What Music Means To Me

I'm a very keen consumer of music and it has had a huge impact on my life so far. I believe that artists from most sectors of music have influenced me positively as I have grown up. An open-mind to new music has helped me broaden my taste and helped me mature. A few relevant tracks are shown below.

Childhood:
Michael Jackson - Smooth Criminal

 I grew up with the music of Michael Jackson and other similar artists that my family listened to during their youth. I particularly loved Jackson's 'Smooth Criminal' and used to dance around my room to it all the time. I remember being amazed by his dance moves in the music video and enjoying the action that took place during it. This song reminds me of my primary school and the friends of whom I would talk to about Michael Jackson. This song makes me rather emotional as I obviously won't be able to see him live.
 

Early teens:
Paramore - For A Pessimist, I'm Pretty Optimistic

 During my early teens, my music taste began to branch out to Metal and Rock music - Paramore being an artist of the latter genre. The funny thing is that I heard about the band through a Demi Lovato book that I used to own where she stated that 'Riot!' was her "favourite sleepover album" and incidentally after reading this I bought the album the next day. Paramore's 'For A Pessimist...', the opening track of 'Riot!', got me instantly hooked on the band and I remember being unable to restrain myself from repeatedly listening to the album on my CD player back in Year 7. This song and the album it hails from paved the way for Paramore to become my favourite band and I have seen them live in concert twice to this day.
 

Present:
Lana Del Rey - Shades Of Cool
 

I'm currently listening to the follow-up to Lana Del Rey's critically acclaimed debut, 'Ultraviolence', and it is absolutely phenomenal. 'Shades Of Cool' is one of my favourite songs from the album and I particularly love the guitar solo at the end. Lana Del Rey took me a little while to get into due to the genre of music being the opposite of what I used to listen to in my early teens but as I have got older my taste has changed dramatically. After hearing her debut 'Born To Die' for the first time, I have adored her lyricism and style. I love the co-operation of the music and visuals in all of Lana's work. This song, and all of her other music, reminds me of when I saw her perform last year after finishing two exams during the day - a sublime reward.