As the leaves fall, your preferences may change. Your Summer playlist might not be the same party vibe throughout those colder months. You might find yourself listening to your comfort songs when it’s cold and wet outside, and you just want to hide under your duvet. Summer seems like the time to try new things and have adventures. Is this the same with your music choices?
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Listening to music isn’t just something to pass the time. For many it’s an experience. Each piece of music will change depending on what you listen to it on, what volume, and even where you are. Hearing music while studying in your bedroom isn’t quite the same as listening to it while at a party, is it? We hear music every day, it’s all around us. Even if we don’t choose to listen to music, by going to the store or gym etc we’ll hear it.
All activities change with the seasons. You’re probably far more likely to jump out of bed in the morning and go for a run when the weather is warm and dry. By the time Winter rolls around, it’s hard enough even getting out of your cosy bed, let alone getting active. Do the activities we do impact the music we listen to? I’d say they massively do. You’re not going to listen to the same tracks relaxing as you would cleaning the house, are you? One requires much more of a boost than the other.
How do our music choices change?
With the changing of seasons, comes the change in our taste. This isn’t just related to music. We change what we wear (for obvious reasons), what we eat, what hobbies or activities we do. Music is no different here. Autumn sees the biggest changes. Not necessarily within music but within life in general. Days are slowly getting darker and children return to school after their long summer breaks. With the clocks changing, we lose another hour of daylight, and it seems as though the fun has disappeared slightly.
Winter sees the temperature outside gets colder, we have shorter days and more darkness. This can lead to seasonal depression or other emotional changes. It also brings a lot more illnesses about. With the change in our mood, comes the change in our listening habits. We want the music to fit how we feel and that’s why we’re much more likely to listen to slower, more meaningful music throughout Winter.
When we reach Spring, life seems much more hopeful. This isn’t suggesting that life was miserable before, but now we all have a new lease of life to look forward to. It suggests a fresh start. New life starts to form and flowers and trees resurface after they spent months sheading their leaves. This is where our music taste may become a bit more adventurous again. We’re feeling a lot more upbeat and positive about what’s to come. We are ready for Summer and it’s almost here. Life seems a little easier to manage. Our workload doesn’t seem as daunting.
Once we hit Summer, everything is great. Children see their long break from school, families come together for holidays or celebrations and more time is spent outdoors. It’s no secret that being outside is good for the mind. We’re excited, we’re ready to have fun. The late nights are here, and we’ve gained back the hour we lost. We want to dance and enjoy ourselves and this is where the music choices change again.
Studies into these changes
Studies into this theory have found that college students do in fact change their music preferences depending on the season. During Autumn and Winter, the students who took part in this study said to favour blues, jazz and folk music. Whereas once Summer came around, they wanted to listen to electronic/dance music.
Does this perhaps have anything to do with the way you listen to these different genres? With jazz and folk music, you tend to be in a calmer setting, not necessarily crowded by people. However, with EDM you are usually found in the middle of a rave or festival, surrounded by strangers. Alongside this, your mood changes. You’re likely to be much more upbeat and happy within the warmer months. In the Winter, it’s likely you’ll favour softer, more comforting sounds rather than loud, vibrating tracks.
The study is really interesting. Our habits in everything change throughout the different seasons, so why would it be any different with our music preferences? I mean, artists wait for months to release that track at the perfect time, don’t they? They’re not going to release a Christmas song in July. Equally, they’re probably unlikely to release a Summer tune in the cold Winter months. By Summer tune, I mean the ones you need to play while dancing around your garden or the ones you’d wait all year to hear play at a festival. When the next season comes around, take note. Check out what you’re currently listening to and see if your vibe changes.
