<\/p>\n
There\u2019s an odd moment that hits somewhere in your 30s or 40s when you realise you\u2019ve been listening to the same Beautiful South albums for 20 years. Not because Blue Is The Colour<\/em> isn\u2019t brilliant \u2013 it absolutely is \u2013 but because, at some point, you kind of stopped seeking out new music.<\/p>\n You\u2019ve become stuck in the sonic landscape of 1994, or 2004, or whenever your musical curiosity quietly packed its bags and left.<\/p>\n But there might come a point where you\u2019re listening to Janis Joplin for the 8 millionth time and, while it\u2019s still excellent, you wonder what else you might be missing when you are sticking to the same eight playlists.<\/p>\n If this sounds familiar, you\u2019re in good company. Most of us develop an intimate relationship with the music of our youth. These are the songs we associate with gaining independence, trying new things, maybe days at uni or falling in love.<\/p>\n They can take us right back to sitting in the park on an endless summer day with our school friends or an entire summer of partying. So it\u2019s no wonder we return to them again and again.<\/p>\n But it can be good for us to get some new sounds into our ears as well as relive good times from the past. Many people reach a point where they recognise they\u2019re in a rut, playing the same tunes on rotation while an entire world of new music passes them by.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve spoken to many friends who want to explore new sounds (even just to know what their kids are talking about) but don\u2019t quite know where to begin. It\u2019s hard to know how to find it when the landscape feels overwhelming and your habits are deeply entrenched.<\/p>\n Several factors conspire to keep us preserved in one musical era as we age. (And, despite my personal beliefs, it\u2019s apparently not that indie music from the 90s is just objectively the best ever soundtrack to life.)<\/p>\n First, there\u2019s the paradox of choice. We\u2019ve never had more music available \u2013 Spotify alone hosts over 100 million songs \u2013 yet this abundance often leads to paralysis rather than exploration.<\/p>\n When everything is available, nothing feels particularly urgent or essential. And how on earth do we choose?<\/p>\n The algorithmic feeds that promise to solve this problem often just create echo chambers, serving up music that sounds reassuringly similar to what you already like, while not quite hitting the spot.<\/p>\n Then there\u2019s simple time scarcity. Discovering music requires attention and repetition. You need to listen to something several times before it clicks, but when you\u2019re juggling work, family, and the general administration of adult life, sticking on a familiar album feels like the path of least resistance.<\/p>\n New music demands something from us, so it\u2019s often easier to stick to the old reliables.<\/p>\n There\u2019s also a neurological dimension. Research suggests our musical tastes tend to crystallise surprisingly young<\/a>. The dopamine hit we get from hearing a brilliant new song at 17 is neurochemically different from the one we get at 47.<\/p>\n That doesn\u2019t mean we can\u2019t love new music, but the intensity of that connection may naturally diminish.<\/p>\n Finally, there\u2019s cultural fragmentation<\/a>. In previous decades, mainstream radio, music television, and print magazines created a shared musical conversation; you might not have liked everything in the charts, but at least you knew what was happening.<\/p>\n Today\u2019s musical landscape is balkanised into countless micro-genres and scenes, many of which are invisible unless you\u2019re already part of the relevant online community. And how do you know how to find that community if you don\u2019t already know the music?<\/p>\n The good news is that getting out of your musical rut is possible, and I\u2019ve been doing a pretty good job at it over the last year or two.<\/p>\n Some tips that might help:<\/p>\n Use your existing tastes as a launchpad.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re obsessed with a particular artist, investigate who they\u2019re listening to, who they\u2019re collaborating with, or who influenced them. Read or listen to interviews they give and explore \u201cfans also like\u201d suggestions.<\/p>\nWhy discovering new music gets harder as we age<\/h2>\n
Ways to rediscover your musical curiosity<\/h2>\n
Follow threads from things you already love<\/h3>\n
Read music journalism and recommendations<\/h3>\n