Do You Actually Like The Music You Listen To?
Samantha Galindo

I think of music as something incredibly personal—a way for people to express feelings through lyricism, connect with others with similar music tastes, and express who they are. However, music tastes are losing their sense of enjoyment and instead becoming a status symbol. Lately, there has been a growing trend of listening to “underground” music to differentiate yourself from the bigger crowd and reject anything slightly mainstream and popular.

There’s a common belief that anything that is played on the radio is “too mainstream” or “too basic” to be even remotely enjoyable. Some may argue that mainstream music is repetitive, overplayed, lacks originality, and is often sung by people who possess zero talent. While there may be some truth to this, many of your favorite pop songs follow the same predictable formula; it doesn’t mean that songs have no value. Every genre follows some sort of pattern, whether you’d like to admit it or not, and just because these songs follow a pattern, it doesn’t mean that they lack creativity.

So many people continue to refuse to enjoy mainstream music simply because everyone else likes it. They will go out of their way to find incredibly obscure, underground music simply to stand out, not out of enjoyment.

Music On Public Display

Social media plays a huge role in this phenomenon. Apps like Spotify Wrapped, TikTok, and Instagram have turned music taste into a public display for everyone to see. Instead of listening for your enjoyment, people are now listening to it to create a certain identity for themselves, to make themselves seem like someone who is intellectual, mysterious, or edgy.

Many people feel pressured to avoid popular music altogether. They’d rather for something down their throat to feel to be seen as someone different than to risk being labeled as someone basic and mainstream

There’s nothing wrong with exploring other genres of music and trying to discover new, unique sounds, but there comes a certain problem when you’re only doing so for the sake of your appearance and not for genuine enjoyment.

Music should not be a competition, it should be a way for you to feel something. If a popular artist genuinely moves you, why should it matter that they’re mainstream? As well for underground artists, if they actually move you, then continue to listen to them! Don’t listen to someone just for the appearance that you’ll have.

The next time you’re listening to a song, ask yourself, “Am I listening to this because I actually like it or because I want to be seen as different?”