A K-POP EARWORM

A K-POP EARWORM

2022 was Julia's freshman year in college. She considered herself very lucky to have Vicki as her roommate. Vicki was friendly and fun and wanted to work hard during study time while Ring Dingnot totally overlooking partying.

There was a frat party in the quad Friday night, and all the girls on campus were invited. If Julia balked at going, Vicki was prepared to drag her there by her long, white-blonde hair. Julia did offer up a few excuses, but gave in to Vicki’s exhorations.

They both chose to wear cowboy boots, T-shirts, and leather jackets.They were afraid they looked like twins, but Vicki's glossy, jet-black hair made her stand out. 

When they arrived, the party had already grown to encompass

the entire quad. Irresistibly good dance music was playing, and both Julia and Vicki were excited to be asked by several boys to dance.

Julia whispered to Vicki, “He’s so fine!”

“I know. I can’t stand it. But so’s mine.”

The two friends enjoyed several quick dances in a row, but eventually, they sat to catch their breath and have a drink.

A couple of the frat boys approached them and asked if they'd ever listened to or even heard of any K-Pop singing groups.

Julia replied, “No. And I don't even know what that is.”

Vicki said she'd heard of it, “But I don't speak Korean so I wouldn't know what the lyrics mean.”

The frat guys burst out laughing, and one said, “Oh. no. You've got the wrong idea. You don't need to know what they're saying. They’re bussin. It's the catchiness of the music, and, oh, yeah, their dancing slays. They’re fire!

Somebody yelled, “Besides, the lyrics are stupid!”

Another fraternity member said to the two girls, “I dare you to listen to the whole SHINee song, and then let me know if you're still hearing it in your head tomorrow.”

“So you gonna take us up on our dare?”

Vicki asked, “Why? What's in it for you?”

“Just a lot of fun listening to you two curse me out. Besides, you gotta listen to this new K-Pop song – it’s a bop!”

“They’re bussin,” exclaimed a frat brother.

Somebody hollered, “It’s a banger all right.”

After a brief consultation, the girls decided to take the dare, but Julia and Vicki said they'd listen to all of “Ring Ding Dong” and be honest about whether or not it was caught in their brains the next day if, and only if, he'd dance to “Gangnam Style“ tomorrow in front of the whole frat.

Initially reluctant, but with his frat brothers egging him on, he finally agreed, “Sheeeh! I’ll do it.”

One frat brother complimented the girls’ response, saying, “You’re savage!”

After the party ended, the two girls went back to their room. “What do you think, Vicki? Should we listen to it?”

“Probably not, or he wouldn't have dared us, but now I'm curious to hear it.”

“Okay. I'll find it on my iPod, and we'll see what thhe hype is about. Okay?”

Vicki poured them each a glass of wine, and then hiit “Play.” Soon the two girls danced and hopped about the room.

Now Julia wanted to know what the lyrics were because they couldn't be that bad, right?

So they searched online and then read the English translation of the lyrics. They were stunned.

For example, the refrain to SHINee’s 2009 hit, “Ring Ding Dong” is:

“Ring ding dong

Ring ding dong 

Ring diggi ding diggi

Ding ding ding x2)”

Julia remarked to Vicki that they were never going to admit to anyone, except the frat boys. they’d danced all night to it.

The following morning Julia thought she was going crazy. She should never have taken the frat boys up on their dare, but who would've thought just listening to one silly K-pop song would have resulted in this mind- blowing earworm?

It was, as they'd said quite unforgettable, what with its snappy melody; and Julia found herself humming SHINee’s ridiculous ditty constantly.

Poor Vicki was also movin' and groovin' to the beat of his song. It was great music to dance to. The tempo's fast, the melody is captivating, and the verses are upbeat and repetitive.

Some of the frat guys said they were sorry they hadn't warned thegirls not to listen.

V]icki was very unhappy, though, because this had happened to her before, several times, with different music.

As Vicki drifted off to sleep that night

her brain just wouldn’t stop playing “Ring Ding Dong.”

Julia thought, “So why am I sitting here writing about this in my diary when the silly ditty continues circling around and around in my head like soap scum circling the drain. I want to wash my brain out with Clorox.”

Vicki was trying to study while quietly humming SHINee's song when Julia returned after her morning class.

She asked, “I just can’t get this stupid song out of my head. Can you?”

“Hell, no! And it’s really ticking me off.

“I don’t know who to ask for

help, so I’m going to turn to Google.”

So Julia booted up her laptop and Googled “song stuck in brain.”

Google informed her that she was suffering from something called

“sticky music” or “stuck song syndrome.”

“It has a name?”

“Can you believe this is a real thing?”

“No. I’ve never heard of it before.”

Google diagnosed Vicki and Julia as having a bad case of “earworm,”

also known as “rainworm.”

Further online research uncovered several studies which told them an earworm is a very catchy piece of music and/or lyrics that wormed its way into your brain and wouldn’t leave.

The girls chatted about what they wanted to do to those boys.

Staking them out on anthills while covered in honey came up several times.

They kept reading about stuck songs , and Vicki noted absentmindedly that neither of them had studied this intently for finals.

After what seemed like forever, Vicki exclaimed, “Oh, look!! A page with cures.”

Jackie couldn’t believe it and started reading out loud.

“Intently listen to the stuck song all the way through. It can help to eliminate having it stuck on a loop.

“Listen to a different song. “

"Attempt to think about anything else. It may lessen and fade away naturally.”

And, lastly, Jackie said, “Chew gum.”

“I’m sorry. What did you say?”

“Chew gum.”

“And I’ll bet some people with too much money and not enough brains funded a series of double-blind trials to come up with those 'cures.'”

“Yeah, no argument there,” said Vicki.

Jackie said, “Psy’s 'Gangnam Style' always gets me. It's the melody. It works its way into my brain and takes up shop permanently. But his dancing? It actually hurts to call it dancing. Yet, I dance along with him every darn time!”

Julia confessed, “Me too.”

“Beautiful, lovable

Yes you, hey, yes you, hey

Beautiful, lovable

Yes you, hey, yes you, hey

Now let go until the end

“Oppa is Gangnam style, Gangnam style

“Oppa is Gangnam style, Gangnam style

“Oppa is Gangnam style

“Eh- Sexy Lady, Oppa is Gangnam style

Eh- Sexy Lady oh oh oh oh.”

“Now the new worst one is SHINee’s 'Ring Ding Dong,' which I may be replaying forever in my brain,” Jackie bemoaned. “Those boys knew what they were talking about.”

“But I also get songs like 'Fancy Like' by Walker Hayes; 'Poker Face'

by Lady Gaga; and, of course, Queen's 'Bohemian Rhapsody' stuck in my brain off and on,” Jackie said.

Vicki replied, “Great. Thanks, Jackie. Now I’m playing 'Fancy Like'

over and over in my head.”

“I’m so sorry!! But so am I.”

The two roommates doubled over, laughing; and then they decided to pretend they were doing karaoke, using hair dryers, and starting with Hayes’ very catchy tune.

They moved on to sing "Moves Like Jagger" by Maroon 5. This song, they felt, was an easy earworm because of its snappy melody.

Some girls who lived nearby in the dorm heard the music and singing and joined them. Julia suggested they perform more of their favorites that fell into the “stuck song” category.

The room soon exploded into song and dance with “Uptown Funk,” by Bruno Mars, followed by “Beat It” and “Billie Jean,” by Michael Jackson.

After they took a quick break to chow down some McDonald’s, they resumed their karaoke – having been joined by many more dorm mates -- and sang “Bad Romance” by Lady Gaga; and finally, they wound up performing the song and dance, “The Timewarp,” from "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" – although they refrained from throwing hotdogs or rice.

Someone said, “I'll bet we're still humming some of these next week.”

“No bet, no bet. You’re right!”

Julia and Vicki's friends all said they had a blast and wanted to do it again the following weekend. The group settled on Friday night and agreed to bring their wireless speakers and iPads to play great music.

As their friends left, Vicki and Julia gave them each a pack of gum which they’d run out to get while everyone was getting settled in.

When they were asked why, they replied that in case someone couldn’t stop hearing a song, Google said they should chew gum and that would help change the song that was playing in their brains.

“Oh, okay. Thanks, you two. It was a blast!” said their next-door

neighbor, Irne.

Everyone thanked Vicki and Julia, who were over-the-moon happy because they made new friends and learned about earworms.

They finally crashed for the night, quickly falling asleep while still humming their favorite stuck song.