Expand Your Horizons

Everybody has a type of music they listen to.  Or a favorite band or singer.  They fall in love and listen to it on repeat, then it gets old and they find a new album or group of the same kind of music, and the cycle repeats itself.  The easiest way to stop this is to expand your horizons.  This is one of the many things I have learned how to do from my dad, who keeps hundreds of CD's on his office from Def Leppard, to Lady Gaga, to Mumford & Sons.

One of his tricks is to watch award shows.  He doesn't pay much attention to the performances, because those will be the most popular songs by the artists, or their new single that you will hear on the radio over and over for the next three months.  He pays more attention to album of the year, and artist of the year.  This tells him what other people found to be really good, then he will go and but the album.  The reason he does this is to hear the 10-15 songs that are good, that you don't hear on the radio.

From this, you can find a lot of really cool songs that you never would have known.  I myself am guilty of hearing a song, and rather than going and buying the entire album, I buy the single song, then listen to is over and over until it gets old.  This is also a good way to discover new people, because, especially with the Grammy's, a lot of people that aren't huge names also get nominated.  This way you're not listening to the same people all the time. By not listening to the same people, you expand what types of music you listen to.

Sometimes, though, you go and but an album that you thought would be really good, and you end up disappointed.  This happened to me with The Lumineers.  I heard one song that was pretty cool, so I wanted to hear all the other album music, which wasn't so great.  But I didn't let that stop me, I simply learned that I wasn't a fan of that particular group.  I still try to find as many new groups or styles as I can.  And it might not always be the group, it could be just the one album.  For example, I got really into the band fun. a while back, and got their "Some Nights" album.  It was and still is one of my favorites. But their first album "Aim and Ignite" wasn't too hot to me.

I'm not telling you to go buy the entire CD section at Target, I'm just trying to give you ideas on how to not become burnt out on the same music over and over again.  Happy Hunting!!