Opinion: Acceptance is music to our ears

Art by Joe Kibango

GIANNA CABRAL, Staff Writer, Arts and Culture Editor
October 5, 2017

I think it’s safe to say that everyone has listened to music in their lifetime. Music has made people feel something at one time or another, allowing us to make connections with other people and make us discover a lot more about ourselves.

Did you know that people like to shame one another’s music taste? Yes folks, you heard it right. Music shaming is real and it exists.  

If you don’t know what music shaming is, it is the act of criticizing someone’s music taste just because it differs from your own. It is happening all of the time, even if you don’t pick up on it.

Today, it is common for people to shame pop music. It makes absolutely no sense though because it is called ‘Popular’ music for a reason.  We hear pop music wherever we go and there is no way to escape from it. It’s the type of music that is played in stores across the world and is shown in TV ads constantly.

Pop music gets played so much that it becomes an ear-worm, making us become sick of it. We all know one person that wants to “Swish Swish” themselves into a basket when Katy Perry’s song comes. You also can’t deny knowing someone who thinks Taylor Swift has gone off the deep end with her new music.

It’s the same deal with music from the 1900’s, too. People automatically shut down the concept of older music because it is not from their generation. Most people don’t even listen to older music because they think since it’s from more than ten years ago, it is not any good. Fun fact, music from before your time can be just as good as the material from today.

The whole concept is just warped. It doesn’t make much sense because music plays a huge part in who we are. It should not matter what genre of music it is. If you find something that you can relate to, that’s all that matters.

No matter what genre or year your music taste is from, it is not going to satisfy everyone. If you listen to music from Bob Marley to Jay-Z, and everything else in between, just do you. Hey, this includes all the Beethoven lovers out there, as well. You have the right to listen to whatever your heart desires.