Do Your Song Choices Mean Anything About You?
Photo Credit: Abby Taussig
The music you listen to cannot label you to a stereotype. We all have different tastes and should respect each other.
Abby Taussig, Arts and Entertainment Editor
March 8, 2012
Filed under Arts & Entertainment, Columns, Music
Listening to music means a lot to students at Woodside, but does their choice in songs mean anything about them? No, of course not. It just means that they like listening to those particular songs.
Looking through someone’s albums on their iPod does not tell you everything about them. The person listening to rap songs is not necessarily a gangster; maybe they simply like the acoustics in that song. Perhaps when they go home they sing along with that music at the top of their lungs. However, if other students constantly degrade their songs as corrupt or “ghetto,” their innocent fun will cease to exist.
The judgement goes to the other far end of the spectrum as well. Contrary to popular belief, not only overly-emotional girls listen to love songs. Boys and men should not be prohibited from enjoying certain music because of its topic. When a guy likes Taylor Swift songs, he simply enjoys her songs. There are no other assumptions about his manliness that can be brought into that discussion.
Everyone has their own reasons for choosing the songs that they listen to. Some rationales are sentimental and personal, while others only go as deep as the rhythm of the music. There are so many different people that are joined together by a single type music. They cannot possibly all be labeled as the same only because of their musical choices. They share a taste in songs, but that is most likely one of the very few characteristics that they share.
People get stereotyped for so many reasons. The songs that they enjoy should not be added to that already too-long list. By knowing someone listens to a song, you know that they listen to it, but you do not have the slightest idea why, so do not make any assumptions.
I do not like music with excessive swearwords, but that does not make me a sheltered little girl. Lyrics simply sound better to me when they have a slight bit of meaning opposed to straight profanity. However, when someone else listening to such songs, I respect that they enjoy them and have their own reasons for doing so. As long as I am not the one hearing it, they can listen to whatever they want without me judging them in the slightest way.
Many rap songs degrade women, so I do not see any reason for me to revel in their lyrics. Me not listening to them by choice does not make me an extreme feminist, though. Since when is not wanting to feel bad about yourself a reason for being labeled?
I listen to all of the popular songs when they come out. I may not follow through with hearing them every day for the rest of my life, but I will give them a chance. It is shocking to me how quickly those songs change. Music listeners are extremely capricious when it comes to their choices. There is even less reason to judge them when their own tastes change so quickly that even they are not sure of what music it is that they actually like.
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I’m quite sure that one’s musical taste has certain reflections upon the person themselves, but it’s a matter of psychoanalytic evaluation.
i think that demi lovato song skayscrper that song heps ne thopw things that i wont to but you cant becusea aldult can help i i dont need help at all and thers are ather songs to that help me go thow school stuff like not having a boyfirend plus i can sing every tune in that song i wont to sing it in the qued soon
I do believe musical tastes say something about a person, but at a level deep enough that it still doesn’t make sense to stereotype.