Hi, I’m a WVAU DJ and I listen to Ed Sheeran.
Dominic Fike was my top artist last year. Multiple Panic! At The disco songs often find themselves in my Spotify wrapped. I was disappointed when I didn’t secure my Olivia Rodrigo tickets and I went to a Billie Eilish concert last weekend.
I have always had a soft spot for popular music. I’d like to blame working in the restaurant industry since I was 16. Maybe I’ve Stockholmed myself into the Billboard’s Top 100 after hearing the same 12 songs on rotation on a double shift. Tuning into “Mercy” by Shawn Mendes blasting over the loudspeaker while tuning out the baby whining at table 16 is seemingly justifiable.
But I know the restaurant isn’t the only reason I keep those songs in my back pocket. Going out of my way to open my own Spotify, search, queue up, then listen to it from the beginning to end might be a slight indication I just like the song no matter how I spin it.
Apparently, though, if you want to be cool ( not that’s something I’ve EVER thought about ever!!! or considered … ever… cause that would be so uncool of me……..), carrying those songs into your personal music repertoire is frowned upon by everyone else who’s screen time is 7 hours and 6 of them are on Pinterest.
But in a moment I can only explain as immaculate and holy, I pushed forward on my typical Friday morning expedition which is rush-waking to my 9:45 a.m. Finance 365 class at 9:47 a.m. I put on my beloved “joce dotcom” bedazzled headphones and pressed play. “You wanna play, you wanna stay, you want to have it all” flew into my ears so abrasively I almost fell over. There was no way I could have predicted that 2014 hit “Really Don’t Care” by pop-sensations Demi Lovato and Cher Lloyd was going to play but this reality was made possible by the remnants of a classic college Thursday night. The “ULTIMATE BAD B****** PRE GAME” playlist pulled from the Spotify search results blessed me with this opportunity
As I nearly skipped along to class clearly enjoying myself and the song playing the impending doom set in as I realized this was going to be spotted on my AirPods.
The thought alone is silly enough to send my ancestors rolling in their graves. Bloodlines survived wars, oppressions and setbacks, for me, Homo sapien circa 2004, to be worried about “Earbuds”.
So, as Demi and Cher said, I really don’t care. And you shouldn’t either. Let the others restrict themselves from belting out all the lyrics at the house party, from other people singing along to their Wingos karaoke pick, and from not being able to just like a song just because they like it and not because someone else told them it was cool.
You do not have to feel bullied by the cigarette-toting, Meraki-wearing Brooklyn micro-influencer you met at a party that one time last April to share your Spotify Wrapped knowing they will immediately call out that more than 7 people and the local rodeo horse listen to the songs you listen to. Next time someone laughs at your music taste on a first date, get up and leave! If your partner tells you they would break up with you if they caught you listening to Taylor Swift just break up with them first! Trust me, do the things I was never strong enough to do.
Take it from me, I scout at a company focused on magnifying new voices in the music industry and i’m the DEI director for WVAU where part of my job function is to make sure our music sounds “fresh” and diverse. You would assume I have a diversity quota to fill with the amount of songs I listen to with less than 1k listens but that doesn’t change that “Drops of Jupiter” by Train is a good song.
Free yourself, listen for the sake of listening
– jocedotcom