Music is everywhere – in our ears, used in advertisements, at parties, and even where we work. Music is used to inspire people and gives people a chance to express how they feel. Music can be used to embrace feelings that you might not know how to really deal with or overcome. One thing I love about music is that it’s so universal; it gives people the chance to explore different cultures and different sounds. Music doesn’t have any limits; there isn’t just one kind of music people have to listen to. Everyone has different tastes in music and I wanted to see if music could determine your personality traits. 

Dekema Vaughn, a freshman at River Hill High School, mainly listens to rap and pop music. Pop music is generally energetic and sassy. She feels that she has lots of energy and definitely has loads of sass. “When it comes to rap music I feel like it can be portrayed in different ways, rap definitely has different sides to it.” This relates to Dekema because her personality has a lot of dimension and depth to it. She says that a lot of people find her weird. This relates to rap music too because everyone has a different rapping style and a lot of people think that rap is weird, and they can’t understand anything that they are saying. “Most people can’t understand rap, but the more people hear it the more intrigued they are about the music. I feel like people act the same way towards me.”

I also put my theory to the test to see how the kind of music I listen to reflects my personality. I come from a Caribbean background so a lot of my music is from the Caribbean. I also listen to a lot of Disney music or music from childhood shows. Caribbean music is upbeat and a lot of people misunderstand it. It can also be kind of harsh sometimes which gives a sense of uniqueness. I’m the type of person that can be harsh when I need to be and a lot of people misunderstand me for it. But when it comes to a general sense, I’m a pretty upbeat person. Disney/childhood music plays a part in my personality because I can be really childish and goofy most of the time. In my case, the music I listen to does influence my personality and who I am as a person in general.

So, does music influence our personality, or do we select our favorite music based on our existing personality? Regardless, music does play a role in how you act and carry yourself and can be an important form of expression.