I would call myself a lover of a wide variety of music. Whenever people ask me what kind of music I like, I always say that I've found something I liked in every genre.

But this wasn't always the case. When I was younger, I was convinced that pop music was trash and that what I was listening to was "real music."

Now, what the heck is "real music"? The world may never know.

But my teenage self was convinced that I knew best and that the obscure bands and artists I listened to were somehow objectively better than everything else.

When I started college, I realized that pop music was in fact not trash and that there was a lot of value to music unlike the kind I had been listening to up until that point.

I chalked up my previous worldview as teenage immaturity until I realized that there are grown adults that still hold on to beliefs like this.

For example, one of my favorite bands of all time - Keane - recently got back together and created a Facebook group for fans to discuss the band.

In the group, I saw a post where someone posted the lyrics to Keane's song "Tear Up This Town" next to "Sucker" by the Jonas Brothers and showed how the Keane song only had one songwriter whereas "Sucker" had several.

People in the comments were making fun of the Jonas Brothers, calling Keane "real music" while the Jonas Brothers were "ruining the music industry."

Though I do agree that Keane's music is more deep and complex, I think that there's a place for both types of music.

I personally love the Jonas Brothers and Keane and I don't think that my liking the Jo Bros makes me a superficial person.

There is a place for deep, contemplative music that makes you see the beauty in the world and a place for more surface-level pop music that makes you want to dance and be joyful.

They are both positive things. The emotions the music makes you feel are real, so it is "real music" no matter what you're listening to.

If you think that you have some monopoly on good music, you are sorely mistaken. Music has been around for pretty much as long as humanity itself. To just choose one type of music from one specific time period does a disservice to all the rest.

So do yourself a favor and expand your horizons. Because in a world with so much beautiful music, we really do not need a music elitist.