The opinions expressed in this article are the writer’s own and do not reflect the views of Her Campus.
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Maryland chapter.
This past summer, on a whim, I decided to go see “Twisters”, a spinoff movie to its 1996 predecessor “Twister”. Watching this movie had an extreme effect on my music taste.
It quickly drew me in with the songs in its official soundtrack. After watching the movie, I immediately began listening to tracks played in the movie on Spotify. Some well known artists in the track include Luke Combs, Miranda Lambert, Thomas Rhett, Benson Boone and Jelly Roll. While being slightly familiar with these artists and the genre this was the first time I truly took time to listen to this genre.
“Ain’t No Love in Oklahoma,” a song by Luke Combs, was the first song of the album that I began listening to. This song quickly became my most replayed song on Spotify. Listening to this song led me to explore more songs by Combs as well as other artists on the album.
This movie’s album has also led me to explore many more artists in this genre, including Zach Bryan, Chris Stapleton, and Tracy Chapman. I even listened to Post Malone’s new country album in one day while walking from class to class. My new personal favorite country album is “Higher” by Chris Stapleton. I was really intrigued by Stapleton’s lyrics as well as the melody of the songs.
While country music is an incredibly popular genre throughout the United States, I think many people can be opposed to it if they did not grow up around it. As an avid music listener, I stubbornly thought all country music sounded the same and had no relevance to me.
I think it is important to expand one’s comfort zone and to explore new genres of music as you never know what you may like or dislike. While there is definitely some country music I still do not like, I no longer ignore the entire genre. There are so many variations of different musical genres, that completely refusing to listen to one can stop you from finding music you can truly enjoy. Although I no longer listen to the music on the “Twisters album” often, it has led me to a whole new genre that I would not have originally given the chance to. This can not only be a lesson for me but also all college students.
As college students, expanding our music tastes can have different benefits. It can give us new music to listen to for walking to class, getting ready, or studying for that next exam we’ve been stressing about. Being receptive to new things enables us to embrace new and different experiences.
