maybe this is an oddball question

i've noticed that the tracks that impress me most as a chin stroker have very tight and strong bass, relatively open and spacious mids, and clear and detailed highs, but the tracks that have the strongest emotional impact and make me forget all about chin stroking tend to have looser bass, smeared and dull highs, but very strong and full mids.

is there something going on here, or is this just a by-product of growing up listening to music with vocals?

I think it makes sense. Tracks with emotional impact tend to have a lot of harmonics (e.g. chords), which probably makes them a real mess to EQ.