What Is Music and Why Is It So Special?

Radiolab’s Jad Abumrad sits down to talk about music—its purpose, its function, its meaning—with filmmaker Mac Premo in this wildly frenetic video and somehow manages to explain why music is so special. Abumrad says that unlike words, which are basically just a code or an agreement between people, music just is what it is, and the response we have is innate. Music can magically get around a person’s rational defenses and is something that makes us who we are.

It’s a really fun video to watch, especially if you like music like Abumrad does.