Have you ever met someone who didn’t listen to music, or liked it at all for that matter? Neither have we. The fact is, the majority of people are plugged in to beats regularly.
Walking down the streets of Montreal, it’s hard not to notice the incredible street style and uniqueness that Montrealers possess. You can’t help but wonder what genre of music is going through the wire.
Venturing out to Concordia’s Sir George Williams Campus, namely the Webster Library and the Hall Building, we asked a sample of 50 students, “what are you listening to?”
As expected, finding students with earphones on was an easy task. However, getting them to divulge the details was another story.
Some were a little shy to expose the truth behind their musical taste. Others admitted to being equally curious about what another person on the street was listening to. Others were just using their headset to speak on the phone—we apologized for the interruptions. All in all, we were able to get some Concordia students to share their likes—and very few dislikes—when it comes to music.
Time and again, students expressed that they “like everything.” On a positive note, it exemplified the open-mindedness of Concordia students when it comes to listening to the universal language that is music.
Getting down to it though, there was real variety in individual preferences.
“I like alternative rock, can you tell?” said Concordia student, Shane O’Gorman,who was wearing an AC/DC t-shirt.
Bands like Arctic Monkeys and Fall Out Boy were also on the playlists of rock fans at Concordia.
From there, the answers ranged anywhere from hardcore rap, to electronic music, to Beethoven classics.
Student Brandon Johnston even passed over his headphones to give us a listen to Nicolas Jaar——a unique electronic, yet ruminative sound.
By the end of the questioning, electronic music seemed to be the genre that reigned supreme among the rest. Students were caught listening to songs by Zomboy, Chris Liebing, Carlo Lio, and Dubfire.
Hip-hop music was also a common preference among the students asked.
Software engineering student, Eric Philippona, who had Joey Bada$$’s “World Domination” playing, said he sticks to rap music because, “it pumps me up.”
This had to be the most common response students gave for listening to their respective genre of music; the music that people chose was always a reflection of their mood.
The one student who admitted to having compositions by Beethoven in their iTunes library, said it was soothing to listen to while studying.
Ena Trebinjac, who studies economics at Concordia, laughed when she shared. While she listens to everything,she happened to be listening to reggaeton from her Zumba course.
“It could be a lot of different music, like today I was listening to ‘Lady Marmalade,’ which is an old song but it’s upbeat,” said psychology student, Cassandra Fehr. “I always listen to music that’s upbeat.”
One interesting observation that Fehr agreed with was that the male students at Concordia seem to be more plugged in to their playlists than their female counterparts.
As much as there is variety in the genres of music that Concordia students choose, they all have one common attribute: the feel of the music is what determines its playing power. If an artist has the capacity to convey a message through their song and a listener has the ability to feel something from it, it will most likely be found in one’s playlist.
