Initial Research, Influences and Ideas: My Music Consumption

HOW DO I CONSUME MUSIC?

I usually consume music via my computer (using YouTube or Spotify) or my phone (having downloaded the tracks). Occasionally I will watch music videos on TV, which introduce me to new artists, i.e. MTV Breakthroughs introduced me to Two Door Cinema Club, and I went on to digitally (legally) download their albums.


When I'm consuming music, I am usually alone, travelling on a bus or train, walking, cycling, or am at home doing homework, with the music on in the background. I also hear music in public areas like pubs and restaurants. There is also usually music at friends' parties, which we all enjoy dancing to.

There are a wide range of reasons why I listen to music, for example to create a particular mood (useful when for story-writing pieces in English), but the two main reasons I enjoy listening to music is for the escapism and companionship it provides me with. When I'm listening to music, it provides me time to day-dream, to imagine scenarios that could be used as music videos for the songs, to distract me from the mundane-nature of tasks like travelling and make it more exciting. When I'm alone in my room, the melody can help to motivate me and encourage me to get my work done, and also make the room feel less empty.

There are two things a song needs to have for me to like it: A good melody, and good lyrics. If it has one or the other, I'll probably listen to it but not buy it, but if it has both I fall in love with the artist and begin fan-girling over them.
A SONG FROM MY CHILDHOOD



Elvis Presley is embedded in many memories of my childhood, because I grew up listening to him. It brings back memories of sitting in the car with my dad and blaring out the words, and also of jigging around the office with my family, so whenever I hear the melody begin, it immediately makes me want to start dancing to it. My main music influences as a kid were my Mum and Dad, who usually played music that was from the 60's to the 80's, both from Europe/America, and from the West Indies (Soca, Parang, and other cultural genres). The West Indian music was mainly for festivals and parties, so the majority of the music I listened to was English or American.

A SONG FROM MY EARLY TEENS



My Chemical Romance and the indie-rock genre dominated my early teens. They were the first artists of the rock genre who I'd been introduced to properly, listening to most of their albums after I was prompted to listen to this song by my band-mates. During my early teens, my friends and the internet were large players in influencing my music taste, as it became a social thing, listening to certain music and doing certain things in school would get you into one group, so I chose to slightly change music habits to stay with my friendship group, and I grew to quite like the genre. I also identified with the songs lyrics, as it is that typical teenage angst period, where everything just happens at once and you drown under it all. My Chemical Romance's songs helped me to identify with others in my situation, and also helped to cheer me up a bit. Ironically, to this day, 'I'm Not Okay' never fails to make me feel okay.

A SONG FROM TODAY



This is definitely the hardest one. Throughout the years, there have been a ton of songs that mean so much to me, but I've chosen Pegasus Bridge - While we're young, because this is especially relatable and has been one of my favourite songs since I was in my early teens (after discovering MCR and MUSE). The lyrics talk about getting old and kind of regretting what they might not have done, which is something that I'm constantly thinking about, as we're of the age where we have to make so many life choices that will have such a huge impact on our futures.

I discovered this song through YouTube after seeing Pegasus Bridge - Ribena on MTV. Nowadays, my parents have practically no influence in my music consumption, and my friends have a minimal amount, sometimes recommending artists/tracks. The main ways through which I discover music are films and YouTube/Spotify, i.e. the Guardians Of The Galaxy soundtrack, which I looked up and found the Spotify playlist for (created by Hollywood Records), which allows me to look the songs up on YouTube when I can't access Spotify for it.

I tend to just listen to whatever I like now, rather than listening to or avoiding certain artists to fit in. It takes too much effort, may as well just enjoy the music. I still use music socially, i.e. as a conversation starter or fan-girling with friends, but it has nowhere near as much influence as it did back in my early teens.