Casmin Week 8: Wrapping it up. Literally :(
As I sat down and looked at my Spotify wrapped, I couldn’t help but feel disappointed at the old and cringy phases I had. 20,000 minutes on Laufey?? (last year) This happens every year. Why did I feel like this song was the one I wanted to loop for hours in my room???? I felt this way about my HUGE laufey phase back in 2024, and evidently, I was very into jazz and slow paced-music at that time.
Nowadays, we all listen different genres of music, and whether we stick to one genre or hop from one to another, it’s such an interesting way to perceive someone’s identity based on their music taste(s). Ranging from hip hop to jazz to k-pop to indie to classical to mainstream music (and many many many others), the possibilities are endless.
Look how far we’ve come! Back in the 1800s, music was strictly limited to traditional classical music with occasional parade marches for the military here and there. Only in the 1920s did expressive and varietal genres such as jazz ever start to actually become a popular genre of music, and even then many adults and religious folks at that time did not approve of jazz because it had been the first (popularized) genre to mix different cultural music, such as African American and European music. And to think, now I can hardly find 3 people with the same music taste on their Spotify wrapped!
I believe that with the diversity of culture comes the diversity of music, and this certainly allows everyone to express themselves through their love for music. And whether you listen to ancient Mesopotamian music 24/7 (yes, someone I saw on TikTok actually has 50,000 minutes listening to this) or just looped Sabrina Carpenter’s new song for the 500th time, the truth is that every person is not bound by the limits of traditional music anymore, and is able to freely express their unique personas.
Laufey still holds a special place in my heart, but needless to say I will never come back into that emo lover girl part of me. And with this blog comes the end of our Moon Jellies cohort. It was a blast reading all of your wonderful blogs and learning more about you! On another note, is there a music phase that you really regret… and did it show up on your Spotify Wrapped this year?
Hi Casmin! I very much enjoyed reading your experience with your Spotify wrapped this year. I totally get feeling confused about your wrapped results, and I remember that a few years ago, my wrapped would contain the most random music that I swear I’d only listened to for a very small percentage of the year. Now for the past four years or so, I would say that my wrapped has become a lot more uniform, as every year my #1 top artist is always Tory Lanez, followed closely by The Weeknd. However, my 2025 wrapped brought a (very minor) twist: The Weeknd was actually my #1 this year with about 30,000 minutes, and Tory Lanez was my #2 with about 24,000 minutes. I think you can tell that my music taste stays fairly consistent over the years…
ReplyDeleteI think it’s interesting that you mention that we are able to perceive a person’s identity based on the kind of music that they listen to. I definitely agree that music is a beautiful way to express one’s identity and “unique persona,” but I’m not entirely sure that I agree that music taste is a direct reflection of personality. For example, fans of rap and hip-hop music are stereotypically said to be more aggressive, classical music fans are said to be nerds who are incredibly boring, people who listen to pop music are said to be super upbeat, etc. etc. Just like all stereotypes, these have the potential to be true, but are not always accurate. I do believe that no matter what genre (or genres) of music you listen to, music is a powerful way for us to express ourselves however we so choose to.
I think the diversity of music is one of the best consequences of the internet’s proliferation of media. New music and ideas can get transferred so quickly that genres are always shifting. I think it’s great that people now have a freer outlet to express themselves, but I think it also reflects the inherent fear that some people have of change. Recently, I’ve heard endless critiques on new styles of music, whether it be rap, rock, or even ambient music, claiming that the art has been marred irreparably by the latest sound. A lot of this comes from the fact that despite the historical diversity of music, some believe that it has to adhere to a certain structure and refuse to accept that which doesn’t. I think this recent expansion of music has allowed it to more fully embody its role as a limitless art form that doesn’t have to shape itself to the mainstream purpose of entertainment.
ReplyDeleteMy year’s music was, unfortunately, not at all reflective of this diversity. I had thousands of minutes on two artists, and three of my top five albums were all by The Strokes… but even if I don’t necessarily engage with too much diverse music, I still appreciate it!
Laufey!!! She didn’t make it onto my top 5 music artists this year, but “Bossa Nova Jazz” did make it into my top 5 genres, which I will count as a win.
ReplyDeleteMusic is such an interesting part of human culture, and even more so now with the development of the Internet. In nearly every other point in history, all music was made by, well, people. Now, this is not a critique on AI music (although, it is at its core an extremely insipid concept that shouldn’t have even been conceived of in the first place), but rather a reminder that humans played music on instruments. The most music the average person 200 years ago heard was anything their family or friends performed, perhaps across a campfire, or maybe the once-in-a-lifetime visit to an opera house. But now, with the popularity of streaming music on platforms like Spotify or even the development of gramophones, all types of music can be found in anyone’s home.
The blending and revolutionizing of music genres was also crucial to how music is made and perceived today. Some of my favorite examples of this are Franz Liszt and Michael Jackson, who both had such electrifying and revolutionary music performances that audience members would swoon and faint during the performance and fall into a frenzy to collect their personal belongings; only one of them has a psychological phenomenon named after them (look up Lisztomania).
I was surprised with how little I listened to music on Spotify over the past year. “Only” 6,100 minutes listening to femtanyl (not the drug) and “only” 21,000 minutes overall. C418, the guy who composed the majority of the music for the game Minecraft, made it into my top 3 both years; I still religiously loop the game’s soundtrack for most of my English assignments.
Hi Casmin! If you check the Billboard Hot 100 right now, you have “All I Want For Christmas Is You” alongside “Golden” from K-Pop Demon Hunters, which I find particularly amusing as they’re on two ends of the music spectrum, but it goes to show how the public has been supportive of this diversity. People tend to disagree with me on this, but the reason I enjoy listening to my mass accumulation of liked songs instead of curating playlists is because I often get to listen to songs I have long forgotten about, and the sudden transition from a ballad to hip-hop is always an interesting experience.
ReplyDeleteLaufey! Despite the “performative” label people like to put on others who listen to the slower, bossa nova soft pop-esque genre, I believe Laufey’s music is genuinely a beautiful reflection of her musical talent. This fear of being seen as something you’re not (or at least something you don’t think you are) has been broadcast through everyone claiming their Spotify Wrapped wasn’t a “true” depiction of their musical taste. To some extent, I do agree with this; crazed looping on certain songs a couple hundred times that helped me hit a “flow state” may not be the most accurate depiction of someone’s music taste, but I can’t deny the significance those songs had at that time. It’s a bit shameful to admit, but if there’s a specific song that I feel like will ruin my algorithm, I’ll turn on private session mode so the data doesn’t save. I used to care a lot about my Spotify Wrapped; the fact that I would purposely try to alter statistical results just to achieve a certain image of what I think my music taste is is a bit disheartening. I can’t hide how I genuinely enjoy certain types of music, no matter how “embarrassing” it may be for me to reveal how my top album was an indie alt-rock debut album by an artist all the way in Michigan.