Adele Track Mimics Heartbeat

12 February 2014

Adele's 'Make You Feel My Love' is the perfect love song - because it has the rhythm of a ''relaxed heartbeat''.

Research from Spotify have found the ideal romantic track requires sentimental lyrics, slow tempo, a major key and standard chord progression, as well as a syncopated rhythm, to give a sense of familiarity to keep listeners wanting to tune in again and again.

Professor Jacob Jolij, who helped carry out the research with Maureen Crowe, said ''Lyrics about love should be positive and the song needs to have a slow tempo (andante, or about 70-80 beats per minute). It is also important for the song to have a syncopated rhythm like Adele's track. A major key is also vital as we associate it with positive emotions and standard chord progression is important for your brain to process the song without too much trouble.''

Spotify - who also found women prefer to listen to female voices, and men prefer males - have created a Valentine's Day (14.02.14) playlist which takes the research into account and includes tracks such as Marvin Gaye's 'Sexual Healing', 'Let Her Go' by Passenger and Celine Dion's hit 'Think Twice'.

A major key is also vital as we associate it with positive emotions and standard chord progression is important for your brain to process the song without too much trouble