If you ask someone what kind of music they listen to, they seldom give a straight answer. They might say “anything but country,” “anything but rap,” or, if they’re particularly pretentious, “I don’t really listen to mainstream stuff.” But why? One of the best things about music is that there’s some for everyone. And I don’t mean there’s a genre for everyone—I mean every genre of music has something you probably like.

I love dodie, but I can’t get enough of “bfg Divison.” I like The Head and The Heart’s folk but also Neck Deep’s angst. If I never grew out of “not liking rap,” I would never have found Atmosphere, Chance The Rapper, or Run The Jewels. If I adamantly refused to listen to country, I never would have enjoyed “Drifting”, Johnny Cash, or Willie Nelson. Had I concluded that “mainstream music” is manufactured for brainwashed sheeple, I would miss out on The Chainsmokers, Twenty One Pilots, or Drake.

The point is, never write off music simply because it fits into a specific genre or is created by a certain artist. I specifically remember listening to “Closer” and preparing to start another song when I realized, “if this song was by a less popular artist, I would’ve added it immediately.” My pretentious predisposition toward popular music nearly prevented me from adding a song I enjoyed to my Spotify collection. I almost wrote off an artist’s entire discography just because they were “mainstream.”

As for genre, I lived a solid 16 years believing I hated rap. All rap. If the vocals weren’t pitched, I wouldn’t listen to it. I don’t remember which came first, but I was introduced to Atmosphere, Chance The Rapper, Kendrick Lamar, Eminem, and Run The Jewels. I fell in love with Atmosphere and Chance’s upbeat, melodic songs, and I revered the other three for their creative lyrics and pump-up power. I learned that rap is much broader genre than I first assumed.

This doesn’t mean you can’t dislike music. You just shouldn’t dislike something before you listen to it, for any reason. Popularity and genre affect your enjoyment of a song about as much as the color of the cup affects your enjoyment of a coffee. Musical preference is entirely subjective: you might hate a chart-topper and love something with <1,000 Spotify plays. Likewise, you might love a popular artist people love to hate (Justin Bieber, Nickelback, Taylor Swift), and that’s okay. Most of those people haven’t even listened to them in the first place.

Genre is another factor that shouldn’t deter you. In fact, the closer you look at the genre, the more confusing it gets, and the less it means. For example, this is a tree of metal subgenres. I’d wager there are at least ten different genres in there. Even more, metalheads are notorious for endlessly arguing about what genre a certain artist fits into, which further supports that even genre is subjective. A genre can also be incredibly broad. Within country, there’s country pop, bluegrass, folk rock and, (my personal favorite name) bro-country. If someone decides “I don’t like country,” its impossible to explore all these vastly different genres.

I now realize this entire article can be condensed into a well-known phrase: “Don’t knock it ‘til you try it.” However cliché, it is still true. The only person you’re hurting by not trying new things is yourself. Casting aside prejudice and a snobbish attitude vastly increases one’s enjoyment of everything, especially my favorite thing: music.