A deconstruction of my spotify

Monday, January 8, 2018



We have all had them awkward conversations with new people. The 'getting to know each other' conversations. 'Whereabouts are you from?', 'what are your parents like?', 'What are you studying?', and my most dreaded question: 'so what kind of music do you listen to?'.

I always find this question so hard to answer. It really should not be as hard as I seem to find it. Sometimes I wish I could just be one of those people who say 'oh. I'm into death metal' or 'I listen to house music'. Only for the simplicity of it though, I really would rather not listen to death metal or house music. 

Basically, I am using this post to break down my taste in music because I listen to a pretty random selection of tunes. This is in no way a brief summary.

I would first like to make clear the type of music that I never find myself wanting to listen to. 

Genres I do not f*ck with:

  • Any sort of dirty heavy metal music 
  • Grime 
  • Mumble rap
  • Any sort of misogynous, overly objectifying rap music 
  • Techno, house, EDM... yano, that general vibe (except for nostalgia purposes)
Now onto the stuff I actually like...


Musical Theatre has been a prominent component of my music taste for most of my life. I grew up being obsessed with The Sound Of Music, Mama Mia, and of course all the Disney musicals. When I started my vocal lessons in high school, I really began to explore the genre more. Then I met Emily and we started to perform together (not brilliantly might I add). I left high school with a musical theatre performance diploma. I am a massive fan of anything Lin-Manuel Miranda works on. Not to be overly dramatic but he is a revolutionary musical and dramatic genius. Hamilton is one of my most played albums on Spotify; I also listen to In The Heights a lot. As a songwriter, he holds quite a big place in my music taste. I am also an enormous fan of our lord and saviour, Barbra Streisand. I truly admire her, not only for her work but as a whole person, however, I'm not going to go into it because it's not really relevant.  Funny Girl will always be one of my absolute favourite movies. I truly love it.

When I was fifteen I went through my emo phase - like so many do. I began to love this genre because of the album 'A Fever You Can't Sweat Out', Panic! At The Discos debut album. If you've ever listened to it you'd instantly recognise how theatrical it is. Its like edgy musical theatre. I am still a huge fan of Brendon Urie - he is easily one of the best male vocalists in the music industry today. This era of my life was probably when music excited me the most. I was obsessed with the likes of Fall Out Boy, Panic! at the Disco and Twenty One Pilots. The crowds at these gigs were crazy. I got absolutely thrown around and squished and stood on. When I first came out of this phase the whole genre made me cringe a little bit but now I can appreciate it again. It reminds me of a really exciting and dramatic time of my adolescent life. 

My emo phase quite naturally developed into me listening to a lot of indie rock. Its a genre I've always listened to and it takes up a lot of my Spotify. 

I got quite a lot of my music taste from my dad. When I was younger, my dad used to take me and my step sisters on road trips all the time. He drove a Mercedes camper van - one where the roof pops up to make a little upstairs bed. It makes me so incredibly happy looking back at falling asleep to the music in the little upstairs bed. He introduced me to The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Pink Floyd... So much music that I love so much now. Bob Dylan makes me so happy that I actually cry. I could literally listen to The Beatles all day, every day. He also played A LOT of Snoop Dogg but that doesn't really warm my heart as much as the rest if I'm being honest. I know you're probably thinking 'woowww unpopular opinion', I know, but I'm not sorry. 


A lot of the other stuff that I listen to is just classic 70s and 80s. We're talking Fleetwood Mac, Queen, Elton John, Billy Joel. I had the Madonna 'immaculate collection' on my very first iPod so that whole album makes me super happy. Not only because all songs are obviously bops, but it just reminds me of being on holiday when I was younger. Another album that I'm obsessed with is 'Rumours' by Fleetwood Mac; I've been in love with this album for years. Queen is obviously iconic, but I think the reason I'm especially drawn to it is the theatrical elements as it really appeals to my love for musical theatre. Plus, Freddy Mercury looked like my grandad and that makes me smile. Billy Joel is another artist that I've loved for a long time- not to sound morbid but his song 'Vienna' is the first thing I play when I'm feeling sorry for myself and need a good cry (I actually have an entire playlist for this). Simon and Garfunkel, particularly Paul Simon, I love. Every classic 80s ballad is in my playlists.

I don't want to sound like a gimp but I really do love music. I am almost constantly listening to it. I struggle to fall asleep without my bedtime playlist. Its one of my favourite feelings to hear a song I've never heard before and just fall in love with it. Or to listen to a song that makes you FEEL emotions. I sound like a massive idiot so I am going to stop myself there. Congratulations if you actually read all that. I am well aware that it is not entirely articulate but I just like to write my thoughts as they come. Thank you for taking the time to learn more about me.