I'm confused about echolalia

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What confuses me is that i cannot understand it
For example when i listen songs i HAVE to repeat the lyrics
I can't comfortably listen when i don't repeat.
Sometimes i repeat what is said on tv but i don't repeat people
I repeat myself time to time
and i copy the way people talk unintentionally
could this be echolalia?
And could you possibly explain what is echolalia to be exact?

I'm confused about what it is too. Sometimes I copy what people say, but it's usually for fun because what they said sounded funny or unusual. Like one time some girl was walking down the street and said "OMG" about something in a stereotypical valley-girl way, so I started copying her. When I do it, it's definitely intentional and I can definitely control it.

What I do is more vocal stimming, and I can usually wait till I'm alone if I am going to use someone else's words. I think of it as a desire to "try on" someone else's words, finding out what it feels and sounds like if I say them. It looks like me talking to myself with weird facial expressions. Often it is from a movie, show, or song.

There's a kid in one of my classes who's pretty much nonverba, but sometimes he will repeat something the teacher says. Like an echo.

I found this video very helpful: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ome-95iHtB0

The things you describe are forms of echolalia. I repeat words and phrases to myself and others all the time. When I do it for myself, it's most often a line from a movie that I find comforting or funny, and I'll repeat it over and over dozens of times in rapid succession. When I do it to others (only when I'm in meltdown or shutdown and lose access to my words), I choose lines from movies that convey what I mean. For example, I was feeling frustrated with myself after my last meltdown, and the only way I could communicate that was with the line, "Sometimes Charlie Brown, your dog drives me crazy!"

All of these are examples of echolalia. Sometimes, one can even echo animal sounds. I have talked back to my cats many times when they meowed.