R+P Post 2: Myself as a music consumer

I love listening to music, it has always been a big part of my life. When I was younger I would often hear music played in my house by family members. We love to listen to music together and dance, these memories are one of the reasons why listening to music always puts me in such a great mood.

I listen to music on a daily basis, when traveling to and from school also in my free time.

Childhood:

Foolish by Ashanti is one of my favourite songs from my childhood as it is one I remember being played by my parents. I was about 4 or 5 at the time so I wasn't able to completely understand what the song was about but I knew that I loved the rhythm, the beat and the vocals. I really liked the fact that the song sampled the beat of The Notorious BIG's One More Chance/ Stay With Me. The song was also very memorable as the video is a parody of Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas.

These references to other media products have a positive effect on the audience as it draws on other successful products to make for good entertainment and touch on our emotions through devices such as nostalgia.

Early Teens:

Throughout my early teens my music tastes seemed to diversify as I started actively looking for songs to listen to. No One by Alicia Keys was one of the first songs that I truly listened to the lyrics, the empowering lyrics really resonated with me as I could relate to them whilst still being entertained by the amazing vocal ability of Alicia Keys. This song was also very memorable to me as it was one of the songs that I could never escape, I remember being on holiday and still hearing the song play on the radio.

This is relevant to our project as we will need to pick a good song that our target audience will be able to relate to whilst still being able to escape from their everyday problems and routines.

Now:

Currently I still listen to a fairly wide variety of genres depending on the mood I am in or the mood I want to be in. Unlike when I was very young, at my age now I want to not only listen to music that has a good beat but also meaningful lyrics that I can resonate with. No Role Modelz by J. Cole is a song that fits this criteria. In the song, despite being a rap artist, J. Cole denounces the lifestyle commonly associated with rap artists and in the meta lyrics Cole describes his struggle to conforming with the aforementioned lifestyle. Cole's delivery allows the audience to escape from their normal life and walk in his shoes and understand where he is coming from whilst still entertaining the audience.

As mentioned before, lyrics are a key area that we need to consider when choosing our sound to make sure our audience are not only entertained but are also able to find themselves reflected into the music.