Without Spotify, I honestly think I would’ve lost my mind navigating daily life without music. I am the type of person to prefer quieter atmospheres, but absolute silence drives me insane. I like to have YouTube videos, shows, or music playing softly in the background while I study or do any solitary activity.
When I was a kid, I would keep the same Cartoon Network reruns playing throughout the day and as I fell asleep just to fill the silence. It settled me, making me feel less isolated and alone.
Dull moments like waiting for the bus, taking showers, or walking to class are livened up when I pick out the perfect playlist. Music feels like a best friend that’s always there for you and doesn’t judge you for listening to the same heart shattering song on repeat! My Spotify account is one of my most cherished possessions. It’s been tracking my music taste since 2015, nearly a decade’s worth. My “Top Songs of 2016” playlist haunts me everyday.
Making playlists has become quite the specialty and one of my favorite past-times. I always find an excuse to make a new one, even if I only listen to it once or twice. Some may be organized by genre, while others represent specific moods or feelings that I experience in real-time. Music as an art form captures the emotions that I struggle to voice or express. What I listen to changes from day-to-day, and I like to think it shifts with the mindset I carry, composition and mentality constantly in tune. Distorted guitars, refined production, lively mariachi, or intricate story-telling, I find something to value in every song I come across. My playlists are like a bag of trail mix, always a little bit of everything.
As I craft a new playlist and choose songs, it often feels as if I am bundling memories into a bottle to preserve a feeling or moment. When I go back to some of these collections of songs, I can relive who I once was and the emotions I felt. I’ve condensed my life into a plethora of melodies, with each era having their own soundtrack. West Coast hip-hop, Alternative rock, R&B, bedroom pop, bossa nova: all my most listened to genres practically own a little piece of me and with every song, a different version of me.
Spotify recently introduced a feature where AI generates a playlist for you based on prompts. I think this is an extremely fruitless feature. The beauty of playlists is that they give insight into a person’s heart and what they’re going through. An algorithm could never produce that.