Escaping the Default Playlist


 It was a stressful school night at my desk and I had piles of homework. But somehow, I was able to drown all that noise and stress out with the sensation of music. Sometimes, music can be an escape from the world when you procrastinate your AP Lang blog, or you realize you have an AP Bio quiz tomorrow on like 10 pages of notes that you haven't even started studying for. However, some music, like songs popularized by Instagram and TikTok, can feel old and overplayed, and sometimes even annoying. Just like how David Foster Wallace taught us to be more conscious in life in This is Water, we should also be more conscious in deciding what music we listen to, because some of the most popular music, quite frankly, is horrible.

Imagine this, you come home from a busy day at school and as you throw your bag to the floor and plop onto your bed, you decide to watch some Instagram Reels. As soon as you open the app, however, the first thing you hear is that gosh darn 6 7 song or another overplayed Kendrick song for the 100th time. Reel after reel, its all you see, so you just decide to get off your phone.    

You see, apps like Instagram simply become unenjoyable once braindead songs take over. This is exactly why I feel like people need to break out of these default playlists that social media forces onto us. Music should feel like your transcending into a grassy, tranquil plane, or should make you feel like you can punch a hole in a brick wall. Quite frankly, I don't feel any of that when Spotify shuffles me to "Not Like Us" or "Anxiety".

Escaping this default playlist wont only make our ears happier, but maybe, just maybe, we won't have 5-year-olds talking about how they just stuffed 6-7 crayons up their nose in the first grade. I know finding good music is hard, and people have different taste in music. However, I think we can all agree that overplaying any genre or any song ruins it for everyone. Social media should be an outlet for exposure to all artists, not just Kendrick Lamar. Lets not let overplayed music take over and ruin that sensation that we all know and love, the sensation of happiness, through tasteful music across all genres.

Comments

  1. Ansh GhorpadeSeptember 14, 2025 at 12:53 PM

    I like how you tied in the idea of being more conscious, like in This is Water, to the music we listen to makes your point stronger. The way you described music as either an escape or something that can ruin the mood was really relatable, especially with how social media overplays certain songs.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anthony SalemSeptember 14, 2025 at 7:50 PM

    It was amazing that you were able to take Wallace's idea of default settings and apply it to music, it just makes the connection feel more relatable. After reading, it made me think about how much apps like Instagram can influence what we actually listen to without us realizing.

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