Whether you’re going on a jog, working on a project, or driving your car, music is something that you can always enjoy when multitasking. It’s something that can receive your full attention, your partial attention or no attention at all, the soundtrack or background music of your life. Music has such an enormous impact in so many people’s lives. It can affect your mood, change your perception, and even inspire you to create your own art. For me personally, music has always been a big part of my life and continues to influence me in new ways every day. Music has been there for me in my best days and in my worst and has helped me become the person I am today.

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          Since I was little, I have been interested in all different genres of music, partially because of how I was raised. My parents and brothers have introduced me to music at complete opposite sides of the spectrum, which is the main reason I have such a diverse taste in music now. Among my favorites from my younger years include The Beatles, Queen, AC/DC, and Journey.

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          Songs can act as time capsules for memories. I think back to all the times when my parents and I have been listening to the radio and seemingly random songs come on that spark memories in my parents’ minds. Whether it is a memory shared from their 25 years together or a memory from before they met, their faces light up with joy as they remember and reminisce with music from their past. As soon as the song finishes, a story always follows as they explain the memory the song triggered in their brains. Throughout the years, I have listened to all kinds of music. Here is a list of songs and albums that have become beacons of memories for me and the people in my life they have become connected to in my mind. These memories will stick with me for the rest of my life because of the songs they are connected to.

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• Songs About Jane by Maroon 5 – road trips with my brothers when I was a little kid

• 1985 and Ohio (Come Back to Texas) by Bowling For Soup – OSU football game tailgates

• Umbrella by Train – my third grade talent show

• I Got a Feeling by the Black Eyed Peas – drives home from school with my brothers

• Feliz Navidad – Family Christmas every year since birth

• Prism by Katy Perry – my first concert ever

• 5 Seconds of Summer – my favorite band in middle school

• Made in the A.M. by One Direction – a road trip my freshman year of high school with new friends

• In Too Deep by Sum 41 – trying to impress my crush my sophomore year of high school

• Reputation by Taylor Swift – this album came out while I was at the lake with my best friends at the time

• Dream Your Life Away by Vance Joy – my first job ever

• Broadway Music – musical theater my junior year of high school

• Oceans by Hillsong United – my high school youth group

• Malibu Nights by LANY – the summer before my senior year of high school

• Drops in the Ocean by Hawk Nelson – the retreat I directed my senior year of high school

• Yellow by Coldplay – when I was the yearbook editor for my school

• Make you Feel My Love by Adele – KAIROS, the retreat I went on my senior year of high school

• Magic in the Hamptons by Social House – first semester of college

• 3 Nights by Dominic Fike – nights in the library my freshman year of college

• Kirk by DaBaby – nights with my friends during second semester of college

• The Fall of Hobo Johnson by Hobo Johnson – my time in Tulsa during quarantine

• Rearrange Us by Mt. Joy – painting banners downstairs at my sorority house

• When We Were Friends by the Backseat Lovers – love interests in college

• Ragweed by Koe Wetzel – late night drives this year with my best friends

 

          Music has been there for me in some of my greatest moments recently. It was there when I made memories with my best friends on late night drives, when I laughed until I cried with my roommates, when my friends and I sporadically road tripped to Edmond, and so many more. Differently, music has also been there for me in some of my worst moments recently. It was there for me when I was having trouble making friends my first semester of college and when I was having mental health issues this past year. In a way, music helped to push me through the hard times and gave me hope. It reminded me of my friends and of all the beautiful moments that life has to give. I have found that music has such an impact on me because I become connected to the stories that songs tell. I begin to feel what the musicians were feeling when they wrote the songs, and I begin to create my own feelings attached to the songs.

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          My favorite thing about music is that it can bring people together. Across the globe, people live completely different lives but often times listen to the same music. Whether it be Beatlemania, Bieber Fever, or One Direction Infection, the globalization of music has led to worldwide communities of people obsessing over the same musicians. A band that plays concerts in the United States also plays the same concerts in Australia and in Europe. I think it’s beautiful that because we all go through different things in life, we all feel different emotions when listening to songs. One person can feel immense joy from listening to a song while a different person can feel sadness from a song because of the memories attached.

 

          Music can have such an impact on our lives. For me personally, music has inspired me to take leaps of faith, cheered me up on my worst days, and made my best days even better. It is so important to me to remember all of the most important memories in my life and music helps me do just that.