Today we’re looking at how songs bring people together, specifically, couples.
Maybe you or someone you know has had a special song to share with their spouse, partner or significant other?
“My Heart Will Go On,” “I Will Always Love You” or “Convoy”?
There’s actually psychological research into what are known officially as “couple-defining songs.”
We know that music brings people together.
Teens are among those who use music to sort out their identities.
And songs promote social bonding, like that one summer where we all sang “Despacito.”
The scientists surveyed two hundred people in romantic relationships, and asked them whether they had a couple song, and then asked what the songs meant to them, how they became their couple songs and what memories or feelings they associated with the song.
Roughly 60 percent said they had a couple-defining song, and in many cases these came along early in the relationship, meaning the song was part of how the couple created a shared identity and history.
Interestingly, the survey also found that couples that had a song reported higher levels of musical appreciation, and also reported having closer, more intimate relationships than those without songs.
So the couple-defining songs are really living up to their name.
But if you don’t have a song – would you be interested in some couple-defining bread?
Neko Neko Shokupan is a bakery in Japan known for its special loaves of bread shaped like cats’ heads.
Though I think if you want ultimate realism, you’ll need to take a slice of the cat-shaped bread and then put some jelly or something on there to make it look like the cat bread is scowling at you.
Do You and Your Partner Have an “Our Song”? (Psychology Today)
Japanese Bakery Makes Cat-Shaped Breads And They’re Just Too Adorable (Bored Panda)
We’d like to dedicate this next song to our backers on Patreon