I went to work today thinking of everything I needed to do once my shift ended, and one of those things was to come up with a blog post for this week. So far, I have been taking inspiration from current events that align with my interests or using personal stories to share more about myself and what makes me, me. After hours of intermittently thinking, "Wait I still don't have a blog idea," I realized my taste in music defines me among my friends and family.
So, today we are going through the mess that is my Spotify library to discover what it means to me and how it reflects my mood.
To start off, I have to share that I mainly listen to rap or hip hop music. A lot of people are really taken aback by this when they get in my car or come over to hang out. I actually do not know where this interest stems from. Part of me thinks it is due to an overcorrection after my parents took me to numerous country music concerts before I was old enough to even know what was happening. I grew up with country music on the radio and playing on CDs in the car. When I was able to discover a different genre of music, it stuck and now I love the connection between rap artists, athletes and just pop culture in general.
I rarely listen to the radio anymore, so I keep up with new releases in rap through social media or on the Rap Caviar playlist created by Spotify.
Rap has stuck with me because I relied on it to hype me up for basketball, volleyball and soccer games in high school. I was the teammate syncing up to the BeatsPill, blasting music in the locker room or on the bus. Now, I need it to workout. The car ride from my house to the gym is the time when I change my mindset from work, school work or anything else I have going on. Here are a few of my favorite pre-workout playlists courtesy of Spotify.
The Warm Up, Locked In and Gameday.
There are times where I do not need to feel like there is adrenaline pumping through my body. Sometimes it is nice to just have some alternative music or some oldies playing while I do my homework or go for a walk. When the sun is shining and I am feeling relaxed and content, I turn to my Have A Great Day playlist, and I have a great day.
Don't get me wrong, I love spending time with my friends and family. But every now and then, a long car ride just listening and singing along to music from my middle school days is just what I need. Although I don't make the trip too often, the three hour drive from Chapel Hill to Virginia can be the most soothing alone time to just recharge my batteries. These playlists are perfect for this occasion.
As all of my readers know by now, I love all things sports. I keep up on social media and live for my ESPN notifications. Every once and awhile, I need to disconnect from my screens. I turn to the Daily Sports playlist created by Spotify. It puts together some short and some long podcasts about breaking news and current events in sports. Then, it mixes in my favorite music. Some are taken from my playlists and some are new songs that reflect what I am listening to at the time.
The best way to really understand what I consider to be my eclectic music taste, is to give my playlist, Go To Tunes, a listen. This playlist is a compilation of all my favorite songs from the time I created my Spotify account in ninth grade to today. The 18 hour selection of music follows the changes in my tastes, the people I was hanging out with, the artists I was into and so much more. It really grows with me. And every now and then, I just put it on shuffle and reminisce.
Don't ask about the cover art...I found it on the internet when I created the playlist.
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