Music serves to satisfy emotional and social needs. In its individual quality as liked or disliked music, it can also be used to create and affirm one’s own identity. While studies on musical preferences are abundant, dislikes have rarely been considered in musical taste research. The current study is centered on the rationales and functions of musical dislikes using semi-structured interviews with participants from different age groups (N = 21). The observed rationales for disliked music followed three main themes of (1) object-related reasons such as the composition, the lyrics, and aesthetic dichotomies, (2) subject-related reasons such as emotions evoked – or not evoked – in the listener, physical reactions, self-related and normative reasons such as a mismatch with the self-image, and (3) social reasons which reflect a rejection of the values presented by the music and its fans and therefore underlining the importance of social distinction as a function of musical dislikes. Other functions include identity expression, the avoidance of negative emotional and physical states, and the implicitly expressed demonstration of musical competence. The explanations for disliked music are based on both an excess or lack of certain qualities of the music or emotional reaction to the music, pointing to the idea of a missing ideal mean of music. Quantitatively, the rationales found relate to a combination of reference points which is mainly the music, but often in combination with the lyrics, the performance, the artist, and the fans. Further, the degree of dislike ranged from a slight dislike to strong hatred. To conclude, musical dislikes are a complex, multidimensional component of musical taste. Taking musical dislikes into account, the diversity and complexity of an everyday aesthetics of music can be captured, extending our understanding of attitudes toward music and the functions of music.

The use of the voice in everyday communication is vital for our understanding of human interaction. The singing of popular music often amplifies vocal features from speech, which can provide insights into vocal activity in the context of the intense emotional impact of music. Three studies with a mixed-methods approach aimed at evaluating rationales and features of disliked voices in the context of popular music. In an interview study (N = 20), rationales and features for disliked voices were identified using self-selected voices. In a group testing session (N = 48) and an online survey (N = 216), these disliked voices were presented to new participants, and the vocal features and evoked emotions by the singers were investigated, assuming that the participants did not have strong opinions about the voices. The results showed that participants justified their dislikes based on factual/sound and emotional reasons, similar to findings from studies on musical taste. Specific features of disliked voices were confirmed in the following studies, including a specific feature of popular singing styles, the twang, perceived as a squeaky and nasal sound. Further disliked features include a pressed sound, imprecise and ordinary articulation and a uniform expression. Notably, a rough voice was no predictor of aesthetic judgments. Evoked feelings relate to vocal features with similar tension levels. The measures created in the current study will also be informative for studying voice perception and evaluation more generally, which is a tool to evaluate vocal expression and items to evaluate reasons for disliked voices.

While previous research has shown the positive effects of music listening in response to one’s favorite music, the negative effects of one’s most disliked music have not gained much attention. Contra to studies on musical chills, in the current study, participants listened to three self-selected disliked musical pieces which evoked highly unpleasant feelings. As a contrast, three musical pieces were individually selected for each participant based on neutral liking ratings they provided on other participants’ music. During music listening, real-time ratings of subjective (dis)pleasure and simultaneous recordings of peripheral measures were obtained. Results show that compared to neutral music, listening to disliked music evokes physiological reactions reflecting higher arousal (heart rate, skin conductance response, body temperature), disgust (levator labii muscle), anger (corrugator supercilii muscle), distress and grimacing (zygomaticus major muscle). The differences between conditions were most prominent during “very unpleasant” real-time ratings, showing peak responses for the disliked music. Hence, disliked music leads to a strong response of physiological arousal and facial expression, reflecting the listener’s attitude toward the music and the physiologically strenuous effect of listening to one’s disliked music.