For high school students across the country, music is an outlet, a way to escape their daily lives and express themselves. Every student has different habits and opinions when it comes to listening to music, such as their favorite and least favorite artists, when they prefer listening to music and why they enjoy listening to music. On average, high school students spend 2.5 hours a day, or 38 days a year, listening to music.
“I listen to music multiple times a day for at least 30 minutes and no more than seven hours a day,” Charlotte Robinette, freshman, said. “I like to listen to Taylor Swift, Gracie Abrams, Kendrick Lamar and Billie Eilish.”
West Po students all have different artists that they like to listen to. A survey done by the WP Wire found that the most popular artists were Billie Eilish and SZA. Additionally, the most popular song was, “All the Stars” by Kendrick Lamar and SZA.
“I love ‘All The Stars’ because it has a great contrast between beautiful vocals and rap,” Kate Barber, freshman, said.
A study done by Healthline found that music can help students manage intense emotions, boost mood, reduce stress and often becomes a conversation starter with their peers who have similar music tastes.
“Music makes me so much happier, and it helps me stop thinking about everything stressful happening in my life,” Lucy Miller, freshman, said.
Social media has become the new record store for high schoolers. Instead of shopping in-person for new music or listening to the radio, they turn to social media, like TikTok and Instagram, in search of trending songs. Nowadays, artists can get popular off of just a 60-second reel. Many trending artists became popular from TikTok: Sombr, Olivia Dean and Chappell Roan. However, many may find that these artists songs are overplayed or overhyped because of social media.
“I think Sombr is overrated. I like some of his music, but I am not a huge fan,” Kate Barber, freshman, said.
Music isn’t one-dimensional, and everyone has their own habits when it comes to listening to music. Some people only listen to pop, while others only listen to rap. One thing that stays the same is that people always want to find new music that they can listen and relate to.
“Go out of your comfort zone because that’s how you find your favorite artists, by just listening to random songs,” Miller said.
