Music is one of the most significant, crucial, helpful and moving sources of art anyone can find in this world. Regardless of the artist, genre, or style, there is something out there for everyone. Music has been, and will forever be, a huge benefit to the human mind. Various studies have shown that different types of music help with different situations that we encounter on a daily basis. Classical music, as an example, is proven to help better memorize information for exams if you listen to it while you’re simultaneously studying. Other forms of music such as rap and hip-hop are known to help release anger when one is stressed out. It’s no lie that music moves the soul. There is something about music that allows for us to link with it, for whatever reason we may need to, which is completely dependent on the person listening, their life, the people they’re surrounded by and, most importantly, the unexplainable connection that resides within them when they hear a song.
Coming into college my music preferences were very basic. As your typical female, I had a special place in my heart for Taylor Swift, John Mayer, Luke Bryan and Beyoncé. My taste in music genres always depended on the mood I was in, which was changing constantly, and there were always a variety of choices I had to choose from. Slowly at first, but then ever so quickly, I became a big fan of electronic dance music, also known as EDM. I listened to EDM songs here and there in high school, but the college environment had it much more prominent and desirable. When I went out as a freshman to parties and the music was playing, I would dance the nights away without a second thought. The music made me move.
I began searching for this music on my own, which was when I came across the beautiful website known as SoundCloud. SoundCloud is a website with mainly electronic music streaming, although they also have their fair share of indie, rap, hip-hop and even classical music. Personally, I just wanted to find the songs that became familiar to me from basements at parties and I would be content with that. That was three years ago.
Today, the only music I listen to is EDM. Little did I know at the time that there were different types of this moving music as well. Trap, techno, synth, progressive, bass, dubstep and the list goes on. I love it all. When I wake up in the morning for my 9 a.m. class, this is the music I put on to get ready to. When I drive in the car, when I study for tests, when I go for a run, this music is with me. It lives in my soul and I breathe its rhythms. It consumes me and makes me feel emotion that I cannot successfully describe in words. This phenomenon didn’t take place overnight either.
I started listening to this music to get ready to go out in my college dorm. It was upbeat and fun, simple as that. Then, I started to workout to it. The beats and the pace allowed for open motivation to get my body moving and keep it moving. Next came car rides. I bought an aux cord for my old, little, black Toyota and jammed out to EDM wherever I was intending to travel. All of a sudden, and I'm not even exactly sure when this moment was, this music devoured my life. I have no desire to listen to any other types of music too, which I find to be the absolute weirdest part. I’m a writer. I love words, I love lyrics. The EDM songs I listen to, majority of the time, don’t have lyrics for me to connect to, so it makes no sense to me as to why I love it as much as I do.
I have found different styles of EDM to fit every single one of my emotions and moods, even sadness. I know you are thinking, “How does ‘robots clashing together’ make a person feel okay when they are upset?” because I think the same thing too. I really don’t know nor understand why this music speaks to me the way that it does. What I do know is that it makes me feel alive. It comforts me, it awakens me, it challenges me and it makes me joyous. Different songs evoke different emotions, different emotions draw me to new and unusual songs and the cycle repeats again and again.
When I was younger I distinctively remember always judging people that listened to hardcore screamo music. I didn’t understand how they could extract any type of thoughts, feelings or fulfillments from it…now, I do. I understand because people listen to the musicI like and think what I was thinking to myself ten years ago. I even think it to myself because I don’t fully understand the craving and sensations that fill my body when this music comes on, but I love it.
