Elevator music developed from the Muzak recordings piped into offices, hotels and lifts from the 1930s onward, designed to be pleasant background sound that calmed passengers and filled silence. Its soft arrangements of popular tunes became a cultural shorthand for waiting rooms and corporate spaces. Online, creators adopted short loops as a meme for any tedious pause, from game loading screens to awkward video calls, because the tune instantly explains that time is dragging without any dialogue or visual cue needed.