by The Cowl Editor on November 14, 2019
Opinion
by Katie Belbusti ’22
Opinion Staff
Music is a big part of everyone’s life. On any day during the week, it seems that music can be heard blasting through the walls of Providence College dorms. It plays at its loudest when you want to sleep, and is non-existent when you are most in the mood to dance. Music plays a big role in each of our lives, especially as students.
Whether you have earbuds in walking between classes, while doing homework, or at the gym, the music we listen to is our own form of self-expression and says a lot about us as people. This is why we should all stay true to our own individual tastes in music, and not conform by only listening to whatever three songs are popuar at a given time.
Weekend after weekend, the same songs are played, and everyone seems to be content with that. But it is a good thing to stand out from the crowd, and for those who appreciate a wide variety of music genres, they should be unafraid to share them.
Music is more than just something to listen to to pass the time or fill the quietness. Rather, it is something to listen to in order to reflect your mood or maybe even put you in a better one. In this way, music is a form of self-expression, and a way we can form our own individual identities.
Cole Dougherty ’22 is not only extremely interested in listening to music, but he also creates his own music that he puts on SoundCloud. Dougherty explains how artists try to create lyrics that people can relate to: “Whatever mood the chords I compose suggest is the mood in which I write my lyrics in. I then take out my G2 pen and my moleskine notebook—writing on pen and paper is the easiest way to convey what I’m feeling for the song. Sometimes my lyrics are about things in real life, but I always try to write things that people will be able to feel.”
For those who are more into mainstream music and prefer listening to only pop music, it may not be for the reasons you believe. Grace Riley ’22 speaks on the topic of music and listening to pop music, saying, “Music can completely change my mood. I like listening to what’s ‘in’ because you can learn more about an artist that way and can relate to them. Artists have the ability to describe everything you’re thinking and feeling, even though you’ve never met them before. They can put into words what you’re feeling.”
Listening to pop music does not always have to be for the same reasons that everyone else listens to that genre—after all, it is called popular music for a reason.
The concern comes with the lack of exposure that pop music creates, specifically for the teens and young adults of our society. There is so much music that people do not get exposed to because they never put in the effort to listen to anything else besides pop music.
Embrace the true meaning of music and how listening to music can benefit your life in more than the ways to which you may be accustomed. Let it help your mood and give you something to relate to, but more than that, do not be afraid of having a music taste different from everyone else.