Catching Faves Like Pokémon

Hey, y’all!

I’m here to try and lay out my thoughts and processes on how I determine and find my favorite groups and artists. A precious friend and Galaxy requested that I do a bit of explanation on this topic so I will do my very best to put words to this!

As most people who are close to me know (and I’m sure even y’all, maybe even now or over time, will come to find), I have too many creators of music that are close to my heart, particularly in the realm of eastern music. Sidebar: I continue to use that term because I am not limited to only Korean music. I have a large love for Japanese and Chinese music, as well, and my library of music is forever growing as I remember artists and groups that I need to add to my digital collection. I think, currently, my digital collection likely sits around 900 artists, and whenever I’m asked to choose favorite songs or artists, I have mini panic attacks because how am I supposed to decide?!

ANYWAY.

I have tons of music at my disposal. So how do I determine these artists that are my favorite? How do I decide, out of the hundreds of thousands of artists out there, which ones pass my tests that I don’t even know I have?

Honestly, it’s easy.

Does their music give me an emotional response? Yes?

Done.

I find the older I get, the more music becomes vital to my general state of wellbeing. When I was a kid, I listened to music a lot, but it wasn’t necessary for my survival. At least, it didn’t feel that way. Now, in my adulthood, it feels critical and important for me to continue to expand my musical library because, in doing that, I’m expanding my emotional capacity and my emotional understanding.

It sounds like I’m talking about my musical experience in general, right? I swear I’m not. All of the music I listen to, I consider my favorite. I consider all of these artists top tier, worthy of attention and notice and praise and energy and time. But maybe I still haven’t answered the question. Why do I consider all of these artists so great?

Because of the emotional response. Those who have listened to music with me have seen it, right? If the beat is great, if it’s fun and ridiculous, I’m dancing (soOOOO terribly). If the song is soft and the vocals are stunning, are beautiful and impactful, I get gooseflesh and I’m moved, sometimes to tears. These artists are favorites because each of them, with one song or many, have managed to grip my nerves and strangle my heart with their voices and their talent. Building a library of emotional responses to music ensures that my listening experience will never be boring, will never be disappointing.

God, I just really love music.

Okay. Okay, okay, okay, shutting up about that now. NOW, to really determine a true ult artist or group, you have to get to the second half of the equation; the person(s). Kind of a big deal, right? Maybe? Idk man, maybe not for you.

For me, once I've decided that the music is what I want (need), I have to make sure the people are good. I'm the type of person that cannot separate someone's work from their person. I can't support someone's music or craft if they're terrible people. So, I do my research and I make my own informed opinions (omg imagine) on if I should move forward with supporting them or not. Of course, this is a case-by-case basis as each scandal and whatnot have different outcomes and different levels of information available.

Then, I live my best life!

Now that concerts are back to the real world, those can be a thing to look forward to again. I'm excited to start seeing y'all out in the wild and have some amazing, bonding experiences with y'all! I hope this post helped. I know it was crazy and all over the place, but it really is accurate to how my brain works when I experience music I love so. Welcome to my noggin, I guess.

Until next time!

Ash✨