Anyone who knows me well also knows my music catalog. Lots of indie alternative, lots of bands you may not have heard of, and a lot of music that I’ve seen live. As I’m writing this, I’m listening to “The Mowgli’s” which likely fits all three categories.
Last week, however, I found myself listening to an EP called “Swaay” by “DNCE.” For anyone not familiar, “DNCE” is Joe Jonas’ new band who sings the popular song “Cake by The Ocean.” This is a band that I probably shouldn’t like, but I listened to that EP for a week straight.

Recently acts like The Weekend, Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber have stormed my earbuds at times when I could’ve listened to something like “Death Cab for Cutie” or “The Avett Brothers.” As a rock and alternative music enthusiast, these drum machines, keyboards and auto tuned vocals make me feel some level of sacrilege.
I grew up on rock and roll, which developed into punk and modern alternative because I thought it gave me a sense of self if I listened to music that made me go against the grain.
But the more I think about it, pop artists make me feel just as happy as some of the smaller artists I like with even a couple of advantages.
The music I listen to is generally very catchy and the kind of music you can sing along to. Lately, my playlist has consisted of “Young The Giant,” “The 1975,” and “Foster the People,” all of which have catchy songs that you can bop your head to and sing along. But if I asked you to name more than one song by each band, you probably couldn’t.
Now, if I asked you about any of the other three pop artists I mentioned, you could name at least four songs by each, and in Taylor Swift’s case, most of her discography.
Pop music is a much better talking point than indie music because everyone knows about it and everyone has something to say about it.
I could talk to anyone about pop music for hours. I could listen to the radio for hours with friends and review every song I hear. I could talk about whether I like the beat, whether I like the lyrics, whether it’s overplayed, and whether everyone agrees with me is irrelevant because it started a conversation.
I can’t do that with a lot of the music I normally listen to because people don’t really know it. I can’t talk about “The Colourist” or “Smallpools” with a big group of people because odds are they don’t know what I’m talking about.
But the second I mention “Coldplay,” people automatically start talking about their Super Bowl performance and bring up other artists and the conversation gets bigger.
People who exclusively listen to classic music or obscure music often look down upon people who don’t dedicate all their time and money to musical discovery. They purposely try to avoid music that is made for people to enjoy, and I find that snobby and closed minded.
I’m definitely not immune to this pitfall, and lot of times, I won’t notice how good certain music is until someone plays it for me or I force myself to listen past the first thirty seconds.
The more I listen to catchy and commercial music, the more I connect with the people around me and the more I’m able to understand how they think.
The one thing I realized is that pop music makes me feel just as good as any other obscure act you’ve never seen.
I used to feel bad about liking it because I didn’t want to be labeled as “generic” or “conformist.” Then I realized that those labels don’t really matter, and as long as it isn’t hurting anyone, I should be able to be happy listening to the new Justin Bieber song. And I am.