Cape Town - Global music streaming service Deezer has released the findings of a report looking at the impact that music has in the bedroom.
Carried out in collaboration with international sex, body language and relationships expert Tracey Cox, ‘The Aphro-Deezer-ac Report’ has revealed how music plays a key role in sex and how people use music to find their own ‘bedroom flow’.
In response to these findings, Deezer is encouraging music fans in South Africa to experiment with music in the bedroom using its signature feature Deezer Flow, which, based on a unique algorithm, combines users’ favourite songs with new recommendations to create the perfect personalised soundtrack.
Over half (55 percent) of those who took part in the study said that listening to music while having sex improves the experience – a fifth (19 percent) claim it makes them more aroused, a further 17 percent feel that it makes things less awkward and 16 percent say it simply makes sex better.
Interestingly, nearly a quarter of males (18 percent) claim music makes sex last longer, but only nine percent of women agreed with this statement. Almost half (47 percent) felt that rhythm was the key factor in music’s ability to improve sex, followed by the tone of voice of the artist (43 percnet) and melody of the track (37 percent).
Tracey Cox, international sex, body language and relationships expert supported these findings, commenting: “Neuroscientists have found that most people respond more to a beat when it’s played by lower pitched instruments. Physiologically, people’s bodies love deep bass sounds, which, if loud enough, also produces vibration, making it powerfully arousing.”
Deezer’s findings suggested that music (21 percent) has overtaken traditional habits like drinking red wine (13 percent), drinking spirits (nine pecent) or eating chocolate (four percent), to become one of the go-to aphrodisiacs for the 21st century.
The key tracks used to set the mood were identified as Marvin Gaye’s Let’s Get It On, Rihanna’s sexy hit Skin and Lil Wayne’s track Lollipop. Hand in hand with this, Saturday night (15 percent) from 10pm to midnight (25%) was found to be the prime time to get under those bedsheets.
Identifying the relationship between time of day and the songs people choose to get intimate to, Deezer’s own analytics found that streams of Let’s Get It On increased by a whopping 96 percent on Saturdays compared to earlier in the week. Similarly, Rihanna’s track Skin also saw an increase of 23 percent on Saturday nights compared to Mondays and Tuesdays.
Tracey Cox, continues: “Music is a powerful, potent aphrodisiac, so I’m not surprised so many Brits find it improves their sexual experiences. Listening to music causes our brain to flood with dopamine, the pleasure hormone. The same thing happens when we’re getting intimate, so it effectively puts our bodies “in the mood”.
There’s scientific proof that music is a mood enhancer in the bedroom – but the wrong song can have the opposite effect! Deezer Flow ensures there are no nasty surprises, so you can both relax and be in the moment, rather than worrying about what track is coming on next.”
No heavy petting to heavy metal
When it comes to the most popular genres to get down to, Pop (12 percent), R&B (12 percent) and Rock topped the ‘turn on’ list. But the head-banging of Heavy Metal doesn’t translate to the bedroom, with two fifths (40 percent) of those polled picking this as the biggest turn off, closely followed by Rap (35 percent).
It’s no surprise that Marvin Gaye also claimed the number one spot for voices most likely to get Brits in the mood, with his sultry tones securing 12 percent of the vote, pipping both Michael Buble (10 percent) and Lionel Richie (nine percent) to the post.
This was again reflected in Deezer’s own playlist data, which clearly shows that streams of Marvin Gaye increase by a third (33 percent) on average each Saturday night, cementing his position as the king of ‘sexy time’.
Deezer’s Head of Editorial & Content, Roman Tagoe, concludes: “With over half of people claiming that music has a direct impact on sexual performance, there is clearly a natural synergy between music and sex – as both allow people to lose their inhibitions and discover feelings. Created by people who love music, Deezer Flow identifies and recommends music to suit your personal tastes, meaning when you’re looking to get “in the mood”, you can rely on us to get things right.”
On the other end of the scale, Bieber has well and truly topped the flops, with two fifths (39 percent) claiming his music puts them off sex. Kayne West and Eminem also need to do more to ‘hot up’ their tracks, with over a third claiming they would skip their music mid-flow.
Rather than worrying about what track is coming up next, Deezer’s Flow is a personalised soundtrack tool that is a unique mix of all your favourites and new recommendations in one ever-changing stream. Based on an intuitive, proprietary algorithm and created by people who love music, it’s the only place to hear all your music back-to-back with fresh discoveries tailored to you.
Notes to editors – some study results:
The sexiest voices to listen to whilst having sex:
1. Marvin Gaye (13%)
2. Michael Buble (10%)
3. Lionel Richie (9%)
4. Luther Van Dross (7%)
5. Frank Sinatra (6%)
6. John Legend (6%)
7. Rihanna (5%)
8. Nina Simone (5%)
9. Stevie Wonder (5%)
10. Gary Barlow (5%)