Catchy Songs: is there a science?

Catchy songs can be great! I mean that one good song over and over in your head for the rest of the day, or week, or two... it's the best feeling ever, right?
No not really. It can be a real concentration drainer, it can keep you up at night and it can annoy your loved ones.

What makes a catchy song?:
Don't have a song stuck in your head?
Don't be shy... go ahead and choose one!
Your welcome!

Pink Fluffy Unicorns

Pedobear

North, South, East and West

Surfin' Bird

Conga

The science behind catchy songs:
Technically, there is no science behind making a catchy song, but here are my findings on why songs can be catchy.

They aren't whole songs:

"The sticky songs we call earworms engage what psychologists call the Zeigarnik Effect: our tendency to experience intrusive thoughts about things we start and don't finish. A song's catchy hook or chorus is particularly prone to intrude your thoughts if you don't know the next verse, leaving them unfinished in your mind." - Lifehacker

More evidence!

The songs that get stuck in people's heads tend to be melodically and rhythmically simple, says Daniel Levitin, [...] It's usually just a segment of the song, not the entire thing from beginning to end... "What we think is going on is that the neural circuits get stuck in a repeating loop and they play this thing over and over again," Levitin said. - Lifehacker (again)

So if you create a song that is simple, has a decent, steady beat, and when played it feels incomplete.
Then you have a catchy song!

How to get rid of a song stuck in your head:
Now that you have a song in your head, let's try to get it out!
Use any of the following methods. Become your own experiment!

Learn the lyrics:
Find the song by using Shazam or Soundhound,
Write down the lyrics,
Write down a different songs' lyrics,
Talk out the lyrics,

Distraction Method:
Play a different song,
Do a puzzle (specifically, anagram),
Stop your own thoughts (try to not think),
Earwurm,
Unhearit.com,

Other:
Give in and listen to the song on repeat,

My experiences:
I got a song stuck in my head while doing this post! So here's what I did.
First I decided to read all the lyrics. Done, It's still in there, but with all the lyrics.
I listened to another song, it worked, but now there's another song in my head.
I read some research on how to get songs out of your head and the songs went away, for now...
It's an endless loop!

Here's some food for thought:
What if songs are always playing in your head whether you are aware or not!?

What is the most annoying song that has gotten stuck in your head?

Nightcore: Chipmunks at a dance club

Nightcore, I first thought this was a band. In actuality, it's a type of music, a genre, that can be summed down into fast techno beats, anime girls, and chipmunk voices.

Nightcore is most commonly known as a band but Nightcore is really a branch of happyhardcore. It involves taking people's music that have meaningful lyrics and changing the tempo and changing the pitch. Anyone can really do it. 

So pretty much anyone can create a Nightcore tune. That can be really good, or really, really bad thing.

The first song I heard that was considered Nightcore:

There are great remakes, then there are horrible remakes.
Nightcore. I do not know where you come from, but you are mostly in the latter category.

How to be considered a Nightcore song:

The song!:
Songs that seem to do the best are songs that already have fast paced beat. Pop, hip-hop, and Techno songs are good genres for this type of music. Depending on the creator, they can make or break a song.
The Good:
Some songs are just so much catchier after they become a Nightcore. Or they become even better.
This one is Maklemore's "Thrift shop"

This one's interesting. It's a Nightcore version, of an english dub, of a remake of Japanese videogame song. It's called Bad Apple. So it's a remake, or a remake, of a remake! Regardless, I really like this one.

The not so good:
Most of the time, all that nightcore creators do is speed up the song and bringing the pitch up. No beat or techno. All based on the songs original tune and beat. It can make, but mostly break, a song.
Here's Gangam style, Nightcore style:

The WTH?:
Sometimes, there are songs that makes you go 'Really? you made this into nightcore?"

This is from Les Misrables, Castle in the Clouds. It's cute, different, but just sounds like a chipmunk/doll singing.

Length:
Apparently they like to do a lot of 1+ hour song mixes too:

How to make a Nightcore song:

What you need:
A song of choice
An anime image
Audio altering software (ex: Audacity)

The Name:
Nightcore songs usually have the name "Nightcore" somewhere in the song title of song description. It's to differentiate the original song from this 'remake'.

The look:
Mostly all of these have some sort of anime girl, or guy, featured in the video, mainly as a background picture. Why this is prevalent throughout the genre I don't know. If you wanna make a Nightcore song, find a picture of some anime characters, or make your own.

I'm so Nightcore now!

Programming:

The most simplest way to create a Nightcore song, is to tweak the pitch and speed of the song. That's it. The only free program that I know of that does this is Audacity.

So there you have it, now you can be one of the thousands of Nightcore creators!

Nightcore. Or more correctly; sped up, chipmunk sounding, remakes of songs that appeal to ravers and anime fans! Do you agree? Or maybe I'm wrong, comment below!