Reflecting on Spotify Wrapped (Blog #9)

Music plays an enormous role in my life. I listen to it all the time, play guitar and piano all the time, and think about music all the time. It makes sense that Spotify wrapped is something I look forward to every year. This year, it was Wednesday, December 4th, and unsurprisingly, I turned into an actual child again. My mood was the most energetic and positive it had been in a while (to the extent that my friends actively pointed it out). So why does it make me so happy? It's really a reflection of myself through the year. What I'm listening to says a lot about where I am mentally at that time. Particularly, it's interesting to see the artists I listened to most each month as it makes it really easy for me to see what resonated with me at the time. My most listened-to artists this year were The Strokes, Big Thief, Beach House, Adrianne Lenker, and Grouper. None of these were surprising (except Grouper, an absolute wild card). The Strokes are my favorite band, and Big Thief is quickly looking like they might overtake The Strokes as my favorite. And I just love Beach House and Adrianne Lenker. The Strokes have been my favorite for 4ish years, but I’ve noticed that I’ve been listening to them less and less. I still absolutely love them (they’re my number one most listened-to artist this year, after all), but I will say some of their albums aren’t resonating with me the way they used to, and I’m not completely sure why. Everyone’s tastes change, especially as a teenager, but I think I made so many memories with their songs over high school, and I just don’t associate as much with that time in my life anymore. The interaction of music and memories is something I find fascinating. Some songs take me to a particular place in time, and if I close my eyes, I’m right back. For example, I think The Adults Are Talking by The Strokes will always take me to playing video games with my older brother since that is how I was exposed to The Strokes. But self-reflection isn’t the only reason I love Spotify Wrapped. I also love seeing people post theirs and then reaching out over social media and discussing it with them. I was going to ruminate on why music conversations are so engaging, but I think it’s because they are so deeply personal, as I talked about. At some point, I had about 6 conversations on Instagram at once, and I loved each one. They were all with people I hadn’t talked to in months. Nerding out about artists I love with other people who also love that artist is truly one of the great joys in life, in my opinion. It really lit up my day and made me a very happy camper for a while. This really just ended up being an appreciation blog about why music is so awesome for me: it can be so personal and connect you to your past while showing you how far you’ve come and connect you to others through conversation, among numerous other amazing things. I’m glad I decided to write my final DIY blog on music because I can’t think of a better topic to end this semester-long series of reflections.


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