Earworm: a song or melody that keeps repeating in one’s mind.
We’ve all had them - songs that we absolutely cannot get out of our heads and drive us nuts. Recently (and not in a good way), I’ve seen people complaining about “Fancy Like” by Walker Hayes getting stuck in their heads because the Applebee’s commercial plays incessantly during sporting events. I’ve seen people on Twitter jokingly threatening to burn down their local Applebee’s if they hear the song one more time.
It’s kind of a bummer that particular song has become a bad earworm because I like the tune. I think it’s fun, light-hearted, and cute. There’s an entire discourse I could get into about the accuracy of the “date night at Applebee’s” as described in the song and the coastal elite ignorance of how the other half live, but I’ll save that for another day. As I said, I like the song, and I like Walker Hayes. He seems wholesome, and it’s cute that he does the TikTok dance for his song with his daughter and random fans after shows.
Personal anecdote: the song “My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark” by Fall Out Boy was the bumper for the NCAA tournament back in, I think, 2013, and it absolutely ruined that song for several years for me. I couldn’t listen to it because I’d heard it so many times. Fortunately, that has passed because the song is a bit of a bop and good for getting you amped up.
To be fair, there are also great things that come from music and commercials. For example, “Scoop There It Is” is an all-timer. There have also been great artists that made it mainstream because their music was featured by a big brand on a commercial. “Renegades” by X Ambassadors in a Jeep commercial comes to mind. And those old school, colorful dancing figure Apple commercials were a new music discovery gold mine.
And finally, because it is September 21st and we’re talking about music, you are legally obligated to listen to “September” by Earth, Wind, and Fire.
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