Musical Matters of Taste: Our Preferences Shouldn’t Divide Us

Musical Matters of Taste: Our Preferences Don’t Have to Divide Us

By Katherine Geils

Imagine yourself in Target. After spending half of your day meandering around the most beloved place on Earth, you finally enter the checkout line with two items you weren’t intending to buy in the first place. Just ahead of you, holding a case of beer, Eggo waffles, and sunflower seeds, a man saunters down to the register— Carolina baseball cap, plaid button down, an unnecessarily large belt buckle accompanied by faded jeans, scuffed boots. Nothing unusual in the lowcountry. You both finish scanning your items and leave the store in succession. You walk out to your car to find this man has parked next to you, a big red, mud-caked, 2019 Ford F-150. He starts up the ignition, rolls down the windows, cranks up the volume on the dash loud enough so that his truck vibrates, and out blares.... Beyonce?

You probably expected the sappy lyrics of Thomas Rhett and the strum of an acoustic guitar, not the peppy “pro-women” songs of Queen Bey, right?

Something we’re all familiar with is the concept of stereotyping; as a society, we tend to stereotype people quite frequently and in a scant amount of time. Despite much encouragement to “not judge a book by its cover” and to have an open mind when meeting new people, we still tend to make quick generalizations about others upon first impressions. Such are mainly based on appearance or quick interactions in which we’ve seen them participate. For many, these thoughts are inevitable; we try to dissect one another, picking up on small indicators, like those based upon sex, hair style, apparel, and body language, which allow us to make thousands of generalizations about one another: generalizations about personality, hobbies, and even music taste. Based on my own traits, I’ve been told people generally see me as friendly and reserved, yet silly. (While this is all true, some have also told me that I’m “basic,” “As a society, we tend to stereotype people quite frequently and in a scant amount of time.”

shorthand for basically unremarkable and unoriginal—Why would you tell anyone that to their face!). People assume that I’m a Starbucks fanatic, a health freak (something I desperately wish I were), and, most importantly, a pop music devotee.

Though there’s nothing necessarily wrong with enjoying those things, I simply don’t. For instance, pop music: the bane of my existence.

If you turn on the radio or go onto Spotify’s “Today’s Top Hits,” you will likely find a selection of Justin Bieber, Camila Cabello, Sam Smith, or Dua Lipa, among other overrated artists. To some, these songs are absolutely riveting. The rhythm is juuust unmatched. But to me, most pop music lacks any appeal: few pop songs have original and melodious beats accompanied by a decent voice. Take Dua Lipa: the beat in all of her most popular songs consists of a variation of electronic pulses. Fine, except that those electronic pulses sound almost identical to those in her other songs, or those in other pop songs. They’re overused! They’ve lost their peppiness and there’s no appeal anymore. Furthermore, these mundane beats are not accompanied by a beautiful voice, but rather...talking! There’s no actual singing in Dua Lipa’s “songs.” Sorry, but doesn’t the word “song” suggest that someone will be singing at some point? And is talking even a talent?!

Due to my considerable disdain for pop music, if I find out that someone else loves it, I too feel inclined to make ostracizing generalizations about them. I’m ashamed to admit it because it’s so stupid, but I try to separate myself from others based on “having better music taste”. I try to put myself on a pedestal, telling myself that I’m superior because I listen to something more soulful like Alabama Shakes and The Lumineers. It’s something so insignificant in the grand scheme of things, yet I’ve used it to divide and barricade myself from others in the same regrettable way.

Sadly, these put downs and attempts to divide humanity are not uncommon. It’s human nature to fixate on relatively insignificant details about a person and develop a stereotype about them in order to fix them or confine them with a label. It’s an easy way to pit ourselves against one another and lift ourselves up. However, there’s no excuse for such nonsense. To have such thoughts suggests a sense of superiority and desire to segregate the world with meaningless and insignificant lines and petty judgements about “taste.” Quick, subjective judgements should not dictate who we interact with.

We should welcome the fact that we don’t all fit into a “box” and accept the country boy driving away, blaring Beyonce...