The science
Compatibility as physics
Musicrush isn't an algorithm that scores profiles. It's a model of resonance — borrowed from physics, grounded in peer-reviewed music psychology, built to surface connections most dating apps are too shallow to find.
The MUSIC model
Five dimensions of musical preference
Research by Rentfrow et al. (2012) established that music preferences cluster into five factors. These predict personality and values better than genre labels alone.
Mellow
Preference for gentle, relaxing music. Associated with openness, agreeableness, and emotional depth.
Unpretentious
Sincere, uncomplicated music. Country, folk, singer-songwriter. Associated with conscientiousness.
Sophisticated
Classical, jazz, opera. Associated with openness to experience and verbal ability.
Intense
Rock, punk, heavy metal. Associated with athleticism, risk-taking, and emotional reactivity.
Contemporary
Pop, rap, electronica. Associated with extraversion and self-esteem.
The interference model
Why we call it resonance
Constructive interference occurs when wave peaks align — amplifying each other. We model compatibility the same way: your MUSIC vector and someone else's are wave functions. Their dot product is the resonance score.
Constructive interference at 87% alignment
Rentfrow, P. J., et al. (2012). The structure of musical preferences: A five-factor model. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 100(6), 1139–1157.
Bonneville-Roussy, A., et al. (2013). Music through the ages: Trends in musical engagement from adolescence through middle adulthood. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
Greenberg, D. M., et al. (2015). Musical preferences are linked to cognitive styles. PLOS ONE.
Our resonance model is inspired by this research but has not been independently peer-reviewed. We present it honestly: as a well-grounded hypothesis, not a proven fact.
Want the longer story? The unpacks the studies behind resonance, one at a time.