If you’re like me, you need music to study. Something about the silence lets my brain wander to places that are quite literally everywhere but the thing I’m supposed to be focussing on. Now, there are a lot of genres of music out there, so there will be something for everyone. It also can mean that it can be hard to navigate, and difficult to know where to find the best genre to put on when studying. These are just what I have tried that can help you out too.
1. Hyperpop
Starting off with my favorite genre, overstimulation/brain fuzzy/ static, music. Basically, any music with heavy bass or just present instrumentals where the artist is either kind of screaming or is heavily autotuned, or both. With the number of things that are going on in my ear it makes it hard to focus on anything else that’s not the work in front of me. I basically like to audibly overwhelm my ears so my brain can’t listen to my daydreams. Some of my go to artists for this genre are Kinneret, Grimes, and Penelope Scott. Specifically, I usually loop ‘No Wind Resistance’ or the sped-up version that Kinneret recently released, ‘Oblivion’ by Grimes, and/or ‘Nowhere to run’ by Stegosaurus Rex.
2. Classical
A complete turnaround from what I basically described as hyperpop; we have classical music. I personally only listen to classical music to help me study during the fall. Something about studying on a lamp/candle lit desk with the melodic piano keys playing in the background as the leaves fall outside your window really speaks to me. I like classical music because it’s calming and helps me focus on the work I’m doing. But it also helps me romanticize studying, which motivates me to do it more. I like to imagine I’m the main character in a melancholic dark academia film when I’m studying to the tune of classical music. I don’t have any specific songs or artists that I can recommend, I just search up the terms “dark academia” and “classical” and “study music” on Spotify and see the ones I like the most.
3. Lofi
Another popular genre of music that people turn on when studying, including myself, is lofi. I don’t turn to this one as much as the previous genres I mentioned, but it’s still a good go-to. Especially since there are countless playlists on Spotify and even more on YouTube. With the sheer amount of content, you will for sure find a playlist that’s perfect for you. I listen to lofi exclusively at night and tend to only use it when my assignments are on a computer rather than pen and paper.
Having music on in the background motivates me and helps me stay focussed while studying and want to be anywhere else but at my desk staring at my work. Sometime seven just the comfort of having music playing makes me feel like I’m not completely alone while I’m doing work. Hopefully this article helped you to try a new genre of music to turn on while you turn in assignments.