IT’S A LONG WAY TO THE TOP

By ALEX THEOFANIDES 

ALEX THEOFANIDES FOR THE WIZARD WEEKLY

Over time, music has changed drastically. From the days of Queen and Led Zeppelin, to Ariana Grande and Ed Sheeran, music has definitely changed in style, but it’s effect on people certainly has not.  One can learn a great deal about people by asking them what their favorite type of music is. From classical opera, to rock and roll and even pop, music definitely has a drastic influence on people today as well as in the past. A small town like Washingtonville could have millions of artists and bands playing in the ears of its residents. 

While it is true that music has changed noticeably, it has not necessarily gotten better or worse, and with 2018 slowly coming to a close, there is a serious need to take a look into the minds of listeners.  To do so, a well known app called Spotify  researched what people were listening to this year and analyzed how it compered to what older generation listened to in the past.

This year, Spotify, who boasts a whopping 191 million listeners, brought back its annual review known as Spotify Wrapped which shows the various songs, genres and artists most listened to by, not only specific listeners, but the whole Spotify population. According to this well known app, along with Vox Magazine, this year's most listened to artists were Drake, Post Malone, XXXtentacion, Ed Sheeran and J. Balvin.  While many people may have heard of these artists, Washingtonville student Nicole Younger begs to differ. “I have listened to some of them before but they are definitely not my most listened to artists and I don’t even know who J. Balvin is, so I’m confused as to why he’s a top artist.” 

Spotify is an excellent app for music lovers.

The shift from Jazz, and Rock 'n Roll to the age of pop, R&B, and rap is intimidating. Many would even argue that as music has aged, it has gotten worse. “I think music is much more repetitive and you just hear the same things over and over again. There are a few artist now a days that are really trying to be original,”  said Elizabeth Stremochow.  Opinions are usually strong when it comes to music so it is difficult for people to get on board with some of today’s top hits, especially for people who are set in their ways. 

Music is always changing and evolving, even if  the effects do not.  Though everyone has clear feelings towards certain music genres, listeners should, on some level, try to appreciate new and old music and accept that we are in a  society that is constantly changing.