dissonance

Dwayne Johnson’s performance in “The Smashing Machine,” for all the film’s flaws, cleverly reconciled the dissonance between the outward images of masculine power and internal feelings of self-loathing.

From Salon ● May 27, 2026

In a moment when AI and digital technology allows for on-demand perfection, there’s a creeping thrill to the possibility of flaws and dissonance.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 26, 2026

As if this wasn’t ominous enough, the latest BofA Securities fund-manager’s survey shows that Wall Street is, once again, experiencing severe cognitive dissonance: It is simultaneously worried about the market, but afraid to sell.

From MarketWatch ● Apr. 14, 2026

In trying to disassociate herself from the scandal, Melania’s lack of acknowledgment of her husband’s ties to Epstein stands out as a confusing, but increasingly familiar, bit of cognitive dissonance.

From Slate ● Apr. 10, 2026

But many people have halfburied truths, or small lies, or disconnects, little bits of dissonance in how they live their lives.

From "A Deadly Wandering: A Mystery, a Landmark Investigation, and the Astonishing Science of Attention in the Digital Age" by Matt Richtel

The man who created “The Rite of Spring”—a ballet whose pounding dissonances and unconventional rhythms caused pandemonium at its 1913 Paris premiere—now insisted that the bolder the creative ambition, the tighter the frame must be.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 11, 2026

Yorke’s tormented voice has stayed upfront, and the songwriting leans into Radiohead’s dissonances, odd meters and fully enveloping aura of anxiety.

From New York Times ● Jan. 29, 2024

The group’s albums were much admired for their mixture of classical and blues elements, along with screaming dissonances from Robin Trower’s guitar, a searing backdrop from Matthew Fisher’s organ and the terse precision of B.J.

From Washington Post ● Mar. 29, 2023

Everything about it, from the spare, enveloping details of Grant Major’s production design to the nerve-shredding dissonances of Jonny Greenwood’s score, directs our focus inward.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 16, 2021

The king had his court musicians, one of whom was Bach’s son Carl Philipp Emanuel, devise a tune specially, one they mischievously knew was practically impossible to turn into a fugue without creating horrible dissonances.

From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall