Music As Self-Care

This one’s going to be a little silly, but let’s go with it. It’s my newsletter after all.

Like many others, music means a lot to me. And in true cringe millennial/boomer fashion, I still use an iPod (a Touch since my Classic died in 2018 and Apple rudely decided to kill the product altogether) to listen to music (mostly in my car; I stream at work). I have a carefully curated library of over 13,000 songs! It keeps me sane during my long commute mostly every day and whenever I travel by plane. Because music is one of my forms of self-care. Back in a toxic work environment, listening to two songs in particular (“Feels” by Calvin Harris, Pharrell, Katy Perry, and Big Sean, and “I Feel It Coming” by The Weeknd ft. Daft Punk) would immediately calm me down.

One of the ways I organize my music is by yearly playlists. I will lump together some decades (‘50s and Before, ‘60s, ‘70s, ‘80s, ‘90s, to be exact), but from 2000 on, each year gets its own playlist. This is because that’s when I was buying/receiving CDs myself. I love these breakdowns because they’re like time capsules. Even though I wasn’t alive for the ‘60s, ‘70s, and a good chunk of the ‘80s, it’s so interesting to see how much music sounds the same or different. Those are heavily influenced by my dad and his own music collection, by the way. He educated my sisters and me about good music, and I still remember random trivia for some songs.

The ‘90s playlist reminds me of my childhood. I remember summer days at the pool listening to the adult contemporary station with some of the songs. But I have come to the conclusion that some songs were added to this playlist as an adult, like sorry, I was not a cool 12-year-old listening to Travis, that happened in college. And I’ve been listening to my 2001 playlist for the past month or so.

The 2001 playlist is interesting because there was obviously 9/11 in 2001 that caused a shift in music. It was also the year I was 13/14. And as I listened to it, even with all the “bubblegum pop” of the boy bands and girl groups, I think this was the year that solidified my taste. While I dabbled in some alternative rock or whatever, this was the year I discovered John Mayer, my favorite band The Juliana Theory, and Jimmy Eat World among others. The core of my music is on this playlist, and I’m nothing if not loyal to some of these singers/bands.

I would up doing some research. I recall a few times on Twitter (RIP) where people said their favorite albums are all ones that came out when they were 17. I agree with that! For me, some of those albums are linked to when I got my driver’s license, and I would listen to them while driving around in senior year! And I also think the albums that came out when I was a freshman in college (so 18) are my favorites. 17/18 is a good range for favorite albums for me.

But do you want to know where people think music taste really develops? It’s 11-14 years old for women, 13-16 for men (The Verge). This article says that women have their favorite song determined by 13, but I find it hard to determine my favorite song EVER at all so, can’t confirm that. But I was felt validated by the fact that my music taste was most developed by 2001 and has continued to be a through line even now.

I’m not going to pretend that my taste in music is “good” or better than yours. My taste is really all over the place. I love pop, rock, R&B, showtunes, film scores, you name it. I’ve often joked that if someone stole my iPod (the horror!), they would likely return it immediately because of how weird my library is.

While doing research, I also found a study that says we stopped discovering new music at age 30 (The Scholarly Kitchen). I am not sure I agree with that. Like yes, clearly, I live in my little iPod world and even while streaming I gravitate toward my favorite artists. But I definitely feel like I’ve expanded a bit since I turned 30. Sure, they’re in the same genres I already listen to, but I like discovering new music even if they are almost two decades younger than me!

More and more, it seems like curiosity has become a bad thing, but I encourage it! Try to find a new artist once a month or something! Go to concerts and show up early for the opening act, you may be surprised by how much you enjoy their music. Bonus: you can say you knew them when they were just starting! There are so many ways to expand your music taste with streaming, take advantage of it!

Do you think your taste in music was developed as a teenager? Have you stopped discovering new music? What’s your favorite album/song? Hope you all are staying safe out there!