Gianna 9: Musical Paralysis

     I absolutely love listening to music, as do many other people my age. I like to listen to music in any of the free time I get. One of my favorite things about music is that there are obviously so many different styles of music. It can be pretty easy to get caught up in listening to only one “type” of music for many of us. However, for the past year, I’ve really tried to broaden my musical horizons as much as possible. I’ve been able to find a new appreciation for many different types of music that in the past I might have been embarrassed to admit I liked. My music taste tends to come and go in waves in terms of what I like to listen to the most.

      Now, I see branching out in music taste as pretty important. I very much value discovering new music. Hearing a new song for the first time and just automatically loving it is such an exciting feeling for me, as silly as that may sound. Every Monday, I look forward to listening to my new “Discover Weekly” playlist on Spotify. The playlist is mostly comprised of similar songs to what I’ve been recently listening to, but there are always a few unexpected tracks in there. It is such a great way to find new music.

     Recently, I read an article from Business Insider which pulled from a survey on discovering music. According to a study done by Deezer, “people stop discovering new music at just 30 and a half.” This is a terrible thought to me, but it simply comes down to a mix of biology and plain old life. Between the ages of 12 and 22, our brains are soaking in many changes and an immense amount of hormones. Our brains aren't even considered fully developed until the age of 25. For many people, there are such strong emotional ties to the music they listened to during these critical young years that their brains like to attach them to it. Music is very powerful in the sense of being able to elicit very strong emotions and memories. According to business insider, “research has shown how our favorite songs stimulate our pleasure responses in the brain, releasing dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, and other happy chemicals.”

     Additionally, others surveyed cited the amount of available music, a demanding job,  and caring for young children as reasons why they did not discover new music.

     No matter the reason, it is clear that at a certain age, most of us will no longer go in search of new music to listen to, and that makes me somewhat sad. Being stuck in a type of “musical paralysis” really does sound terrible to me. While I’m all for a good nostalgia moment (hence my last blog), I still always want to soak up that feeling of finding new music I really love. I hope that I will continue the chase for this feeling throughout my adulthood, but I can see why it would be unlikely for me to do so.

     Would you consider yourself to have a broad music taste, and if so, do you think you’ll be able to continue that throughout your life?