I’ve had a few conversations like this:
Her: “So what kind of music do you like?”
Me: “I listen to pretty much everything. My day-to-day is EDM/house/techno/trace though”
Her: *internally thinking I have “bad” music choice/I’m a raver*
I feel like this genre of music gets a bad rap. So let me try to clear it up a bit.
I was walking down Manhattan NY yesterday, and it was pouring rain. But I had my EDM music, and I was doing just great. I think the final straw that made me want to write this post was I came to a relationzation that I always knew, but didn’t really think about:
EDM keeps me from depression.
People listen to music for a lot of reasons; they want to feel a certain way, it reminds them of something, what have you.
But for me, it’s more of a way to stave off negative thoughts that often go through one’s head. Now I’m not saying I’m depressed; I think everyone has negative thoughts, and we all find different ways to cope/migtigate them. Mine is this music.
Take this song as an example:
This is one of my favorites. I actually played this on the radio when I was a intern DJ for a short stint at KUCI(UCI’s radio show). I had someone from Newport Beach call in and ask me what the song was because they liked it so much! So it’s not just me that feels this way about this music.
This song basically is upbeat, happy, cheerful. You can’t listen to it with a frown on your face; now it’s a little different than my regular house/EDM/techo music because it has lyrics, but it’s still pretty indicative of the stuff I listen to.
Here’s another example, the song I was listening to in Manhattan when I decided to write this blog post:
It starts out slow, but it gets strong and eventually has a very “upbeat feel to it”.
It just brings happiness.
“Great Kevin; but lots of songs are upbeat. Why not pick someone else like like T-swizzle, which has really upbeat stuff”
Great question.
The other big reason I listen to this type of music:
It has no lyrics.
You can put on an EDM playlist for 45 minutes and not hear one word. It’s great. And it’s important for me, because as a software engineer I listen to a LOT of music at work. Like I typically go through 5-6 hours of music a day. Now if I have someone talking in my ear that whole time It’d be very distracting (and I’m already easily distracted enough).
There are some other good things about EDM/techo/house.
It’s typically a pretty fast, consistent BPM. And that makes it *perfect* for running, another one of my hobbies.
So I can just put on an playlist of EDM songs that I’ve never heard, and I can actually sometimes keep pace of my running with it! How cool is that??(Yes, I know a lot of people say that’s bad form; that’s for another discussion).
Another note on EDM while running, depending not he sub-genre you’re listening to, you can get that extra “push” you need to get over something when the “drop” happens or the buildup happens. Which is cool.
Lastly, this type of music is pretty repetitive. Which is perfect! Because it just fades into the background, almost as white noise, allowing you to focus on what you’re doing: wether that’s running, working on something, or just sitting around in your room.
So to recap, here’s why I like the music:
1) It’s upbeat and happy
2) It’s not distracting because it has no words
3) There’s basically an endless supply of it
4) It’s perfect for keeping pace and pushing you when running
5) You can easily zone-out to it.
I hope that’s enlighten you a bit to the genre and why I tend to listen to it pretty much every single day.
