About

Polyphonic Perception is a term used to describe the ability to distinguish and follow multiple, overlapping melodies and components in a song at once. The concept of Polyphonic Perception was popularized on TikTok in July 2025 as TikTokers began posting videos attempting to visualize how Polyphonic Perception works, including TikTokers @ohhlalashay and @iambrelle. The videos inspired mockery and a meme trend in which other TikTokers parody the videos. The concept of Polyphonic Perception, as it is represented in the videos, also became the subject of criticism, with some, including neuroscientist Dr. Chloe West, claiming that Polyphonic Perception is not a specialized skill or talent, but a general term that applies to everyone.

Origin

On July 3rd, 2025, TikToker^[1] @ohhlalashay posted a video captioned, "pov my ADHD gave me the super power of polyphonic perception," garnering over 1.8 million views in two weeks.

In the video, the TikToker listens to "From Time" by Drake while acting out the song's instrumentation and lip syncing, attempting to show how her "Polyphonic Perception" allows her to easily distinguish all the parts in the song. This is the earliest known notable video to use the exact term.

Spread

The idea of Polyphonic Perception spread on TikTok over the course of the month, inspiring other TikTokers to post similar videos.

Most notably, on July 12th, 2025, TikToker^[2] @iambrelle posted a video following the same format as @ohhlalashay to "My Love" by Justin Timberlake, captioned, "Visual representation of polyphonic perception to me," garnering over 8.9 million views in five days.

On July 13th, TikToker^[3] @anelie.c posted a video criticizing the idea of Polyphonic Perception, writing, "Tik Tok has discovered a new word to make them feel special. That is not polyphonic perception u are just listening to a song. 'Wait, not everyone hears music like this?' Yes actually they do. The same vibrations reaching ur ears are also reaching NT's ears. That is how music works," garnering over 616,000 views in four days.

On the same day, music teacher and TikToker^[4] @originalgreatest posted a video saying, "Just because you can hear multiple layers in a song does not make you neurodivergent," garnering over 750,000 views in the same span of time.

On July 15th, 2025, TikToker^[5] @fairybonessucks posted a video making fun of TikToker @iambrelle's Polyphonic Perception video, recreating it using the song "Sail" by AWOLNATION, garnering over 5.9 million views in two days.

On July 16th, X^[6] user @heisbayo_ reposted @iambrelle's video, writing, "Who else can relate?" garnering over 18,000 likes and 8,200 reposts in a day. Later that day, X^[7] user @WordsByKyle quoted the post, writing, "This is literally the funniest video to hit socials this week," garnering over 149,000 likes in a day.

On July 17th, 2025, content creator and music reviewer Anthony Fantano made a post on X^[8] reading, "I 100% support that girl who just discovered listening to music and I think we should all be nice to her," garnering over 14,000 likes in under a day. Presumably, he is referring to @iambrelle.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References