In this article, we talk about neurological condition Synesthesia, a disorder that stimulates several of your senses and how it affects musicians, including the world’s biggest pop star Billie Eilish.
Unlocking a different side of your brain is a tough thing to get your head around. For people that have Synesthesia, it’s just their day-to-day life. A disorder that stimulates several of your senses all at once, Synesthesia affects 2 to 4 percent of the population. Best described as senses intertwining with each other to enhance your experience, you might be feeling a certain emotion, and close your eyes and see a certain colour. You might even be reading this article and experience something completely different to everybody else. People who have synesthesia aka ‘syntesthetes’ are usually born with it or develop it early on.
Brooklyn based artist Jovian is one artist that merges sounds in a way truly only he can. Hearing, smelling, tasting, feeling and seeing colours form in his mind that he’s never felt before, Jovian is one musician out of thousands who uses Synesthesia to it’s full extent. It seems that have synesthesia gives artists a unique view of the world alongside their creative juices.
The world’s biggest pop stars and also synesthetes Billie Eilish and Finneas both visualise their music before even creating it. Billie described in an interview that hit ‘Bury a Friend’ feels like a grey, black, brown colour and anything in a monochrome palette. “Everything that I make I’m already thinking of what colour it is, and what texture it is, and what day of the week it is, and what number it is, and what shape,” Billie mentioned in a video last year to her fans.
Other big names in the music industry that live a normal life yet enhanced with synesthesia are Kanye West, Pharrell Williams, Tori Amos, Lorde and Mary J. Blige to name a few.
It makes you think about that lyric in What a Wonderful World doesn’t it?
“I see trees of green, red roses too”… was Louis Armstrong really singing about Synesthesia?
The world’s biggest pop stars and also synesthetes Billie Eilish and Finneas both visualise their music before even creating it.
skype – quitegr8