POPULAR SONGS I USED TO HATE BUT GREW TO LOVE AT ASHOKA

Edited by: Vyshnevi Satheesh

Like most people, my taste in music is so personal and individual to me that I’m almost ‘arrogant’ about it. I like being the girl who listens to crazy obscure indie cum bedroom pop artists, vintage punk, and 30’s jazz and actually likes it for it and not just for the sake of being different. That’s just an added plus. And as horrible, selfish (and ironically, basic) as it sounds, I do like being put in a box and putting other artists in that box with me. Although I don’t look down on people who are into other genres, (or no genre at all), I just don’t gel well with people who like pop music. But because of this ‘arrogance’, publicly listening to pop music I actually like every once in a while is humiliation like no other. And it’s even worse when I declare I hate a song when it first comes out, but am jamming to it a couple of weeks later; full volume and hairbrush in hand. 

Falling in love with a song after hating it for so long happens to so many of us, but it is rare. You can learn to like the music you hate or have it grow on you, of course, but how often does that come naturally? More often than not, there are certain instances or moments where you hear a song completely against your will, and all the ‘good’ parts end up sticking in your head. Other times, you resonate with its lyrics and what it’s trying to say. Here are three stories of how I grew to love popular songs I HATED before. I know nobody asked, I’m just telling you anyway.

1. Drivers License, Olivia Rodrigo 

Yep. I hated Drivers License when it first came out. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely adore ballads and emo songs, no matter who it’s by. This particular one just felt musically empty and poorly written with cringey, lovesick omg-i-was-so-in-love-with-you lyrics. It wasn’t a BAD song, I just didn’t get the hype. Until, of course, I reached campus in my second semester. I’d get up every Tuesday and Thursday morning, hit the showers (communal, of course) at exactly 9:15, and in the stall beside mine, there’d be another girl showering. She’d play this song, full volume, first thing in the morning every time, and sob so loud like she didn’t care at all. It made me so uncomfortable I literally ran out of the shower. Until of course, I came late one day and heard the bridge for the very first time. That’s when Olivia got me. 

2. Sheila Ki Jawani, Sunidhi Chauhan

I love this song. It is my all-time favourite, and I’m not afraid to say it. It’s so badass it puts Cardi to shame. And that’s actually what’s so sad, most people don’t what it’s really about. I used to pigeonhole this one into the ‘item number’ category; songs I have no interest in or respect for, and rightfully so. Until my roommate started playing her angry-girl/men-suck playlist to cheer me up from yet another heartbreak; Sheila Ki Jawaani in the midst of all the Avril, Alanis, Taylor Swift, and Bikini Kill. I realized then that it was actually about self-love and masturbation. Bar Katrina Kaif’s hypersexualization in the movie during this song, she’s trying to say that she don’t need no man, and I stan. 

3. Any and all Drake

It’s not an Ashokan’s party if there’s no Drake. Or so I’ve been told. Didn’t like or dislike the dude, didn’t like his music, just thought he and everything he did was just…average. I don’t have a problem with hip-hop and R&B, just thought he was overhyped. But when you see so many of your friends screaming and cheering with joy every time his songs come on at a party, it’s hard not to eventually learn to love it too. Just because the people around you do as well. It’s even harder to get that image out of your head when you see how terribly they dance to the songs.

Bottom line is, no matter how much we insist, we can’t control the songs we like. At the end of the day, it’s all about the people we surround ourselves with, and how that music bonds us together.

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