Let me be basic

In light of Spotify Wrapped dropping, I feel the need to defend my taste.

I came of age in the 2010s hipster craze… in Seattle. To be a hipster, meant listening to underground artists, attending garage band concerts, and getting into everything before it was cool.

I dove into this aesthetic, bought vintage, spun records, and listened to bands you’ve still never heard of.

Here are some cringy Instagram photos to prove it:

But in 2017, to my utter horror, Taylor Swift was my top artist on Spotify. I considered learning Photoshop just to avoid embarrassment in front of my too-cool-for-school, indie music snob friends.

My friends roasted me (Reputation era Taylor Swift fans remember), but I learned something important.

The hipster culture I adored wasn’t as authentic as I thought.

At rock bottom, being a hipster didn’t mean being yourself. It meant rejecting the glossy, hyper-conformist youth culture of the early 2000s. It felt like payback for all the kids who mocked me in middle school for reading novels during recess by being the most artsy, insufferable version of myself imaginable.

Yet the Taylor Swift debacle taught me that striving to be unique and interesting could be just as stifling as trying to fit in.

I love Taylor Swift, she speaks to my poor melodramatic soul. To hide this “basic” interest would be just as lame as hiding your love for Neutral Milk Hotel from the cheerleaders.

What I love about Spotify Wrapped season is that everyone has a “cringy” favorite, whether obscure or basic. Everyone’s music taste reflects unique often hidden parts of them, and I love learning who is a secret country music fan or what regular concertgoer only had 12,000 listening minutes this year. In some small way, we all are what we love, and I can proudly say I love Taylor Swift. There are plenty of hipster-approved deepcuts in my listening history too, because I’m a real person, not a caricature.

When a close friend asked how I love Taylor Swift so much, but also love obscure poets, opaque novels, and late antique history. He essentially meant, how do you I person I find interesting like someone who I just don’t get.

To that, I answer you with a Whitman quote, “Do I contradict myself? Very well then, I contradict myself, (I am large, I contain multitudes.)”

None of us are brands, no matter what Instagram would have us believe. We all like artists our friends just don’t get and that’s a good thing. Happy Spotify Wrapped everyone!