My name is Maria Villanueva, thank you for visiting my website! I hope to help you learn a little bit about yourself through your taste in music. To me, music is the most important thing in the world. I listen to music every single day whenever I get the chance to. Although my favorite music genre is rap/hip hop, I can get down to just about anything. My favorite music artist is YoungBoy Never Broke Again. NBA YoungBoy is a rap artist that started off small in his hometown of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, which I have visited before. His music has helped me get through some pretty tough times and his music/lyrics are a big part of who I am as a person. One of YoungBoy’s songs that makes me feel as though I am on top of the world is “Like Me” featuring Kevin Gates and Stroke The Don. The song basically voices how there is no one in this world like him or anyone that even compares to him. In the song he states “you won’t find another like me, there’s a few tricks I got up my sleeve that I can blow your mind with,” these lyrics make my self esteem go from a flat zero to a straight ten. In YoungBoy’s song “Ride On Em” he goes on to confess that in his younger days there were some nights in which he went to sleep without having had dinner because his family could not afford it, but now he has made his way to the top and there is no coming down. He is referring to the fact that his life growing up was a constant struggle, but now he could not be more proud of himself for getting him and his family out of that. Those lyrics are very inspirational and motivational to me because my family too had endless struggles while I was in grade school and I’m here now putting myself through college so I can make myself a great career to help my family out and get them out of the struggle. In that sense, that is what my music taste says about me. So I wonder, does your music taste say as much about you as mine does about me?
WHAT DOES YOUR MUSIC TASTE REVEAL ABOUT YOU?
So, what do we know about the psychology of musical preferences? There are two very popular opinions on this subject. According to Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, some people believe that song preferences are completely random and the other belief being that our music choices have the ability to reflect important aspects of our personalities. There is evidence to back up both opinions, but one cannot be completely correct or incorrect or stated as fact. Individual differences in the strength of music preference are a part of psychological development. While one person gets by very well without music, another person needs to listen to music every day and spends a lot of financial resources on listening to music such as attending concerts or buying concert tickets. Where do these differences come from?
A hypothesis presented in an article titled: The Goals and Effects Of Music Listening by Thomas Schafer is that the strength of music preference is mainly informed by the functions that music fulfills in people’s everyday lives. Many people often feel that they need music to regulate their emotions and/or moods. For many, music fills a variety of functions such as giving off positive vibes, boosting ones self-esteem, or just filling the void. I know so many people my age that strongly believe that listening to their favorite music is what helps them feel better when in certain tough situations that they cannot get out of on their own. So not only can music be a helping hand to most when it comes to the emotional and psychological aspects of one’s life, but it can tell a lot about a person’s personality traits. Allow me to explain.
We all get our favorite song stuck in our head every now and then, but when it comes to music and the mind things are a lot more complicated than you think. You may judge your friends for having poor taste in music, or be proud/embarrassed by various choices on your own playlist. However, it’s rather interesting what your taste in music says about you – considering different beats, rhythms, lyrics and tones give off different reactions.
Although I have no evidence to back up my theories, only my observations, assumptions and similar assumptions of others, I strongly believe that our music taste is linked to our personalities.
For instance, I found that people that are into listening to the blues, jazz, and soul music were to be more extroverted with a high self-esteem. They also tend to be very creative, intelligent, and at ease with everything. It is very hard to make these people angry because they are so calm and understanding, very peaceful characters. Below, are pictures of Loleatta Holloway, a beautiful soul singer from the 1970’s and Jimi Hendrix, another soul musician from the late 1960’s.
Are Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre more your style? In spite of the stereotype that rap lovers are more aggressive or violent, I have actually found no such link. Rap fans do tend to have a rather high self esteem and are usually outgoing. People that are widely into rap, reggae, and dance are more likely to be outgoing, spontaneous, and gentle. I happen to fall into this category. Below I have blessed your eyes with a few of my favorite rap artists Kodak Black, Soldier Kidd, XXXtentacion along with one of the best reggae artist, Bob Marley.
Do you love seeking out obscure bands and indie artists? Fans of the indie genre are more often than not typically introverted, intellectual, and creative. They also tend to be less hardworking and less gentle. Passivity, anxiousness, and low self-esteem are other common personality characteristics I have noticed among my peers that do listen to this music genre on a day to day basis.
Please keep in mind that none of the statements I have made are meant to be offensive. They are simply my opinions based off of people I have met. Also, to help you get a better understanding of how music taste does a great job of reflecting personality, I have created 5 surveys all of which have been filled out by my peers. I have also taken it upon myself to go the extra mile and conduct a couple of interviews among friends that I know have a very diverse music taste. I chose to do both surveys and interviews because I know letting a person sit down and take a survey on their own gives them time to think over their answers hence providing me with an in depth response, versus an interview where one will usually fix to come up with your answer rather quickly so they do not keep the interviewer waiting which is what I was hoping for as I wanted to see what their very first thoughts are.
Are We What We Listen To? 