Frisson: (noun) a sudden strong feeling of excitement or fear; a thrill.

Have you ever had the experience of getting chills from listening to a specific song or scene in a film? Then you may have experienced something called frisson. Frisson occurs when you feel a strong emotion toward something you find aesthetically pleasing, resulting in you getting the chills. 

However, not everyone experiences it and there are many different forms of frisson. The most commonly experienced form is through music; called musical frisson. This may be influenced by hearing a song you find emotionally moving or hearing a song the first time, etc. It doesn’t always have to be a positive response either. It can also include negative responses or emotions toward that form of media. 

“Musical passages that include unexpected harmonies, sudden changes in volume, or the moving entrance of a soloist are particularly common triggers for frisson because they violate listeners’ expectations in a positive way,” describes Mitchell Colver, who wrote a story in Slate about this topic.  

For myself, feeling frisson is inconsistent. I could feel it while listening to a song one day, but then not feel it when I’m listening to the same song another day. My guess would be because it’s connected to a person’s mood and emotions, which are often changing.

Although, when listening to “thank u, next” (swt live) by Ariana Grande and only the live version, I get the chills almost every time. Even if I only get the chills on specific parts of the song, I’m still experiencing frisson, whether it’s the whole song or only a fraction of it. “thank u, next” was also the closing song for the concert giving it a little more sentimental value as it was one of the most awaited songs for fans to hear before they left. This could be because I’ve been to a few of her concerts while she was touring, but being able to hear the live version wherever I am at makes me feel like I’m back in that moment.

As of now, researchers don’t know the true reasoning to why we may experience frisson or the benefits behind it, but there have been links between creativity and curiosity. As said by Reuben Westmaas on Discovery, “One report from 2007 found that individuals who experience frisson are more open to new experiences than others, and other studies described higher levels of creativity and intellectual curiosity. In other words, the appreciation of beauty is central to what makes us human, and frisson is just a super-charged version of that appreciation.”