Getting Out of A Music Slump

I always have two pairs of wired headphones in my purse. I rarely go anywhere without the option to plug into my Apple Music (the superior streaming service). In short, I love music and I listen to it … a lot.

Every so often I find myself in a music slump. I’m listening to new stuff but I’m not loving it – I’m listening to songs and albums that are tried and true, but for some reason it’s not tickling my brain in the way I need. This can go on for a 2-week period before I finally break out of the slump. It’s frustrating, but the euphoria that follows getting out of it is like none other.

It has taken many music slumps for me to crack the code, but I think I’ve finally done it. I would say I have a good ear for music and therefore would describe my music taste as pretentious (haha). I love the underground indie groups before you even know they exist. I love the music my dad grew up on, and apparently that means I belong to some sort of club. 80s synth-pop is my favourite genre to listen to on a run. I like jazz. I like house if it’s tasteful. I love Norah Jones and Joni Mitchell. Are you rolling your eyes yet?

I’m only mentioning this because my hack for getting out of the slump should be embarrassing for a self-proclaimed music snob. But here goes: my surefire trick for getting out of a music slump is listening to the quote-unquote “worst” pop song you’ve ever heard over and over for a 24–48 hour period. I’m talking the 2013–2019 top 40 hits that topped the charts for weeks.

My most recent case of this was a few months ago. In the throes of my music slump, while on the way to my rec volleyball league trying to pump myself up for a game, I couldn’t find a song that was satisfying my need to scream-sing in the car. That is, until a little tune popped into my head that sounded a lot like “Black Widow” by Iggy Azalea and Rita Ora. I put it on (still knew all the words) and listened to it on repeat - on the way there, for the entire car ride home, and again the next morning on my commute to work. That did the trick. I listened to it until I couldn’t any longer, and that’s when I was finally re-inspired by my music library.

We tend to shame the pop hits of our generation (hello misogyny!), and while some of them are bad songs, most aren’t. All I know is that the music critics of the world would hate my get-out-of-a-music-slump technique, and when I get a little too on my high horse about my superior music taste, this habit quickly humbles me.

I think a lot of us have come around to shamelessly enjoying mainstream music - and knowing that doesn’t mean you have bad taste. Moral of the story is: listen to what you want to listen to - if you like it, it’s good, and also, no one cares (something I still have to remind myself)!

My list of songs that have done the trick, in no particular order:

Black Widow – Iggy Azalea ft. Rita Ora

South of the Border – Ed Sheeran ft. Camila Cabello

Payphone – Maroon 5

Counting Stars – OneRepublic

Am I Wrong – Nico & Vinz

I Don’t Wanna Live Forever – Zayn & Taylor Swift

Back to You – Selena Gomez

I Like It – Cardi B ft. Bad Bunny and J Balvin

Never Be the Same – Camila Cabello

Cold Water – Major Lazer ft. Justin Bieber

P.S. This blog is not sponsored by Apple Music...