Music, for me, has always been an outlet or a way of expressing myself when words just can’t seem to do the trick. Since I was a child, I have been surrounded by music. Some of my earliest memories include riding in the back of my dad’s truck while he flipped between his Bruce Springsteen, U2, and Journey CDs. Even sitting at the dinner table, where there was music to fill the silence that otherwise would have felt like forever. Marc Cohn would softly play in the background of anything my parents would do together. Despite him saying it over and over, I still listen intently every time my dad explains the meaning behind particular Marc Cohn songs, often being “Ghost Train” or “True Companion”.
My journey through life has always been associated with certain songs. In elementary school, it was Miley Cyrus’ “The Climb”. In middle school, the first two grades were Taylor Swift and any pop music that caught my attention, while seventh and eighth grade were Twenty One Pilots and Panic! at the Disco. That kind of music followed me into freshman and sophomore year of high school, often what I would describe as my “edgy” phase, despite it not being edgy whatsoever. Junior year and senior year I transitioned back into pop music, such as Ariana Grande, Post Malone, Frank Ocean, Sam Smith, Lorde, the list goes on. That music taste continues to follow me today. I often wonder why certain styles or artists follow us through life, but in my opinion, it’s because music grows with us. As we grow and change into different people, musicians continue to develop their own style and change with the times. They either grow with us or grow away.
There is a whole side of music that isn’t always addressed. Since the sixth grade, I have had a special place in my heart for musical theater. While my music taste has changed, that has always stayed constant. Maybe this is what keeps me young at heart, because at the end of the day we still have those few things that stick with us and remind us of the people we used to be. While musicians you may listen to on the radio may change their style, songs produced in and for a musical will stay the same. They will always stay a constant. It could provide peace of mind or it could just be something I like, but who am I to tell you the way you take in music?
When we write about music, it is a glance at who we are. Music is a look into what makes a person who they are. Without music, I would not be shaped into the person I am today. Music has a different impact on everyone that encounters it. I am a firm believer in that one song is not heard the same by each person. While the lyrics and the chords are all the same, it has various effects, therefore is different from person to person. A song could bring one person to tears, while it could have no effect on another. Our reactions to music that we listen to stem from our own personal experiences that can never be replicated, but that song could be the closest replication that someone could ever have.