R+P Post 2: Myself as a music consumer

I love listening to music and it has always been a big part of my life. When I was younger my parents always had music playing round the house, a lot of soul, motown and RnB music form the likes of Stevie Wonder, Luther Vandeross, James Brown, Diana Ross and Michael Jackson. We love to dance around as a family and that is one of my first memories of music - dancing in the kitchen with my brother to Michael Jackson's Thriller.

I listen to music everyday on the way to and from school, during free periods and whilst I'm doing homework. Listening to music always puts me in a good mood and motivates me when I'm training and working out.


Childhood

Beautiful by Christina Aguilera was one of my favourite songs when I was around 5 or 6 years old and I even choreographed a dance to it that I performed to family and friends that came round. I loved the message of the song even at that age and the realisation that everyone feels insecure at some point in their life. As a result of the song's message and what it in turn says about Christina Aguilera as an artist, I found her very aspirational as a child and looked up to her.






Early Teens

Throughout my early teens I continued listening to a wide range of music from a lot of different genres, from country to soul to rap, and times. One song that I particularly liked was Spotlight by Jennifer Hudson. My mum and I used to sing along to this all the time and I really liked the 'girl power' feel to it as the lyrics called out the person messing her about and Jennifer Hudson basically says she's had enough.
For a young girl, I don't think it is surprising that two of the songs most influential to me were by very successful and famous female artists as they were people I could look up to and probably wanted to be like when I was older.





Now

Currently, I still listen to a lot of different music genres because depending on my mood, I want different things from the songs. Message and lyrics are very important to me but so is just having fun and enjoying the song.
One song right now that fulfils both for me is Attention by Charlie Puth which I love to dance to. Music and dance is an escape for me and lets me forget any worries and stresses that I have. This audience need of escapism and entertainment is used by record labels not just interm sof the actual song but in the music video to ensure profits.





Personally, I would like to make a music video that makes people want smile, dance and sing along to it as well as one that conveys a meaningful message that they can relate to.