So she loves One Direction and you adore Kasabian? He rocks out to Pantera, while you sing along to Taylor Swift with your hairbrush? Just how important is musical taste in a relationship?
How important are musical tastes when looking for true love?
My friend, lets call her Emma, started to get serious doubts over her man Mike when he started humming Dolly Parton’s ‘Jolene’. When he then admitted that he thought she was ‘one of the greatest musicians of all time’ and that he joked about her singing to him while they got close and personal, she winced, did a bit of sick into her mouth and promptly ended it a few days later.
‘I mean there’s nothing wrong with a bit of Dolly, but seriously, one of the best musicians of all time?! Ugh. I knew then it was OVER,’ she ranted down the phone.
Me? I’m not so bothered about my boyfriend’s music tastes, which varies from happy house to The Beatles. But for some people music is a key part of their identity.
A study back in 2011 even revealed that music predicts sexual attraction. The research under taken by duo North and Hargraves was published in the Psychology of Music and looked at identity, music and chemistry.
It said that during your teen years, music becomes a symbol of our identity, which helps you belong to a group. It functions as a ‘badge’ which allows us to express ourselves and judge others. This explains why you love the music your mates love but also try to find a new performer within the music genre to be original.
Finally, we all reportedly discover music that ‘reflects our values’, hence why we are drawn to people with the same musical tastes. Researchers apparently think that rock correlates with rebelliousness and social behaviour, while pop is connected to values about conforming and traditional gender roles.
My mates experience certainly backs up another study, which was published in Communication Research journal, which said: ‘A date’s devotion to country music was found to diminish attraction in respondents of both genders. In contrast, devotion to classical music and to heavy metal rock proved to be gender specific.
‘Fascination with heavy metal rock greatly enhanced the appeal of men, but it proved detrimental to that of women. Adoration of classical music produced the reverse consequences.’
We asked Lovestruck users what their favourite love song of all time was:
For the boys, ‘I will do anything for love’ by Meatloaf.
For the girls, ‘Angels’ by Robbie Williams… who knows, perhaps they’ll duet one day!
What do you think? Is music an important part of your relationship? Do you look for someone with similar tastes in music to you? Let us know via @Lovestruck
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