How Forgoing Genre-Stubbornness Saved My Music Taste

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Ryan Clemens

As a teenager, I was, admittedly, always quite obnoxious when it came to my music taste. Not that I thought mine was superior, but more that I’d put myself in a genre box and refused to even entertain anything outside of it. The Submarine soundtrack was on repeat, Ultraviolence had just been released, The 1975 were just breaking out, and the fishnets and glitter made me the most staple and cliché indie fan girl (extensive bucket hat collection included).

Since then, I’ve decided that maybe indie music isn’t all that. Not that I don’t still love dancing to Wolf Alice, screaming to Catfish and The Bottlemen and flicking through my vinyl collection to listen to the most underground indie artist I can find, but my music taste has definitely expanded and evolved. My Spotify is now, essentially, a confusing mish-mash of centuries and genres, from soothing alt-rock (Bon Iver), to thrilling punk (Soft Play), pop-princesses (Charli XCX), rap (Doja Cat), darkwave (Vestron Vultures), and even the odd grime track (Dave). I’d absolutely still refer to myself as an indie alternative girl at heart, and my gig ticket purchases definitely prove this, but I’m no longer naïve in my listening habits.

Along with this, I’m also (surprisingly) willing to admit when I’m wrong about an artist, and it’s happening a lot more frequently than I’d like. So, without further ado, I’d like to introduce you to some artists that were once subjected to eye-rolls but are now staples in my playlists.

One Direction

Starting at the very beginning, I think the first band I ever actively disliked was One Direction. At 11/12 years old I was too busy listening to Paul Weller on my MP3 player to entertain five lads singing about love, but from peer-pressure and friend groups, I ended up getting a ticket to see them at Manchester’s Etihad. I didn’t want to be the only person there not knowing any of the songs, so I reluctantly bought their (at the time) first two CD’s, and before long I was counting down the days until I could buy Midnight Memories. The change of heart was so quick I ended up with whiplash, if they follow suit of Oasis and Pete Doherty’s Babyshambles, you best bet you’d find me front and centre.

Harry Styles

…and by proxy, the fan-proclaimed frontman himself. You’d think that having gone through the same process with his band that I wouldn’t make the same mistake twice… right? The track hasn’t necessarily grown on me since, but Styles has – the release of ‘Watermelon Sugar’ was incredibly ill-timed with my indie-blindness, but admittedly, it really isn’t one of his best releases. It took me a while to listen to Harry Styles, and Fine Line still wasn’t a masterpiece, but Harry’s House was the soundtrack to my 2022. The release of the album made me rethink my quick judgments of his earlier releases, and though his most recent will always have a special place in my heart, it made me appreciate the artistry of its predecessors.

Chappell Roan

I think the artist I regret the most not giving a chance to sooner is pop-princess Chappell Roan. The first song of hers that I heard (which is now unashamedly my most listened to track of recent months) was ‘Femininomenon’. The line “Get it hot like Papa John” made me cringe beyond belief, and it’d be a few weeks before I gave her another chance.

I was listening to my girl-pop playlist when Spotify’s most disliked “playing tracks for you” function threw some Chappell into the mix. Instead of rushing for a skip, I let the infectious chorus of ‘Hot To Go’ leave a lasting mark on my brain, and ever since I’m a certified fan, and I’ll always regret jumping on the bandwagon just that little bit too late to nab gig tickets.

The Last Dinner Party

Certain without a shadow of a doubt that they were industry plants, I completely refused to even listen to The Last Dinner Party before I quickly judged them as a poor ABBA-adjacent imitation. It wasn’t until I realised they were set to play Leeds Festival the day I was attending (a set I ended up missing) that I gave them a go. Where ‘Nothing Matters’ felt very cliché and on the nose for a girl band, ‘The Feminine Urge’ is a sonic masterpiece, and their debut record, Prelude To Ecstasy, is more than worthy of the critical acclaim it achieved.

Peace

When I was first getting into my “indie phase”, Peace had just released ‘Bloodshake’ and everyone and their dog at my school was obsessed with it, to the point where even their name was annoying, so I couldn’t even bear to try and listen to them. Fast forward almost a decade and I’ve seen them more times than I can count, and if the aux-cord is ever passed over, you best bet Peace are gonna be one of the artists I put on.

Sabrina Carpenter

To give myself some credit here, I did like Sabrina Carpenter ‘Nonsense’-era, but I never paid her much attention until the love-hate relationship I had with ‘Espresso’. Initially, ‘Espresso’ was the most annoying song I’d ever heard, no exaggeration, but it quickly (incredibly quickly) became my most listened to track of the year. And yes, I may have got sucked into the Carpenter-Keoghan drama (especially with The Killing Of A Sacred Deer being one of my favourite movies), but her sophomore record genuinely is a work of art. The first track ‘Taste’ somehow manages to sum up the entire record in a short two and a half minutes, and ‘Bed Chem’ is just undeniable.

Beyoncé 

When I was growing up, Destiny’s Child were everywhere, and I was never much a fan of girl groups in my pre-teenage years. When Beyoncé went solo, I wasn’t particularly interested, and my ears never pricked when she came on the radio. 2016, however, brought the seminal Lemonade, and though I didn’t discover it until roughly half a decade later (courtesy of James Acaster), I still regard it as one of my favourite records of the 2010s. She stepped away from her overtly pop-girl roots, and created her own genre filled with pragmatism and vulnerability – an emotion she was forced to explore in the aftermath of her marital breakdown. This quick jump in genre is what brought her onto my radar as a serious artist, and considering her as such is one of the best decisions I ever made.

$UICIDEBOY$

Last but not least is a band that I not necessarily disliked, but just didn’t find themselves fitting into any of my moods. I was first introduced to them by my sibling circa 2017, but it wasn’t until I met my now-fiancé that I ever heard a $UICIDEBOY$ track. Dark hip-hop rap that largely focuses around hopelessness and self-abrasive lyricism was never my fieldhouse. But I came to respect the talent they had as a duo producing manic cuts and they’ll always remain as one of the best acts I’ve seen live – most notably for their impressive stage presence and infectious performance.

Even if you don’t give any of these artists a chance, the strong take-home message from this is to not let stubbornness and categories get in the way of discovering your next favourite thing (whether it be music or otherwise). I jumped away from my roots, and even though my vinyl collection is now a genre-mess, I couldn’t be happier.

Words by Lana Williams


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