I have a horrible habit of listening to the same songs over and over again. I find some songs I like, I put them on a playlist, and I don’t look for new music for weeks. Working as a DJ for WKNC has helped to break me out of this habit a bit more, but with the help of the 2020 quarantine summer, I fell back into the same pattern of repetition. As March, April, May, June, and July all seemed to blend together into one insanely long month, I found that my playlist, which was very fittingly titled “doing nothing,” was not helping me feel productive or creative.
I was slowly growing out of my taste for rap and R&B after finding more of an interest in classic rock and the blues, but the comfort of my old music kept me from venturing into the depths of Spotify to find something new. You know when you watch the same episodes of a TV show or movie, even though you’ve seen them a thousand times, just to decompress? A similar phenomenon was happening to me and my music.
It’s easy to stay with the same music we listened to as teenagers, for these sounds have helped build our identities. We all have (hopefully) grown and changed since high school, but sometimes our music taste stays stuck in the past. Though this is not necessarily a bad thing, I think it’s important to keep discovering music and other new things we like as we get older. I love revisiting “AM” by the Arctic Monkeys every once in a while to get a rush of middle school nostalgia just as much as the next person, but I’m glad that I’ve moved onto new horizons.
It can be overwhelming and time-consuming to dive into Spotify blindly in search of new tunes, but the feeling of emerging victorious with a few new songs that bring you joy is a lovely feeling. Another strategy I like to use is going to the thrift store and finding a vinyl with the coolest record sleeve I can find. Asking a friend to make you a playlist is also a great way of finding new music, as well as listening to WKNC!
– DJ butter
