The repetition

The concept of repetition is deeply rooted into the human mind. Since the Danish philosopher Kierkegaard to the Catalan singer-songwriter behind La increïble història de Carles Carolina, repetition has been widely analysed, criticised, glorified...

Repetition is part of our lives. We repeat similar actions every day: we wake up at the same time, we eat the same cereals for breakfast, we got stuck at the same traffic light on the way to work... but it is also part of our musical world. Either willingly or unwillingly.

By willingly, we are referring to the conscious decision to play again the same song, or that album that we have just listened. Sometimes without waiting until it ends. It is our desire to repeat that emotion, that moment of pleasure, that satisfaction (in the optimistic tunes) or that pain, that anguish, that desolation, that extreme melancoly, which makes us listen to that album again. Not knowing, or not wanting to know, that repeated moments don't imply repeated feelings.

When the repetition is an unwilling act, when it is imposed upon us, normally through the radio or the surrounding music from the dentists, doctors, gineacologysts' waiting rooms,  our reaction to it is completely different. Or it should be.

In a period of sound saturation, of over-the-clock creation of new sounds, melodies, rhythms... we must NOT remain indifferent when faced with the constant repetition of songs. Radio stations don't have any other necessity to repeat a song apart from the commercial ones. Being aware that the repetition generates (in most cases) acceptance, agreement and, after several listenings, even enjoyment of that song that we found dreadful in the first place, they insist with the same songs. As a religious lethany, as a Buddhist song that through repetition drives us into spiritual extasis, this constant repetition of music aims to change our musical tastes. It tries to distort our perceptions by making us believe that we actually like that song, when in fact it is just a matter of having become so familiarised to that song that it has become a part of us. Not because we liked it, but because we have been forced to listen to it so many times.

In front of this continuous manipulation, there are only two possible answers: either change the station as soon as the same song begins another time (it doesn't matter whether it is Justin Bieber, Adele or Lady Gaga), or willingly accept defeat and fall in love with the repetitive and über-simple melodies. But at least, do it being aware of our failure. Because the consented agression is not a crime. And it is less painful.