KAYLEY BRADY-ESTES
reporter
collegian.editor@tccd.edu
The music people listen to can impact their outlooks on life. TCC students are talking about what they’re listening to and what headspace it puts them in.
Connect student Selena Cruz said she loves listening to rock, metal, screamo, alternative/indie and sometimes pop. She listens to Papa Roach when she cleans, specifically the songs “Help” and “The Fire.”
“My favorite artist is Pierce the Veil because I enjoy the melodies they put together, and they bring back many good memories of when I was growing up in the 90s,” Cruz said.
She believes music and people’s emotional states correlate. Like when people work out, they listen to upbeat music to give them more adrenaline.
“My thoughts on mainstream music is that it is trash,” Cruz said. “Music today is fluffed with unrealistic expectations and violence, and it’s hard to relate it to everyday life. The message the artist put in their work set the younger generation to have a certain expectation that forces them to compromise their morals for the sake of being cool and fitting in.”
Connect student Meaghan Butler said she listens to a little bit of everything when it comes to music, but R&B is what she listens to the most.
“I don’t have specific songs for occasions or moods, but for me, it’s all about the setting,” Butler said. “For example, if I’m on a road trip, country music is what’s on as a great way to jam out. Or on rainy days, I want soulful music with a woman with raspy vocals.”
Butler said she constantly discovers new artists and always looks for new music to enjoy.
“If I had to pick a favorite song, it would be Yamz by Masego and Dave Morrison,” she said. “That’s because the music video brings a new meaning to the song and simulates togetherness with the ones you love and being the best version of yourself.”
Butler said she believes music and emotional state correlate because if people listen to something that matches their mood, it can either uplift or leave people stagnant.
“Music that kids listen to now differs from when I was growing up,” she said. “Music today only excites me if they tap into the 90s era of music. It’s a bit raunchy, and I think it desensitizes kids to adult themes they shouldn’t be concerned with.”
NE student Janisty Brown said she listens to multiple genres, mostly R&B. Brown doesn’t listen to any particular songs for specific occasions or moods but lets her playlist dictate the mood.
“My favorite two artists are Raveena and Sabrina Claudio,” Brown said. “I love Raveena since her music takes me out of this world into a trippy fantasy land, and it relaxes me. I enjoy Sabrina Claudio because of her stories, and I always seem to relate to them.”
Brown said her favorite songs are “Petal” by Raveena and “IOU” by Claudio. She said that Petal makes her want to daydream, and that “IOU” reminds her of her past.
“’IOU’ talks about how the artist felt she owed her man in a relationship because he loved her. The guy in the relationship was a terrible person to the artist,” she said. “That’s how I felt in my early teenage years, but people who make you feel that way don’t tend to be good for you. It reminds me to know my worth and my limits.”
Brown said music and emotional state correlate strongly due to good artists putting emotion into their craft. The emotion in a song can trigger a good or bad memory, and when a song comes on, it can give the listener nostalgia.
“Mainstream music now is overly sexualized and overly violent,” she said. “There is much more to life than sex, partying, drugs and violence. Glamorizing that lifestyle puts kids in a stronger position to think that behavior is OK. I wish more meaningful messages in music were what makes the tabloids.”
