Think of the last time you listened to music. How long ago was it? Last week, yesterday, an hour ago, or are you still listening to music now? If you are a part of Generation Z (born between 1996-2015), then you probably would have been listening to music fairly recently. According to MIDia Research, 85% of 16-19-year-olds say that music is an important part of their life. This shouldn't be seen as surprising, considering that Gen Z grew up with the birth and emergence of social media and the Internet.
With us growing up around technology, it should come as no surprise that we start to venture out of our own states or even countries, making new friends or expanding our interests. This perhaps explains why K-Pop is one of the most popular music genres for Gen Z across continents. Music no longer has any borders and is able to be accessed and appreciated all over the globe.
How many playlists do you have? Personally, I have three playlists that I rotate between, depending on my mood for the day. Having multiple playlists that correspond to your emotion is a staple of Gen Z. We would rather have a playlist with different songs/artists in them that all portray one theme or tone, then listen to one album that varies in theme and tone, as 74% of 16-19-year-olds say they are mainly listening to single tracks, rather than a full album (MIDia Research).
With the constant changing and shifting of the world around us, there is a new artist or new song always being released. With that being said, music fans do not simply have the time to sit and listen to a full album unless it is their favorite artist. This further reflects how this digital age is affecting our attention span, as we are constantly being fed new information, that it gets harder and harder to try and keep the people's attention.
Our music also tends to generally represent our emotions or our current state of mind. This is perhaps why I have a playlist for my happy days and my sad days. But the type of music that seems to be on the rise is a more emotional, slower type of music. There are more sad songs in the Top 40 charts in this day in age than there have ever been. A new genre of music has also emerged, called 'bedroom pop' which is soft mellow pop typically produced in a person's bedroom.
Not only is Gen Z changing the political landscape, but they are also changing the music industry. Here are some of my personal favorites to add to your playlist:
Aging Out of the 20th Century by Trash Panda
Work Song by Hozier
The broken hearts club by Gnash
3:00 AM by Finding Hope
Sources: https://eraltd.org/media/27138/midia-research-gen-z-report.pdf
