Tasting words and hearing colors: famous people with synesthesia

Synesthesia is a fascinating neurological condition where stimulation of one sensory pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory pathway. For example, someone might see colors when they hear music or associate specific colors with letters and numbers.

There are around 60 types, including Chromesthesia (seeing colors when hearing sounds), Grapheme-color synesthesia (seeing colors in letters and numbers), and Lexical-gustatory synesthesia (tasting words). The experiences vary greatly among synesthetes but a 2011 study found that synesthesia is seven times more common in visual artists, poets, and novelists. Let’s see how a few famous creatives understand it!

The music mogul Pharrell Williams experiences colors with music, a form of Chromesthesia. As he explains the condition to NPR: "It just means that the visual nerve ending and the auditorial nerve ending are still connected. So they send ghost images to each other. It's the only way that I can identify what something sounds like. I know when something is in key because it either matches the same color or it doesn't."

Although not a contemporary celebrity, the post-impressionist painter Vincent Van Gogh is believed by many art historians to have had synesthesia. In a letter to his brother Theo, van Gogh wrote, "Some artists have a nervous hand at drawing, which gives their technique something of the sound peculiar to a violin."

Image: Self-portrait by Vincent van Gogh, 1889, Google Art Project / Wikimedia

Legendary musician Stevie Wonder, despite being blind since he was six weeks old, has said that he experiences synesthesia. He associates music with colors and shapes, a phenomenon that has deeply influenced his iconic sound and that gifts him the gift of color.

The Grammy-winning artist Billie Eilish has spoken about her synesthesia, saying senses intertwine, particularly her sense of smell. "Every choice I make, fashion-wise, hair-wise, and musically, I always want things to sound like a certain smell," she told Women's Wear Daily. "I have a very, very, very strong and long relationship with scent."

Rumored to have experienced synesthesia, Marilyn Monroe discussed her association with colors in her private life. Her first husband, Jim Dougherty, told Norman Mailer for his Monroe biography about "evenings when all Norma Jean served were peas and carrots. She liked the colors. She has that displacement of the senses which others take drugs to find."

Acclaimed actor Geoffrey Rush has revealed he has a form of spatial synesthesia. Psychology Today quotes him as saying: "The days of the week just instantly had strong color associations. Monday for me is kind of a pale blue, and I kind of imagine the day like that. Tuesday is acid green, [and] Wednesday is a deep purple-y darkish color. Friday’s got maroon, and Saturday is white, and Sunday is sort of pale yellow."

British musician Dev Hynes, known professionally as Blood Orange, gave a TED talk about his synesthetic experiences. He sees colors when hearing sounds, which influences his multifaceted approach to music and production. "Every sound I associate with a color and every color I associate with a sound," Hynes said. "The way I see things is constant streamers across the room, bouncing off from every touch and every sound. Over the years, I’ve learned what color palates I love most."

Singer-songwriter Billy Joel has spoken about his synesthetic experiences, particularly seeing music as colors. He told Psychology Today that he perceives strong rhythms in vivid reds and golds. Soft and slower melodies flow in blue and green tones.

The avant-garde actress Tilda Swinton has described experiencing a rare form of synesthesia where she associates food with words. The Oscar-winning actress tastes words., with the word "tomato" tasting lemony to her, while "table" evokes cake, according to Inside Science.

Legendary jazz musician and bandleader Duke Ellington is believed to have experienced synesthesia. He described music in terms of colors. According to the New Yorker, "a D on his colleague's baritone saxophone might be a deep blue, the texture of burlap, while a G on another musician's alto sax might be light blue with a satiny finish."

Star singer Olivia Rodrigo has mentioned that she experiences a form of synesthesia where she associates colors with music and said the cover of her debut album SOUR was purple for a reason. "Many songs on SOUR are purple, like 'driver's license' is purple. But 'good 4 u' is like a purpley-blue, 'jealousy, jealousy' is like bright red. 'Déjà vu' is like orange and pink and light purple. It's like, lighter and more pastel-y," she told Vogue.

The legendary author told BBC that he sees letters in color. Asked about the colors of his initials, he said, "V is a kind of pale, transparent pink. I think it's called, technically, quartz pink: this is one of the closest colors that I can connect with the V. And the N, on the other hand, is a greyish-yellowish oatmeal color." He said his family members also experienced the condition.

Singer-songwriter and producer Frank Ocean has expressed that he experiences synesthesia, specifically sound-to-color synesthesia. His critically acclaimed album 'Channel Orange' is thematically centered around his own experiences with synesthesia.

The singer-songwriter Tori Amos has a dreamlike form of synesthesia. Like many musicians, it's related to sound. "The song appears as light filament once I've cracked it. As long as I've been doing this, which is more than 35 years, I've never seen a duplicated song structure. I've never seen the same light creature in my life," she says in her autobiography.

This famous Greek philosopher and mathematician also seems to have had an interesting condition where numbers had specific traits. "Each number had its own personality—masculine or feminine, perfect or incomplete, beautiful or ugly. This feeling modern mathematics has deliberately eliminated, but we still find overtones of it in fiction and poetry. Ten was the very best number," according to a biography.

Image: The School of Athens by Raphael / Wikimedia

The pop sensation Lorde has revealed she sees colors when listening to music. This synesthetic experience shapes her songwriting process, as she combines colors to create the mood and tone of her music. "From the moment I start something, I can see the finished song, even if it’s far-off and foggy," she told the New York Times.

Writer Douglas Coupland says he is sensitive due to his synesthesia. Here's one fragment of his life, as captured by the Guardian: "'I don't know if you get this,' he rasps, 'but I feel like I can just stare at a recently opened bucket of paint for minutes, just... yeah.' For the color or the smell? 'Well, when the paint's wet in the can, it's just so – it's optical, but it's edible as well.' He gazes into space for a moment, looking dreamily blissed out. 'You think, ooh, what would it feel like to eat?'"

Rapper and producer Kanye West has said that he has a form of synesthesia that helps him see sounds. "Everything I sonically make is a painting. I see it. I see the importance and the value of everyone being able to experience a more beautiful life," he said on The Ellen Show.

Pop star Charli XCX sees music in colors, she says. "I love music that's black, pink, purple or red - but I hate music that's green, yellow or brown," she told BBC. Drum and Bass is an example of brown while The Cure's records are "all midnight blue or black, but with twinkly pink stars and baby pink clouds floating around it".

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