What Elevates Music to a ‘Favorite’? On the Aesthetics of Music from the Perspective of Musical Taste

Aesthetic experiences arise through interaction with sensory objects. These experiences are shaped into aesthetic judgments using verbal concepts. We explored this process in music by surveying 804 participants who described their favorite music using adjectives, resulting in 94 semantic fields based on 7,388 responses and 1,786 unique terms. Using the Cognitive Salience Index (CSI), we assessed the prominence of these terms, considering frequency, order, and sample size. The results reflect individual preferences rather than objective criteria, emphasizing personal perspectives on aesthetic appreciation. Prominent terms were mainly related to mood and emotions, highlighting the role of emotional engagement in musical experiences. Descriptions also included sound characteristics and style-specific terminology, illustrating how stylistic features influence aesthetic judgments. In contrast, aesthetic terms—such as “beautiful”—were less salient, likely due to the personal framing of the task. This study helps explain how people derive aesthetic value from music by linking personal experiences with structured verbal descriptions.