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Category: Music

Leaving my music comfort zone..

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Growing up I rarely listened to new music, it would take a lot for me to actually put on a new song/album. The only times I typically found new songs to enjoy back then was from hearing them on the car radio or my parents put their playlists on. So for many years I was stuck in this hole of rarely leaving my "music comfort zone" and I was embarrassed about it, but for some reason it felt like a huge chore to put on a new song. I rarely spoke about my music taste with people for this reason, I always felt like a "fake fan" because I couldn't listen to an artist's full discography or even just a whole album in some cases. Everyone around me had their favorite musicians and listened to every song they made all while I had only listened to maybe one album of my "favorite artist's."

When the age 14 came around I finally started to force myself out of my comfort zone more, I listened to a few Gorillaz songs and got myself into the lore, so I spent an entire week listening to all of the albums. God that was hell LMAO. Not because I didn't enjoy the music, I'm actually madly in love with their songs, but just having to sit there for hours listening to songs I didn't know was almost physically painful. When I finally finished it was such a relief, I felt free from having to sit for hours straight and now I could call myself a "real" Gorillaz fan once and for all. 

I know now looking back on it that I didn't have to force myself to sit through every single track they released, but I always felt growing up that if you didn't submerse yourself 100% in something, could you really call yourself a fan? Yes the answer now is that you can, but little weirdo me was insecure and while current me still feels that way in a few ways, I understand now it's pretty normal to not be fully obsessed with listening to every song from any artist you like.

Since then I have been slowly leaving my comfort zone more and more; I got into Slipknot, Cannibal Corpse, Insane Clown Posse, Pierce the Veil, and some others. I still only listened to a few songs from each albums, but just getting into that many artists at a time was a lot for me and I tried to not burn myself out much lol. It wasn't until I met my current boyfriend that I finally got the courage to sit down and fully divulge myself into music for real. He introduced me to Deftones, Type O Negative, TOOL, and more Slipknot than before. 

Meeting my boyfriend really helped me get over my funk of being afraid of listening to new music and I started to feel excited to put on a new album! Thanks to him I got to reconnect with artists I enjoyed a few songs from and explore their other amazing tracks. It started with Flyleaf, I hadn't listened to "Memento Mori" before meeting him, and I ended up discovering one of my favorite songs of all time; "This Close" thanks to pulling the trigger on it. Then I went to 311, a band I enjoyed because of my dad, but I only listened to their big hits and not their full albums. Now I have fully fallen in love with their music now, it's so much fun to me. There are so many musicians I got into more thanks to my boyfriend's influence, but I won't go into all the details. I also won't give him all the credit, haha. It took a lot on my end to get out of my comfort zone and I'm proud! I'm just thankful for the push he gave me. <3

Lately I have been listening to a lot (for me) of new music and it's been really fun!! I feel more matured now that I'm able to leave my "hole," I don't feel trapped in that prison I kept myself in anymore. I have felt very alone in this situation growing up, but I'm sure I am not the only person who had/has this problem. If anyone who is like how I was happens to read this, I hope you find that thing that pushes you out of your hole and you find all the gems you have yet to hear, but don't forget there's also nothing wrong with not listening to an artist's entire discography as well, so don't push yourself.

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