

Spiritune was designed to appeal to all types of listeners—no matter where they fall on this fascinating musical spectrum. 

On the one hand, Spiritune tracks are designed to evoke joy and delight, appealing to those who find music extremely emotionally rewarding. They’re also helpful for those who take a more practical approach to listening and see music as a tool to help with their productivity, focus, or sleep. 

Don’t just take our word for it: New research conducted by NYU’s Music & Auditory Research Lab found that Spiritune is four times more effective at reducing negative emotional states compared to other audio conditions like mainstream pop music and playlists that claim cognitive benefits. Spiritune tracks also helped improve the listeners’ processing speed in as little as ten minutes.

Whether you’re a bona-fide frisson fanatic or a more casual music listener, you’re bound to find tracks that are therapeutic for you each and every time you open the Spiritune app.