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Author | Waste Orange
Multiple-time Grammy Award-winning singer Alicia Keys performed her whispered version of Fallin, this time not out of breath, but calm and relaxed. James Blunt hummed his song "You're Beautiful" to a hypnotic voice of nature.
These remakes appeared on the music platform Deezer's newly launched ASMR channel. In this new channel, Deezer invited five singers to convert their original songs into "ASMR Music" into a brand new song.
ASMR (Autonomous sensory meridian response), literally translated as "spontaneous perceptual meridian response", refers to the unique sensations that the human body produces through the perceived influence of sight, hearing, touch, smell, etc., in the skull, scalp, back or other parts of the body. Or, commonly known as "intracranial orgasm".
In recent years, ASMR content has often been used as a tool for relaxation, sleep aid, and stress reduction, and related content on YouTube has been sought after by young people and has gradually developed into a branch of Internet culture. Now this influence is also beginning to permeate the music world.
Deezer hopes to appeal to some people who turn to YouTube every night to help them fall asleep. "Many people are becoming more and more demanding about ASMR videos that can produce a relaxing effect, and they have to look for new videos, so listening to ASMR songs is an easier and more effective option."
At the same time, more musicians are inspired by asMSR, which has even become synonymous with a soft whisper music that is sought after by Generation Z young people.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="9" > a glamorous experience that tends to soothe</h1>
ASMR is going hand in hand with music, and more and more overseas stars are attracted to join the track and start making their own ASMR music. In the eyes of some musicians, whispered singing or the application of various sound effects have long existed in the music industry, or ASMR can also be seen as another kind of "a cappella chorus".
Janet Jackson's hit single "All For You," released in 2001, was energetic and youthful and is considered an early asmr practice in music.
Electronic music maker Deadmau5, known for its progressive technology, sampled the voice of ASMR artist Maria GentleWhispering in his song Terrors In My Head, using technology to turn Maria's otherwise redemptive lyrics into creepy, a style that also attracted a large number of fans.
Classical music is also absent from this field, and symphony orchestra composer Jocelyn Morlock created asmr's "That Tingling Sensation," a piece inspired by the captivating experience of being asmr. When the experience moves or fascinates you, your hair will stand up and you'll feel the music from the heart," Morlock explained in an interview why it was created.
Billie Eilish is undoubtedly the biggest icon in the field of ASMR music at present, and she has become an idol of European and American teenagers with her deep voice and emotions, unique attitude and creation.
Her album WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP (WHERE DO WE GO?) seems to carry an ASMR hint from its title. Hearing the prelude to the reverb of "Bad Guy", we felt our faces and necks tremble involuntarily, and we were surrounded by musical notes in the space of music, disoriented, and the hoarse and low voice of Pear was strangely comfortable and calm.
There is a wonderful connection between Pear and ASMR. Like most ASMR creators, Bripley records in her bedroom, making her work feel more intimate emotionally and soundly. She is a young woman, as are the vast majority of leading ASMR class YouTubers. Her approach to pop music production is understated and slightly dreamy, with songs that, while catchy, don't have piercing screams. The heart-wrenching, calm charm of the song itself has made her a unique darling in the minds of ASMR enthusiasts.
Many media outlets have more or less linked her music to ASMR when judging Pear, with GQ saying, "Eilish's music is a strange combination of pop and punk, like a dark ASMR that can jump up." The Atlantic commented that her voice was as ASMR bait.
ASMR creator Gibi, who has 3.51 million followers, paid tribute to her album by producing a 39-minute video. The video begins with the 24-year-old slowly removing her brace holder, after which she gently sings out the lyrics while rubbing her nails on a blanket, drawing on a sketchbook and tapping lightly on a small mirror to maximize what is known in ASMR as a "tingling sensation."
Gibi is making ASMR
With the popularity of ASMR, the concept of ASMR music has gradually expanded, and all kinds of quiet or vague and soothing music have been included in this category. This trend is inextricably linked to the underlying need for emotional healing.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="21" > from subculture to mainstream vision</h1>
The concept of ASMR was formed in 2010 and has since expanded rapidly on YouTube, now searching for ASMR on it yields more than 10 million results, and the ASMR video released by blogger ASMRMagic three years ago has been viewed nearly 87 million times.
ASMR is often combined with the concept of cure. It is an immersive way of communication, by constructing specific scenes, consuming multiple boundaries of psychological and emotional space, real and imaginary space.
In Douban's "Group Psychological Mutual Aid Therapy" group, someone posted an account of the experience of watching the ASMR video for the first time: "Hearing a heavy rain, the ripples on the surface of the water draw circles in a circle, and it seems that there is a extinguished light in the brain to re-electrocute and reach orgasm, but it has nothing to do with sexual desire." ”
Nick J. Davis et al. surveyed users with EXPERIENCE with ASMR media in 2015. More than half of the user base uses ASMR media as a tool for relaxation, sleep aid, and stress reduction. Among them, 81% of the surveyed users said that they watched ASMR videos before going to bed, as a means of aiding sleep. Half of the surveyed users said that even if the ASMR response was not triggered after watching ASMR content, it was effective to improve their mood, which was more pronounced for people with high depression scores.
The foreign ASMR audio industry is also showing a trend of internal volume, and the gestures, sounds, rhythms, scenes, props, etc. of the performance will be repeatedly considered in the video production. There are also new creative concepts such as ASMR+ beauty, ASMR+ tourism, and ASMR+ cuisine, which ensure the plot and creativity while the video is updated regularly.
But a 2017 study showed that more than 71 percent of respondents believed that background concerts in ASMR videos suppressed the intense tingling sensations produced by ASMR and distracted attention, and they expected that the triggered sound could be organized into music, the form of ASMR music.
Now, there are already bloggers who have spontaneously used professional tools to cover music and produce asmR real effects, and more stars are taking the lead, such as Cardi B, who recorded an ASMR video for W magazine, and comedian Brandon Wardell, who released an entire ASMR-themed album.
Cardi B is an ASMR recorded for W Magazine
In China, ASMR has gradually entered the mainstream vision from a youth subculture. During its period of development and prosperity, the popular videos related to Station B could reach 5 million times, but due to the proliferation of live broadcasts, this market was used to spread "soft pornography" content, triggering supervision and punishment, and also led to misunderstanding of ASMR content among the domestic public.
However, in order to relax and alleviate the pressure, the user group that listens to ASMR has not stopped pursuing ASMR, and millions of listeners are still active in various audio and video terminals, and their content types are gradually diversified and show a new development trend.
Searching for keywords such as sleep aid, sleeping, listening, ear, or a large number of apps have emerged in the app store, and the audio market is booming, and ASMR also occupies a place in it.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="33" > assMR's sizable sound market</h1>
In asMR abroad, music is not only about the value of sleep aid, but also for more artists to draw inspiration from it. Like Billie Eilish, who has gained a lot of love for rejecting formulaic music production methods, it heralds a huge change in the future of popular music. In the eyes of foreign media, Billie Eilish and ASMR are also the most popular trends among Z-generation young people.
Music platforms like Deezer are trying to recreate as-ASMR-compliant music formats through redesigned special audio.
The fusion of technology and ASMR music allows listeners to experience more powerful music. Individual noises such as whispering, tapping, and breathing in ASMR will be placed in different locations within the virtual 360 spherical audio space. Listeners can immerse themselves on music tracks by subscribing to Deezer HiFi for 360-degree realistic audio support.
Deezer 360 degree reality audio support
It can be said that ASMR Music uses technology and post-production to recreate a song, which is equivalent to a high-quality sound effect, bringing the listener a full range of real experiences of "hearing like seeing, touching, and smelling". At this time, the auditory sense concentrates on the five senses, and to another extent, it realizes the extension of the senses.
The alienated ASMR culture is also slowly recovering in China, and it is more used as a sleep aid and a substitute to alleviate the stress of life.
According to the latest "2021 Exercise and Sleep White Paper" released by the China Sleep Research Association and other institutions, more than 300 million people in China currently have sleep disorders, and about 38% of Chinese adults have insomnia, which is higher than the world average.
Source: Exercise and Sleep White Paper 2021
The potential demand for ASMR music is lurking in these 300 million insomnia adults, and platforms are beginning to take this kind of content seriously. Himalaya, Cat Ear FM and other platforms have set up sleep albums, TME (Tencent Music Entertainment Group) music playback platform, insomnia, sleep, healing related song list more than 3.5 million, the number of song lists up to 30 billion plays, and its and Universal Music also continuously cooperated with "Good Dream Channel", "Healing Channel" and so on.
Although there is still controversy about the definition of ASMR, and there is no standard for the way ASMR music is produced, since 2020, the number of ASMR content playback on Deezer alone has increased by 248%, and during the epidemic, people are in urgent need of music comfort and care, and ASMR music content continues to explode.
The combination of ASMR and music makes the auditory system more concentrated, and the healing function of music itself is also maximized, in this fast-paced era, ASMR music that makes people focus and slow down is bound to become more and more important in life.
In the future, as ASMR becomes more mainstream and more creators get inspired, we may crave calm sighs rather than screams.
Pop music may also become quieter and more tranquil.
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