Inside the high-street sound machine: What Zara and H&M playlists are really doing to your brain

You walked into Zara for a tee, and ten minutes later, you’re in the fitting room holding three different pants and suddenly craving a Diet Coke. The lights feel cozy, the vibe feels effortless, and the music is just there but also strangely doing things to you. It doesn’t feel like a playlist. It feels like a club in Berlin at 3 am.

And that mood is not a happy accident. High-street stores are quietly running a sound experiment on you. Bershka will put a DJ booth in the middle of the floor, but Zara and H&M are cooler about it. Their music doesn’t ask to be noticed, but it’s actively shaping how you move, think, and how long you stay.

When music becomes part of the air

The first trick is that the music barely registers as music. Audio engineer Ankit Purao describes these playlists as “an invisible salesperson,” shaping mood and behaviour without pulling focus. You’re not meant to engage with the track. You’re meant to exist inside it.

That restraint is strategic. Therapist Deepti Chandy explains, “Unfamiliar or non-lyrical music doesn’t pull you into memories or emotions the way recognisable songs do. It stays in the background, which helps the brain stay present and open.” The calm, easy feeling many shoppers read as good vibes is actually cognitive neutrality at work.

Behind that neutrality is careful production. Music production student Aarnav Sood notes that brands often collaborate with companies like Mood Media to build playlists that feel consistent without feeling flat. Tracks sit in a mid-tempo range and are mixed for clarity so they hold up in large, echoing spaces. “The idea is to use music almost like lighting or scent,” he explains, shaping emotion without being consciously noticed.

Why the beat mess with your sense of time

If you’ve ever walked in for five minutes and emerged an hour later, there’s a reason. Chandy says steady, pulsing rhythms can guide the nervous system into a regulated state. “When rhythm is consistent, breathing slows and the body starts syncing to that pace,” she explains. “In that calmer state, your internal clock becomes less active, which makes it easy to lose track of time.”

There’s also a reward loop at play. Purao points out that the right tempo and texture can subtly activate dopamine, making the experience feel good without you knowing why. “When people feel good, they linger,” he says. The urge to stay doesn’t feel like a choice. It feels like comfort.

That temporal blur is reinforced by repetition. Sood explains that many of these tracks stay within a narrow emotional range, avoiding big builds or drops. There are no clear cues that something has started or ended. The sound just continues, and you move with it.

How groove quietly controls the room

For DJs, this logic is familiar. “This is essentially what DJs are trained to do, create and control momentum,” says Adi Chaudhri, who performs as Another Adi. The key isn’t speed. It’s groove. “The music isn’t frantic or busy. It’s repetitive, lacking obvious hooks, and just alive enough to hold you.”

The effect shows up physically. “You can see it in how people move,” Chaudhri adds. “Their walking pace, the rhythm of flicking through hangers, even if they’re not aware of it, their bodies start syncing to the beat.” Chandy explains that predictable rhythms can create a mild trance-like state. “Awareness narrows to the present moment,” she says, a feeling that can register as ease or low-level euphoria.

Energy shifts with context. Sportswear stores skew faster. Luxury spaces slow everything down. High-street brands sit deliberately in the middle, broad enough to appeal to everyone but specific enough to feel intentional. The groove is calibrated, not accidental.

In the end, the power of high-street sound lies in how quietly it works. As Chandy puts it, “Retail environments aren’t inventing a response, they’re using something that’s already hardwired. Humans naturally respond to rhythm.” So the next time you walk into Zara, lose track of time, and leave with more than you planned, remember it’s not just the clothes. It’s the playlist telling your brain to stay.
 

Lead image: Pexels

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