Music taste is often subjective, and this can be difficult when trying to find new friends and relate to other people. Music taste does matter in this aspect, but you should not feel ashamed of your own personal tastes. If you like a song and someone does not agree with you, that is not the end all and be all of your relationship with someone. To help understand why you may like some songs, I will be delving into specific traits that may help you find people of your likeness.

Many things can be seen from one’s personal taste in music, there are five things that can influence your likeness to specific songs. A person’s personality traits and mannerisms can reflect their specific taste in songs and sound. Along the same vein, the common phrase of “this is who I am” can be signified by a person’s eclectic tastes, spawning the idea that music has much more value to the listener than what the song is really about or what it sounds like.

 Age also plays a role in musical preference, as people tend to listen to music as young adults or adolescents, and that music tends to persist into adulthood. Context is also key, as a specific song may have been played at someone’s wedding and while the song may not be all that good, the happy memory the song reminds you of trumps anything else. Likewise, you may listen to more intense music when you work out and at home you may listen to songs that are more relaxing due to the context of what you’re doing at the time. Exposure also effects a persons taste in music, as being more familiar with the songs language or rhythm can make someone feel more comfortable listening to that song as well as background information and context of what the song is about.

To delve more into at least one of these sub-genres, there is more to specific personality traits involving music. According to Kendra Cherry, The Big Five personality traits that are involved with your specific music taste are:

  • Neuroticism: A person who tends to prefer music that is highly stimulating and low in grammatical elements like rhyming and rhythm of words.
  • Extraversion: A person who tends to prefer music that not as highly stimulating.
  • Openness: A person who tends to prefer music high in grammaticality, rhythm, and song depth.
  • Agreeableness: A person who tends to prefer music lower in stimulation and grammaticality but higher in depth and meaning.
  • Conscientiousness: A person who tends to prefer music lower in stimulation and high in depth and meaning.

Kendra’s research has also shown that a person who is more extroverted, conscientious, or agreeable tend to have a wider variety of music taste across many genres compared to people who fall under neuroticism who have shown to have less diverse taste in music.

Keep in mind that this is a study and not a rubric for your own musical taste. Make sure that you follow your heart and what you enjoy first and foremost, as that is what truly matters. When you are more confident with your own choices, you will find those who reciprocate that feeling.

#Music#MentalHealth#Fun#TRU#Campuspopcorn

Sound Sources:

Information Sources: