In the Field: Discover what’s Playing in NHS Students’ AirPods

Sophomore+Isabel+Gallegos+poses+with+her+2021+Spotify+Wrapped.

Sophomore Isabel Gallegos poses with her 2021 Spotify Wrapped.

Welcome to “In the Field,” The Knight Times’ new in-touch series that covers student and teacher life at Nanuet High School.

Spotify and similar music streaming services have revolutionized how everyone listens to music in the 21st century. Long gone are the days of CDs or even standalone MP3 players; smartphones are the definitive way to experience music, with ease of access and uncompromised audio quality. This month, we’ve asked several students about how they’ve wrapped up their 2021 on a high note.

Freshman Andrew Walters-Diaz is one of Nanuet’s Spotify power users. He participates in Nanuet’s chorus and orchestra ensembles, but outside of school, as he explained, he tends to listen to pop-music. 

Online streaming services curate playlists for their users based on what they listen to often, making it easy to enjoy a plethora of different artists and genres. A violinist and singer by day, Walters-Diaz, like many of his peers, enjoys a wide range of music styles. 

“I’ve been listening to Harry Styles, Olivia Rodrigo, and Ed Sheeran,” he said. “I like 2010s music. It’s not sad and gloomy like modern songs.”

Junior Lucy Gregory said she also uses Spotify regularly. 

“My music was good,” she said. “I have a really good taste and it just went up so much [throughout the year]. I love Spotify,” she said.

Gregory is also among the in-touch generation of Spotify listeners. Compiling music from multiple genres and multiple themes, there’s a song for every season, mood, and even idea or movement on what has become the music platform of a modern generation. 

Spotify Wrapped is a popular service that compiles a user’s music into a slideshow-esque format, letting them take a step back and see what music defined their year. Not only does it cover the basics, like your most played genre, but it tracks your minutes listened, the artists you listened to the most (and how you compare to other listeners). It even includes a feature where users can share their stats with others.

Junior Amanda Drobes listened to 495 hours of music in 2021. 

“My song of the year was ‘Holy Smokes’ by Trippie Redd featuring Lil Uzi Vert, and my album of the year was Whole Lotta Red, by Playboi Carti,” she said. “My top 5 artists (5 to 1) were Kanye West, Playboi Carti, Lil Uzi Vert, Juice WRLD, and Trippie Redd.” 

Evidently an avid fan of the rap genre, Drobes described exactly how music makes her feel, starting with music by rapper and designer Kanye West. 

“I can listen to him no matter what mood I’m in,” she said. 

Drobes also enjoys artist Playboi Carti, who she began listening to during the second half of 2021. 

“I recently saw him in concert,” she explained. “I love the energy his music gives me.”

Aside from applications designed strictly for streaming and discovering music, students commonly find new songs to listen to on TikTok. Rapidly growing in popularity since its onset in 2018, smaller artists and famous ones alike promote and advertise their music by producing short videos on the app. TikTok makes it easy for content creators to post videos to their favorite songs, potentially sharing the song to millions of people.

Junior Nick Mayzun, like many people who live in this new era of music, shared that he has found a lot of his favorite songs through TikTok.

“Usually I’ll hear it on TikTok and if I enjoy it I’ll search for it [and listen to it fully] to see if I actually like it,” he said.

Mayzun also uses SoundCloud for discovering new music, he explained. 

“I’ll go on SoundCloud and look at the weekly recommended songs,” he said. “Every week I add a bunch of new songs to keep my playlist good. Sometimes I listen to the same song 100 times in one day.” 

At any given time during the school day, someone can be seen with their Airpods in and Spotify or Apple Music open on their device. We’ve found that though we all differ in the music we listen to, and even how we listen to it, music serves as common ground for practically all of us. 

Nanuet students really cover it all when it comes to music taste; there’s something for everyone here in every aspect, whether it be genres, artists, or streaming services (or lack thereof). In all its many forms, music helps to keep Nanuet moving.