Listening to the kids music
A long time ago, I started playing around with the social features of Spotify. I started listening to playlists put together by people I followed. If you ask me, it’s the best way to discover new music. One of the people I was following at the time was my son. He had put together a few playlists, so I started listening and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. I didn’t even fully understand why. Something about seeing through the window of music into one of your own children. I couldn’t get enough of it. Almost every song had me thinking something like “I wonder why he put this on the list” or “I didn’t know he liked that song.” Sometimes the lyrics really got to me. I know that not every lyric of every song - or even any one song - resonates with him, but I have to think that something about the mood or tone or subject of the song gets to him. So I learn something about him by listening to “his” music.
As profound an experience as that was, I found myself thinking that there was a simple explanation. He and I don’t really talk about music that much. I know what genres of music he liked, generally, and I had some idea who his favorite bands were, but he wasn’t very vocal about his music preferences.
It was about this time that my daughter was really starting to express her love of music. She was the direct opposite of her brother. She started asking to sit up front in the car so she could control the music we listened to. She talked about the music she liked, and shared with us everything she could about it.
About a year ago, we subscribed to Beats Music. We all use it, but she is a power user. She creates playlists, downloads music to her phone, etc. So one day I was looking for something interesting and fresh to listen to and I thought I’d check out her playlists. It was just as much fun as listening to my son’s playlists. Sure there were more predictable songs on her lists because we listen to a lot of “her” music now, but there were sill some surprises. A lot of songs we don’t hear in the car.
A delightful experience. I highly recommend you do it, if you have the opportunity.