Dissecting the eclectic mix of music that represents grudges, love, heartbreak, and pure accidents. Essentially, 2020 in an article.
Like thousands around the world, I spend the first few days of December anxiously awaiting my Spotify Wrapped. Opening each year’s Spotify Wrapped is the adult, audiophile version of running around the corner on Christmas morning and squealing in delight as you see beautifully wrapped presents under the glistening lights of the Christmas tree. The Spotify Santas have done it again this year; this time with each page of Wrapped more shareable than ever. As a music psychologist who studies Spotify listening habits and is constantly checking my own statistics with Obscurify, I shouldn’t be that surprised at my year’s musical hierarchies. Yet, as with most things in 2020, I had to step back and laugh for a minute when I saw this year’s top artists. There’s only one artist that I even like, much less love, in my top five.
1. The Beatles
Before I get immense hate for this, let me acknowledge that I appreciate what the Beatles did for the music industry and respect their innovation in marketing. That being said, I hate the Beatles. I’m not saying that to be edgy; I’m not one of those people who will tell you that the Beatles are overrated. Rather, I despise the fact that they stole styles from minorities and those less represented in the music industry, repurposed them, and sold them as their own without giving due credit. They also never credited many of these inspirations or the musicians who played on their albums — especially those who helped usher in a new era of “world music.”
Yet here I am, in the top 0.5% of their listeners for the year. How did we get here? After taking a course about the Beatles, I wanted educated opinions about why I hated them. I spent December and the first two months of 2020 excessively listening to their albums front to back, meticulously trying to understand and grasp why and how they made their music so alluring to generations. In the process, I discovered songs I did love, some of which still live in my head, rent-free.
2. John Mayer
Out of my five top artists in 2020, I never would have expected John Mayer to make that list, much less steal the second spot. Similar to my opinion on the Beatles, I also don’t care for John Mayer that much, at least as a person. Unfortunately, I didn’t learn about his problematic nature until after I stopped listening to him. He’s a manipulative male singer who has dabbled in nearly every controversial topic, from dating Taylor Swift when she was 19 and he was 31 to cultural appropriation to a racially charged Playboy interview in which he used the N-word and described his penis as a white supremacist.
At this point, you’re definitely wondering why he’s on my top artist list. I genuinely wish he wasn’t, and I can say with confidence that this was by complete accident and a bit of psychology. Right before the pandemic struck America, I was returning to Ithaca from a weekend trip to Toronto. John Mayer’s 2006 album, Continuum, came up on shuffle on my friend’s playlist. His soothing vocals dance around the soft sounds of guitar right from the start of the album, and after a long weekend of exploring one of Canada’s best cities, I couldn’t help but fall asleep. I found this album to be the perfect sleepy-time soundtrack, and for the next week, I listened to it before falling asleep. Unfortunately, this led to me accidentally classically conditioning myself into only being able to fall asleep to this album. For all of March, April, and May, I fell asleep to this album every night. Continuum is the only Mayer album I’ve ever listened to, and I think I only know three songs outside of it. Next time, I’ll remind myself to start a Private Listening session before I fortuitously allow someone like Mayer to steal the spot of a deserving artist.
3. The Beach Boys
I was mentally preparing myself to see the Beach Boys near the top of this list, but again, they’re far from my favorite band. Growing up, my sister’s song was “Good Vibrations.” She sang it everywhere. I, of course, was annoyed, as older sisters usually are. This led to a deep-seeded hatred of the Beach Boys and their happy-go-lucky surf melodies. Until 2020, I don’t think I had even listened to a single Beach Boys song on Spotify, but this seems to be the Year of the Beach Boys for me.
In March, I started seeing someone whose favorite band is the Beach Boys. I wasn’t a fan — on our second date, we listened to both the Beatles and the Beach Boys and argued about who was better. Being the contrarian I am, I of course argued for the Beatles. I suppose that makes me a hypocrite, too. Nevertheless, my music taste began to change. I endlessly stalked his 10 hour, 53 minute Beach Boys playlist (this time, I remembered to use a Private Listening Session), eventually making my own much shorter version, and realized that the Beach Boys are much more than just surf rock. “Don’t Worry Baby” became the song of my summer, the song that gave me endless hope that life in this pandemic would be alright. I’m okay with the Beach Boys on this ranking; although I never would have seen that coming, I think this artist represents more than any other how 2020 has forced me out of my comfort zone.
4. All Time Low
Here is the only artist that I was confident would be on my top artist list. All Time Low, my guilty emo phase pleasure, stands as not only my #4 artist of the year, but also as my top artist of all time on Spotify. I had a long emo phase, but never stopped listening to All Time Low. Their album, So Wrong, It’s Right, is pinned on my wall against my bed. I haven’t listened to as much All Time Low since the pandemic started, and I’m not a huge fan of their new pop direction. Even their new song with blackbear, my #5 artist, stands no chance next to their mid-2000s music. I may not have been proud that such a remnant of my middle school self stands so high on my list when I posted my Wrapped on Instagram, but for my own sake, I’m happy that the first band I ever loved still remains in my repertoire of music-listening.
5. blackbear
I don’t know who blackbear is, what his real name is, where he came from, or what he even sang before “hot girl bummer.” Yet, I evidently liked him enough for him to be considered one of my top artists of 2020. Off the top of my head, I can name two blackbear songs beside “hot girl bummer,” those being “do re mi” and “idfc.” blackbear is popular with teenagers and young adults, especially since some of his songs got picked up on TikTok this summer. In fact, TikTok is the first place I ever even heard “hot girl bummer,” almost a year after it was released.
Music was an integral part of a relationship that I had been in, and after we broke up, I searched manically for new music. I was determined to not ruin music for myself, and although I risk sounding like a pining, whiny heartbreak song here (ahem, John Mayer), for a while, everything seemed to remind me of him. Thanks to TikTok, “hot girl bummer” became the new song of my summer. I hiked alone, reclaiming spaces for myself and listening to “hot girl bummer” and “hot girl bummer” alone for two straight weeks. It became somewhat of an anthem for myself and my roommates, as whenever we’d have relationship troubles, we’d shout into the living room, “Alexa, play hot girl bummer, volume 10!”
More than ever before, my music taste is all over the place, and Spotify Wrapped made sure that I knew this. I have 2020 to thank for that, as during months of quarantine, I shifted my preferred genres from something my friends would call “pretentious and angsty” to something they would now call “an absolute mess.” Despite this change and the fact that I can no longer give a succinct answer to “What type of music do you listen to?,” I can say with confidence that I am grateful for the availability of music through Spotify and the people who have changed my music taste. 2020, that’s a wrap!