Music is an escape that every person selects differently. And it’s no lie that the music you listen to says a great deal about who you are, and the perspectives you hope for. By simply pressing play, you have the ability to decide how your entire day is going to go as well as the parts of your life you will connect to the most.
Sound is what wakes you up every single morning. By selecting a song from vast and varied playlists, we shape the outlook of our entire day. Whether it's the soothing sound of Jack Johnson’s guitar, or a track from the Top Pop 100 to rock you out of bed, it is your deciding moment until tomorrow, and that single sound is sometimes what separates a good day from a bad one.
We also have those guilty pleasure songs that reflect the deep crevices of the soul that we want no one to know about (yes boys, we know you like Taylor Swift). I believe these say the most. For me, it’s Coldplay and the country songs that tell real, raw stories and though they aren’t necessarily "catchy," they connect me with a feeling and put me in a pair of shoes I never thought I would have the chance to understand.
Because a song is never just a song. Memories are tied to every single one whether we want them to or not. Remember how it felt when you were driving home from school and a song came on from your shuffled playlist that took you back to a past relationship, and suddenly, you're in a funk for the rest of the day. Even when you play a throwback song from a time in your childhood that you desperately wish you could go back to; songs force us to reminisce. Those memories made you or they broke you, and they have the power to do the exact same thing to your day when they find their way back to you.
However, songs also push us toward the future. Every little girl has a song she knows will be her wedding song because she wants to tie the feeling of love into a perfect bow and wrap it around that song. Athletes play tracks on repeat that they hope will be their "walkout" song when they make it big someday. Mothers sing lullabies to their children in hopes that one day they will pass them along to their own children and so on.
Music even helps us form connections with other people. When a song or even an entire genre becomes a part of you, and you find someone that shares that same part, it’s like finding a piece of yourself in another person. Those friendships become some of the hardest to break after that. Think about the first time you ride in the car with a friend, and her music matches up almost perfectly with yours, and you have one of those weird freak-out moments and your heart flutters a tiny bit.
Music surrounds us, engulfs us, and never lets us go. We will always rely on it to travel back in time or to feel a certain way again. It brings us down and makes us whole again, sometimes in a single album. Regardless, music is one of the only things we can ever truly rely on.
