The debut album of 17 year-old Billie Eilish was #1 on the Billboard Top
200 Albums of 2019 chart. Audiences have marveled at how her music employs
techniques of Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR), such as close
miking, whispering, and the use of dentist drills and Easy-Bake ovens
(Barratt & Davis, 2015). ASMR is a sensory phenomenon where specific audio
techniques engender tingling sensations and feelings of relaxation (Barratt
et al., 2017). Although ASMR is pleasant to some listeners, the techniques
cause panic and misophonia in others (Kovacevich & Huron, 2019). This
exploratory study investigates people’s emotional responses to clips of
ASMR and Billie’s music. Popular ASMR clips and passages of Billie’s music
that use similar techniques were selected. All passages were rated
according to various criteria; the 30 highest-rated stimuli were included
in the final study. Before coronavirus quarantine measures were enacted, 17
participants (final *n *will be 400) answered questions about their
emotional responses to randomized passages of ASMR and Billie Eilish’s
music. Target questions included self-reported ratings of relaxation,
anxiety, enjoyment, and tingling sensations. Psychographic and demographic
data (e.g., social anxiety, musical preferences, synesthesia experiences)
were also collected. Given the popularity of ASMR—a single ASMR YouTube
channel has 88 million views—and the increasing use of ASMR across
Millennials and Gen Z to mimic physical proximity & intimacy (Andersen,
2015), the investigation of these techniques in popular music could provide
insight into the relationship between musical preferences and sensory
perceptions, as well as how Billie’s music is being used to evoke emotions
in listeners across the world. Future directions of the project involve
examining how listeners have been using ASMR and Billie's music to regulate
their emotions during this period of global isolation and quarantine.
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