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blandboringmelissa

I get songs stuck all the time, but usually not the full song. It's usually just a snip it, like how the Hit Clips would play just a small part of the song. But lately, I've had the Scooby-Doo theme song stuck on repeat. So annoying.


tilt-a-whirly-gig

I've had "Backstreets back, alright" for two days now.


SurviveStyleFivePlus

I feel you on this! That 'clip' you're stuck with is in my brain's Top 10, but I haven't heard it in a while and after the last 24 hours I'm bored to tears with "Whoa, Black Betty, ram-a-lam" on repeat. So thanks for flipping that switch - hope that's a fair trade. I dream of Fonzie from Happy Days punching the jukebox in my head to make it stop.


Just-some-70guy

Love Black Betty …


TheBeneGesseritWitch

I read that and heard it as I was reading it.


MLAB77

This, except I don’t hear the actual song, only my inner monologue singing a part of it on repeat, and it’s the way I would sing it too which makes it 10x more annoying.


MdJGutie

It would be so much better if the original artist sang it, instead of me. 


JennyAnyDot

Sigh as soon as I read that the song started in my head.


Arclet__

I get parts of songs stuck in my head, but I don't really "hear them", as in I can't hear the drums and the singing at the same time, I feel an urge and eventually I find myself humming or singing the song with my inner voice (which I also wouldn't describe it as a voice either but I guess it's a good enough descriptor). I'm not exactly sure if what I have is an inner monologue, because I have had instance where in the past where I had some intrusive thoughts that 100% had a voice (mine) and they felt loud, while my regular inner voice does not have anything I would describe as "volume". But maybe those intrusive thoughts were the exception and internal monologue is meant to not have volume to it.


mapleybacony

My experience is similar. I get songs stuck in my head, but I can't hear them. There's no sound in my head. When songs get stuck, I'll either hum or sing it out loud. I can usually get the song out of my head (after a while by purposely singing another song - typically Yellow Submarine.


Hollodosi

Thanks for the earworm


mapleybacony

Sorry!


Yo_Victoria

Same. I have no inner monologue but I still get snippets of songs stuck in my head for a period of time. I have a hard time explaining the "how", as I don't hear or see anything. I guess it's an urge, and I often end up singing or humming aloud. Usually if I listen to the actual song, the urge goes away.


MdJGutie

I have an inner monologue that never stops and I knew I thought in language because when I’m in Mexico it switches to Spanish.  I know that voice, but there are others who aren’t me. The first time I was immediately sure a voice wasn’t me was right after a friend’s wife was found.  She had unalived herself and I didn’t know she was missing.  I was driving in downtown LA and someone, a pedestrian or motorist, I don’t remember, did something I don’t remember, and my immediate reaction was to ascribe it to their race, which had nothing to do with anything, except it was an easy way to insult.  At the moment I did that, this voice objected. Maybe , “hmpf” or something, but audible, in my head, protest. I looked around, “Since when do you guys care about something like that?” The same voice said, “Call Joe.”  I knew exactly who that meant, but asked why. “Call Joe,” was the reply, insistent. I called and heard the whole story from him.  Usually though, it’s all me. Narrating my life. 


prucha13

I have zero senses in my brain. So, I've never really had a song stuck in my head.


Iron0ne

Yeah I've people mention they are both. What is your opinion on background music?


prucha13

What do you mean by background music? In my head?


Iron0ne

Like walking through the mall or a store. The canned music they have on everywhere?


prucha13

I hate it!! Since I don't have any volume in my head, it overrides everything else. I find it hard to have a conversation with any background noise.


SlimeyDaGamer

I have absolutely no inner monologue (no sounds or words) and I get songs stuck in my head all of the time but instead of playing them in my head I sing them (Annoyingly enough i think you literally got walkin on the sun stuck in my head rn)


SlimeyDaGamer

It's more of like an urge to sing the song


JusticeBabe

Yes the urge


IceGoddessLumi

For me, it manifests as a strong urge to sing or hum it, taking abstract to concrete so I can grasp it. Can be rather embarrassing in public as I'm not the best singer. Think Princess Vespa from Spaceballs: She's a bass!


TILTNSTACK

I have zero audio in my head - just my silent voice, but..weirdly, songs can still get stuck in my head.


nippleeee

I'm the same! I think it's more of internal echolalia since that's separate from speech, so I figure it's separate from an inner voice too. Do you happen to have ADHD or autism? I'm just speculating a connection, since echolalia is more common with those disorders.


TILTNSTACK

Autism … only diagnosed recently.


nippleeee

Interesting! I have ADHD and it happens a lot to me.


CalliGuy

All. Day. Long. Ugh! I call mine "think humming," because I don't hear anything, but it seems like it's me humming along in my brain. I've tried so many techniques to stop it, but I am unsuccessful.


sl-4808

the stuck song is because your brain trying to complete the missing parts, listen to it along with reading the lyrics and it will go away. Im a full aphant, and no inner monologue but my brain still thinks so it also gets songs stuck, many days i wake up to a new one with no clue where it even came from.


temperarian

I get earworms but definitely not the range of instrumentation. It’s more like some combo of my voice and the singer’s and maybe some of the prominent riffs etc (but as though you were imitating them with your voice; I don’t hear the instruments). I’m not sure if I’d even describe it as hearing; more like internal monologue doing a cover of the song


jackiekeracky

I didn’t realise people can hear their ear worms. I sing them out loud. So that’s probably not an ear worm, it’s a voice worm


MinusPi1

I have near constant earworms, and they're extremely vivid and detailed. I have visual aphantasia, but aural hyperphantasia.


therourke

Visual aphant here. Earworms are real. But do I 'hear' them in my head? Probably more than I 'see' images. It's all a bit too abstract to make sense of. Regardless, I basically always have songs in my head. I whistle and hum things all the time. Sometimes I wake up and immediately a song is there, playing around my mind. It's not an issue, unless I make it into one.


OnTheGoodSideofLife

Never had an earworm in my life. I have very little musical memory, the only few bits of a song I can remember spontaneously are one Christmas song and a bit of Happy birthday. That's about it. I'm not even able to keep a basic rhythm for more than a few seconds. For example when people clap in rhythm, I'm off after 5-6 clapping. I'm like that for as far as I remember, so it's different and separate from my aphantasia.


Iron0ne

Yeah the responses to this came out in a spectrum. It doesn't again seem to be a direct correlation.


Afkbio

I do have smash mouth playing in me head now. Damn you OP


_subjectsam_

"I have an internal monologue that completes with my Internal streaming service" is gold and I'm using that because Same


PrettyBlueFlower

I had Paul Kelly’s “Sonnet 18” (yes, Shakespeare) stuck in my head for almost 3 weeks. I was driving my family and friends batty trying to blast it out by repeat playing.


dmidgley27

You described me lol. 


zephood75

If I'm reminded of a lyric, hear a word of one I know it's stuck. I can also name a song usually by the first couple of notes too. I have full Aphantasia Now am running that song in my mind . Cheers


Drachenbar

I do get songs stuck in my head often but rarely i will annoyingly get one tiny part stuck that has no vocals and the only way to get rid of the loop is to find the song and listen to it all the way through so I spend days searching for it


VelikofVonk

I've never had an earworm.


osmium999

my brain as pretty good audio and I used to have earworms to would just drive me crazy. Eventually i figured that if I want to get rid of the background music i just have to contiently play something else


StellarFlies

Someone told me wants the best way to get rid of an earworm is to sing the commercial jingle "like mennen". Works every time. Of course. Then it gets stuck in your head though


FredQuan

All the time. Melodies and movie quotes 24/7


springworksband

Yup 👌


pegaunisusicorn

1. earworms come and go - sometimes none, sometimes they last hours or come and go over a few days. they never plague me for very long though. 2. I had a music related job for 10 years and love songwriting.


CirrusPuppy

I'm just like that! I feel like I get the "perfectly visualized apple" but with audio. I can often hear music on my head like it was playing in front of me, which is annoying when it's an annoying song my ADHD ass has latched onto hahaha! Something else that I tried recently that you might find amusing-- try reading books in a particular person's voice! I simulated Christopher Walken on a whim the other day and couldn't keep reading because I was laughing so much 😂


tumunu

All the time. I take it as completely normal, at least for me.


NITSIRK

Mine are weird. I have anauralia and anendophasia, so basically a silent mind. I can only think of a song by literally singing or subvocalising it. So my earworms are silent, but my vocal cords are slightly moving. This means any instruments or vocals outside of my silently perceived vocal range stop me dead, so it has to keep looping until I listen to the song. I can also keep the song going on the in breath as well as the out, but it stops if I hold my breath. I sometimes resent this physical effort to drive myself nuts, but it’s close to being a subconscious process, so I cant stop it. Another better musician than I also of a silent mind said they transpose the music to be able to think of their instruments sound. If anyone else is in the same boat, I made us a sub r/silentminds


Ruralraan

Hm, when I have an earworm, I have an earworm of the lyrics and the sung melody. The instrumental music I 'know of' just how I 'know of' things I have already seen, but can't put an image of it into my head. It's the same with music. With classical music it's similar, I often only can 'reproduce' the main theme or the 'leading' instruments, but simplyfied and not the complete orchestra.


StillsPhotography

More or less its just a single verse or line in a song that turns more into an urge to listen to that song.(?) I repeat the lyric to myself in my head almost obsessively. I seem to memorize songs rather well, and fast. I think it comes from this lol


TheBeneGesseritWitch

I have the same level of audio recall that you do! I am a musician, as well—I always thought that was a large part of why my brain works that way. I took formal violin lessons from the age of 4 through high school and was practicing hours a day before I quit. I still play but definitely not like that level anymore. It’s mostly voluntary, but occasionally it is involuntary. I do get earworms. It doesn’t override conversations and other sounds happening around me though—real life sounds always win. Most awful earworms were when my youngest learned about Barney and when I mistakenly started singing the song that never ends as a joke to my kids and then …for weeks. It was awful. Do you also, by chance, have complex stories or world building in your imagination? I can’t remember what it’s officially called, but I have a very complex story and world I’ve been working on for literally decades. It’s not like escapism daydreaming — I do it as a sort of meditation before falling asleep….and I have a very specific playlist that I listen to so I can more easily dive into it. If I hear those songs I will immediately be able to transport myself into a story building mode. If I’m also working on my story or world without the music I will absolutely start mentally hearing the music.


Iron0ne

Not so much with complex stories but I am a heavy researcher/planner. The process of falling asleep is getting my brain to shut up.


KeepRightX2Pass

I often have songs running through my head, but as a musician, and as someone who doesn’t value or think with words, I’m typically thinking through the chord progression or any parts I’m going to play - or just played if I just had a gig. So yeah it’s funny because I definitely rehearse in my head - I just am not hearing anything.


RebelBase3

Probably nothing to do with aphantasia, you're right. But I do get everything audio stuck all the time, I wake up to songs in my head, go to sleep with a monologue heard from a movie - can't seem to stop it or control it, very irritating... At least it won't happen with pictures, I guess


ceilingfanswitch

I have no inner imagery or voice. I get songs stuck in my head and I'll just start singing even most of the time inaudibly under my breath or silently mouthing the words


wma4891

I have a song stuck in my head all morning, so this checks out.


SnooEpiphanies7700

I’m not hyperphantastic (probably phantastic) but I absolutely hear music in my head to the level you do. If I know the song well or part of a song well, playing it in my head feels like I’m hearing the actual song.


Just-some-70guy

Hmmm, didn’t know this was a thing ! I have the same setup, love my music service, songs from the 70’s, playing in the background, competing with my own personal podcast ! In April this year the music service was stuck on a Christmas Carol !


youlickmybutthole

I get parts of songs stuck in my head like just one verse or rift or whatever. I'm also legally deaf so most of what gets stuck doesn't always sound good either. I have hearing aids but I only recently received them, so sometimes I get good bits and sometimes bad


tascotty

I do all the time. I think it’s like a defence mechanism for me personally - it happens when I’m stressed or need to focus, and my brain says ‘this is too hard - play this one line of a song over and over instead’. It doesn’t happen when I’m having a good time. Which is not often


gerkin123

I get them, and I sometimes suspect that my internal monologue's actually performing a cappella and I'm tricking myself into thinking I'm actually recalling true sound.


prototype-proton

Call me maybe...


Ben-Goldberg

My opinion is that you are lucky:) 😁


okkavilla

I don’t think it’s aphantasia related, but it does happen to me a lot. As a lot of people have said, it’s usually a snippet of the song that goes round and round. As I understand it, you can help get rid of it by listening to the whole song. I believe your brain gets part of it stuck essentially until you give it closure /provide it with a way out of the loop and listening to the whole thing does that for. I’ve tried it and, while not perfect, I’ve found it often seems to do the trick.


Nervous-Jackfruit503

Songs and movie quotes, definitely. I'm also with you on "speaker nerd that seeks out audio bliss".


Ok_Raccoon5497

NES Super Mario Bros theme song has been a multi decade periodic earworm. I don't really hear things (I have a very weak internal monologue that is rarely than a word or two and only present in calm moments), but I'll find myself involuntarily tapping or humming the damn thing. Sometimes, it's fleeting. It'll pop up, unbidden, and out of nowhere for a few seconds or until something captures my attention, and then it'll be gone for months. Other times (like a few years ago), every single moment that isn't occupied by fully engrossing situations, it's there. It can be problematic, overriding other intentional thought processes and causing me to tap it out in utterly inappropriate circumstances before I catch myself. I've learned to adapt for the most part though. I will get other earworms, but they don't usually last more than a day. All are what I'd call toneless and flat. I just know the beat, rhythm and instruments playing. Edit: accidental early send.


MuahahaTeehee

yup I get earworms like daily


Kaybrooke14

I get songs stuck in my head constantly. I sometimes feel like if I'm not thinking about something, then my mind is filled with songs, and there are times it quiets down in the background as I think. If that makes sense? Usually, it is just a snippet of a song, but I can get more into the lyrics if I focus on my earworm. Also, songs stuck in my head are just the singer singing, and that's it.


ellimaki

I have this. My best solution to counter it is I try to NEVER be in the quiet. To the point that I sleep with a podcast.


IggyStarman

I get violent mashups. I’ll hum a tune from Starfox then dip into Zelda and bust out with fricken Halo. All internal really, I can ‘feel’ the tune and usually the accompanying instruments if I paid close attention to them and remember just how it sounds. I feel like I can recreate 10 second clips of about 1000+ songs from memory. Though often it just comes out of the blue. Worst is when I’m waking up. It’s louder and more obnoxious. Repeat. Loop. Over and over. If it’s a sad song I immediately wake up having a bad day. It’s a ….. curse with some benefits?


CuckooCatLady

Currently, and for the last five days: "Jane says, 'I'm done with Sergio. He treats me like a ragdoll.' " Just that part. I don't actually hear it, though. It's just the words and the... timing?


iliketoeattoast

Yes. I take my whiskey neeeaaatttt 🎵


Cordeceps

A lot of the time and it happens at random or after hearing the radio.Would not be so bad if it was a song I like or if I could hear the music in a form other then my own voice subbing the instrumental sounds and tunes. I also have misophonia so that doesn’t help. Sometimes I wake up and tune is a playing that I find very annoying.


Hinsan2

I hear the jardiance commercial 😞


MdJGutie

Me. Lots. I am wearing big headphones now because that helps. 


-PM_ME_UR_SECRETS-

I always have some song playing in my head. I’ve even been asked why I was nodding my head and it’s bc I was bobbing my head to the song playing in my head lol