From concerts, musicals and games, to social media, pop culture and even shopping mall speakers, music constantly surrounds us in our everyday lives in many different ways. It connects people and engages us in conversations. It can be the common ground of a new friendship or a shared interest for life-long friends. It can be used to cope or as a celebration. With endless genres and songs, there is something for everyone, no matter what they are into. The diversity in music has really shown this year through a multitude of new albums and songs. Regardless, LSE students have expressed their love for all different kinds of music.
One thing that differs between students is their tendency to listen to more mainstream, or popular, artists and genres compared to underground artists and less popular genres.
LSE junior Jack Cassell’s Spotify Wrapped reflected more mainstream artists and popular music.
“I think I definitely prefer popular artists, just because I don’t spend a lot of time trying to find new underground artists, so I end up listening to mainstream music,” Cassell said.
A few albums from mainstream artists that he enjoyed this year were “Chromakopia” by Tyler the Creator, “Hit Me Hard and Soft” by Billie Eilish and “American Dream” by 21 Savage. He believes that these artists helped him in “branching out” his taste in music. Cassell also claims his music taste has variety because he pays more attention to who he is listening to rather than what album it is.
“I think my music taste has a lot of variety. In my Spotify Wrapped I saw a lot of genres, including country, indie, R&B, rap, hip hop and pop. I listen more to artists than genres, so I tend to listen to a variety of music,” Cassell said.
Senior Zaemn Nash’s music taste is similar to Cassell’s in that he listens to a wide variety of music. A few genres he likes are rap, indie, rock, folk, metal, alternative and EDM (electronic dance music). On the other hand, Nash’s music differs vastly from Cassell’s because Nash doesn’t particularly enjoy modern hip hop and pop music.
“Most [pop music] sounds the same and none of it sounds good. It’s all ‘oh breakups, guns [and] drugs,’” Nash said.
Additionally, both Cassell and Nash believe some artists are overrated, though they recognize their opinions may be unpopular. For Cassell, it is Morgan Wallen and for Nash, it is Billie Eillish and Taylor Swift.
This year has been a year of musical growth for both Cassell and Nash with many new songs and genres added to their favorites.
“I originally went from only listening to metal and hard rock to very rapidly broadening my horizons. Like explosive character growth,” Nash said.
Overall, Spotify Wrapped has shown many students, including Cassell and Nash, how important music can be in their lives.
“I listen to music anytime I can,” Cassell said.
“I’m one of those people that I just detest the quiet and it just doesn’t tickle my brain correctly so I have to have some sort of noise and music just happens to make me happiest,” Nash said.
