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Gen Z & Music
184 Plays5 years ago
Music is a powerful thing that brings people together, creates conversation, and allows listeners to have a soundtrack to their lives. This episode features Karli Farrell, who shares about the Generation Z listening experience, what music is trending with Gen Z listeners, and what matters to Generation Z listeners.
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Transcript
Introduction to Episode 21
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome to hashtag Gen Z. I'm your host, Megan Grace. Welcome back. This is episode 21 of hashtag Gen
Evolution of Music Consumption
00:00:23
Speaker
Z.
00:00:23
Speaker
We're talking about one of my all time favorite things to chat about, music. There's no doubt that music has changed significantly, even in just the last 15 to 20 years. As a proud millennial, I remember picking out my favorite CDs to take on road trips so I could listen to them on my walk man. I remember the pride of buying my first iPod, but now we have the option to stream and download and listen to music on demand. So what is the music experience like for young people today? What are the trends in music?
00:00:52
Speaker
and what artists are young people listening to? Only a member of Generation Z could answer the world famous question, what is cool with the kids these days?
Introducing Carly Farrell
00:01:00
Speaker
Carly Farrell is a junior at Indiana University studying business and French horn performance.
00:01:05
Speaker
She's passionate about music, both as an artist and a consumer. While she studies classical music for school, obviously, her music tastes are very diverse. I had the opportunity to meet Carly when I was speaking at IU earlier this fall and knew from the minute I met her that I had to spend some more time chatting with her, especially about music so she could fill us in on music and Generation Z.
00:01:29
Speaker
So I want to welcome my new friend Carly Farrell to the podcast. I got to meet Carly. Actually we're playing role reversal right now because Carly actually interviewed me first. I was speaking at IU last month and she was a member of Gen Z that
00:01:46
Speaker
got kind of roped into interviewing me for a series that they do to help some of their faculty members and instructors and administrators on campus. So really, she interviewed me first, and I'm just following in her footsteps, but I got to know Carly a little bit and learn a little bit more about
Carly's Musical Journey
00:02:00
Speaker
her experience. And she is here to talk to us about Gen Z and music, but I'm going to turn it over to Carly, say hello and have her share a little bit about her story. So Carly, welcome.
00:02:08
Speaker
Hi, everyone. My name is Carly Farrell. I'm from Cincinnati, Ohio. I'm currently a junior at Indiana University studying French horn performance and business. So with that, I'm hoping to go into the orchestral management career field and
00:02:25
Speaker
explore the more business side of the music industry. So Carly you are the quintessential like I always used to talk about this nebulous student that wanted to do like has a creative side but also wants to learn business and is doing both like I always say like how do students that are dancers and are going to do like things in the dance school but then also want to know like how do I manage a dance studio like I need to take entrepreneurship classes I need to take business classes you are here you are my real life example welcome.
00:02:52
Speaker
So what inspired your interest in music and really how did you get to this point of deciding this is the journey I'm going to take in my career and how I'm going to study in college? Sure. I always loved music and entertaining from such a young age. I was always that kid at family functions, at weddings, what have you, that was entertaining everyone. I fed off of the positive energy there. I loved to make people smile and to make people feel things.
00:03:21
Speaker
So that was me as a young one. And then when I was 10, I started playing the trumpet. So that was my first musical instrument. And I played that for a few years, just in school band and jazz band. And then when I got to high school, my freshman year, I switched to the French horn. And it's been such an important facet of my life ever since making that switch. I fell in love with music at a much deeper level.
00:03:51
Speaker
after switching to the French horn. It's a gorgeous instrument. It's really difficult and I just fell in love with performing after that. And yeah, I was a member of the Cincinnati Symphony Youth Orchestra for three years and I began taking private lessons and obviously now I'm here at one of the top tier public music schools in the U.S. and I love performing.
00:04:18
Speaker
It's definitely changed my life for the better. It takes a lot of work to be a musician, and I think it has helped me in other aspects of my life, having always a goal to work towards as a musician. You're never bored if you play a musical instrument. Yeah, there's always something to learn, whether it's a new song or a new skill or something.
00:04:42
Speaker
You know, just curiosity because I come from a musical family, like my mom's side of the family all play piano and multiple instruments. And I'm like the black sheep. I was like, that was fun. I'm going to go outside and play sport. Like.
00:04:53
Speaker
Did you come from a musical family or was this just something you found on your own? Because I'm always curious about how musicians kind of get their start and find their inspiration because truly some people start at such a young age and I'm always interested in that inspiration. I'm the only musician in my family but we all appreciate music so much. I grew up
00:05:14
Speaker
listening to recordings of the Ohio State University marching band. My dad went to OSU for his undergrad and he always loved listening to the marching band. That was one of his highlights when he went to football games and he was really my inspiration just listening to those recordings as a child. I loved the trumpet. I think that's why I chose it as my first instrument.
00:05:38
Speaker
So I'm the only one that performs in my family, but we all love music. We're all listening to music, different genres, very appreciative of the music industry, especially with what I'm doing now. I've had the opportunity to teach my parents a lot about the music industry just from the different internships I've had. And, you know, being here at the Jacobs School of Music, they have the opportunity to come up here and see all the different performances that we have here.
00:06:07
Speaker
And so I do come from a musical family in a sense. They're just not performers of music. That makes me feel better. I now have the language to go back to my family and be like, I'm not a performer, but I am a music appreciator and I fit in in this musical family. So thank you for that. Much appreciated.
00:06:25
Speaker
Um, so let's kind of start talking.
Gen Z's Music Preferences
00:06:27
Speaker
Thanks. Um, making me feel better. I get, sometimes I get validated by this podcast. So let's start talking about this overlay of, you know, you're a musician, you're a trained musician, you're going to go into this career. And, but at the same time, you're a member of Generation Z. And like I said, you're kind of this perfect example of how I've always said that there's this creative side to Gen Z, but they also want this academic training and other fields and merging all that together.
00:06:51
Speaker
I think that you're going to be able to give us a great perspective on this. You know me, I apply a little bit of a historical lens to a lot of the things that I do because I like to look at the evolution of society and how that's influenced how humans behave through it. I am, as I said, a musical appreciator. When I've been doing my research on how things have evolved,
00:07:12
Speaker
I've looked at how different generations have interacted with music and I think that the general society is able to do that. So each generation's kind of had their era of music that was unique to their cohort. If you could describe Generation Z, what is unique to Generation Z's cohort when it comes to music?
00:07:30
Speaker
Yeah, I would say that hip hop is probably the most prominent genre for Generation Z, just because there are so many types of hip hop. A few of the artists that come to mind are like Travis Scott, Drake, even Ed Sheeran.
00:07:46
Speaker
Ariana Grande, they're very relatable and their music is really interesting and it's just fun. It's good party music and just something that we can all get on board with. We understand the lyrics really well. Another one is Lizzo. She has been a more recent artist that has come onto the scene.
00:08:10
Speaker
and she's all about body positivity and you know with that she is very relatable but within the hip-hop genre and even with the electronic genre they're just very relatable and interesting and fun and I think that's why Generation Z appreciates that the hip-hop genre so much because there's a lot of variety within it but
00:08:37
Speaker
I think hip-hop is definitely the top genre that comes to mind. So that's so interesting because hip-hop didn't get its roots with Gen Z, but I think it's definitely had a unique evolution. And I think you brought up this interesting point of the relatability of what they're saying in their songs.
00:08:55
Speaker
and the sound is in some ways different because I mean, I was listening to Ed Sheeran when he first came out, God, it would have been 2014 and he was just like a ginger with a guitar. And now he's merging and collaborating with these people that if you would have said like Ed Sheeran is going to be working with some hip-hop artists, I'm like, what? Okay. You would have told me that then. And I think that he's done a good job of genre crossing, if you will, of like hopping into new places and really his message stays the same and you could apply the same lens to Lizzo.
00:09:25
Speaker
Big fan of the spiritual church of Lizzo and really her message is what captures people and she introduces them into a new genre that they might not have listened to before. Lizzo's for all the people, like everybody. But would you say that there's this element for Generation Z of the kind of what is being said in the song is more important than necessarily the sound of the song?
00:09:48
Speaker
Yeah, I think that the, well, the tempo, the sort of beat is, it's pretty across the board for hip-hop. I mean, you obviously have your R&B that's more relaxed. And then you have your, your upbeat, your like hardcore rap, like gangster rap, you know, run the jewels, that's very heavy hardcore rap. There's always a different sort of niche genre of hip-hop.
00:10:15
Speaker
you know, that you can listen to whatever mood you're
Impact of Social Media on Music
00:10:18
Speaker
in. But I do think that the lyrics, especially just with the political climate, the social climate that we are certainly within right now in the US, the lyrics are really important.
00:10:32
Speaker
to us and also the artists themselves you know what they stand for with social media we have the opportunity to see what what they're doing in their personal lives you know they're they have the ability to influence us and that's certainly what makes what makes these artists popular and this music popular is they're really relatable we can hear we we know what they're doing pretty much consistently they're they're all really
00:10:59
Speaker
relevant with social media and they're all definitely social media influencers as well as musicians. And yeah, I think that especially with how prominent social media is in our generation, we like to see what they're doing outside of the studio.
00:11:22
Speaker
Yeah, I think that's such a good point that we have to bring into social media as a as an aspect of being a music consumer now to have you're not just like, I'm going to listen to said artist and only really care when a
00:11:35
Speaker
they drop a new single or a new album comes out like previous generations might have, like they're also putting their life in a public display way more than artists were in previous generations. And sometimes I think while it allows listeners to feel more connected to artists, do you think it also puts artists in this place to have this pressure of being on almost all the time or that you can have one slip up and it's a fall from grace kind of situation? Yes. Um,
00:12:03
Speaker
Yeah, I think social media is, it's very public. And obviously these artists have a choice of what they put out on social media when they are in interviews, you know, what they say is, you know, it's honestly up to them.
00:12:19
Speaker
they have the choice there to keep what's private private. And I think that we need to be able to respect that. And I think that we do. We definitely do respect that, but we want to we want to know who they are as people. We don't want to support someone's music that is if they're a bad person. You know, I don't want to listen to or support an artist if, you know, even if their music is incredible, if they are, you know, supporting the wrong
00:12:48
Speaker
you know, supporting the wrong companies or, you know, if they're just bad people in general, that's not something that we as a generation are interested in. We kind of want the whole package. We're selfish in that way. We want the whole thing.
00:13:06
Speaker
But I think that that's also, in some ways, while it can seem stressful to the people that live their life in a public space, that in some ways, the public is becoming critical, but also demanding integrity. You could say that listeners want you to be authentic and true to who you are, but also live by your values. And so I see that as such a beautiful kind of like, it's a fine line and a fine balance, but really interesting. I just always think about if
00:13:33
Speaker
When I was growing up, the artists that I listened to had social media and obviously a lot of them do. Like I mostly like binged my life on Britney Spears and NSYNC and Destiny's Child. That was what happened to Beyonce before she was Beyonce on her own, by the way. And for all of our young listeners that did not know that there was a girl group that Beyonce was a part of. Those were the things that I always wonder what it would have been like if NSYNC collectively as a group had like an Instagram.
00:13:59
Speaker
when I was growing up with that would have been like because like we just got you know what was in the magazines we got maybe what we could search online in the early days of the Internet and then really just say this is when the next and sync CD is coming out and I was like I gotta save my allowance I gotta be at the store early that day it's gonna be mayhem and then there's people like Britney Spears who is online and her Instagram is like God I've wanted these details about Britney Spears life my whole entire life and now I have them and it's magical
00:14:28
Speaker
So, it's interesting to grow up from my side of things with the generation of artists that I followed. But let's talk less about artists and more about just the listening experience, because we can take that same historical lens about kind of tracing how people have listened to music over time. You know, like people in the early 20th century had radio, like those
00:14:51
Speaker
massive units in their living room and then that turned into records and it turned into cassettes and CDs and mp3s and whatnot. But what is the listening experience like for Generation Z today? Walk me through if you are engaging in like a really nice deep musical experience, what is that like?
00:15:08
Speaker
Sure.
Spotify and Music Streaming
00:15:09
Speaker
So I think the two biggest platforms just for listening to music in general with Generation Z are Spotify and Apple Music. Those are the two that definitely come to mind, especially being a student. I know that I don't know too much about Apple Music because that's not the platform that I use. I use Spotify daily, you know, sometimes for hours a day. I'm constantly listening to music.
00:15:32
Speaker
And Spotify has this wonderful student discount, and it's great being a student. We have student debt, so we're not doing too great there, so really any discount helps.
00:15:49
Speaker
I think Spotify is also super user friendly and I have heard that Apple Music is as well and what's wonderful about both of these platforms is that you can literally listen to anything you ever wanted to listen to or anything that me as a music student, you know, what I need to listen to for my class.
00:16:07
Speaker
courses you know just learning new French horn solo repertoire there are a lot of really interesting uncommon works for French horn that I'm interested in and you know some of those aren't even on YouTube interesting interestingly enough but a few famous horn
00:16:27
Speaker
professionals, they'll record albums and then they'll put them on Spotify just to sort of get themselves out there. And so that's been really helpful being a music student. And I think Spotify is also really great. Not only are we able to listen to music on Spotify, but they have podcasts, audiobooks, white noise. So it's really everything you ever wanted to listen to all just on one very easily accessible platform.
00:16:56
Speaker
And so yes, Spotify is what I use. I know a lot of my peers use it as well. And yeah, it's really not too expensive. It's perfect.
00:17:06
Speaker
anything that you want is it's on there. I too am very pro Spotify like obsessive about Spotify and I try to think back to my life before Spotify and I don't like that but it's honestly magical like before I got on this like this conversation with you I was listening to like Elton John's discography and you think back to like when Elton John
00:17:30
Speaker
emerged as an artist. If you wanted to listen to more than one of his songs at a time, you had to buy an album or multiple albums. And it's like, now I can listen to all areas of Elton John whenever I feel like it. And I think that that's an elevated music listening experience. But I always laugh because my parents will still listen to things on a CD. They've asked multiple times if I teach them how to use Spotify. And I do when they forget it. It's just a futile effort. I love them. But we're going to keep them on CDs for a while.
00:18:00
Speaker
And yeah, it's crazy how we are able to take our music and take our listening experience everywhere. And how that, in some ways, I feel like if I'm walking down the street listening to my music, I'm like, I'm in a music video, everyone. And the mobile nature of music is, I think, changing and connecting it. But wouldn't you say that some aspect of the mobile nature of Spotify and these streaming platforms is that they're also a little bit social, too, because you can share
00:18:28
Speaker
you know what you're listening to people can kind of follow even some of your your playlists or you can collaborate on playlists or I just feel like the shareability of the listening experience has also increased to Spotify.
00:18:40
Speaker
Yeah, I would say that it's it's a very social thing. I'm frequently sharing like what what song am I listening to right now just like on my Instagram story. I want people I listen to a lot of really interesting music, lots of down tempo music as well as classical music. So I listen to a lot of like James Blake and still woozy and electric guests and different artists that maybe other people just don't know too much about.
00:19:07
Speaker
they're sort of up and coming and so I'm always sharing my musical interests on Instagram for the most part but it is very social and especially being a music student I'm constantly talking about music thinking about music there's the the classical more orchestral side of the Jacobs School of Music and you know we're all very focused on our instrument but
00:19:33
Speaker
Also, just as a whole, we all love music so much, whether it be classical music, hip-hop, whatever genre you're interested in, there's always just a conversation, a dialogue to be had about music in general and the emotions behind it. And I think that's a really beautiful thing that Spotify gives us the opportunity to share our interests, what we're listening to,
00:19:58
Speaker
And yeah, definitely to create playlists for our different moods. And yes, Spotify is great. I love Spotify.
00:20:07
Speaker
I will always pay for Spotify. If you're listening to Spotify, you've got me for life.
Carly's Music Recommendations
00:20:12
Speaker
So we've kind of touched on what is popular with Gen Z listeners right now. But if we're talking about the Carly Farrell suggestions of artists, who are some of your favorites right now and why? And I'm sure this list could go on forever. So maybe just give us your top three that you're jamming out to. Sure. Yeah, so like I said, I listen to a lot of down tempo music.
00:20:34
Speaker
It's sort of a new emerging genre. It's really chill music, but still a little bit upbeat. It's something that I personally can really vibe to. So I would say my top three right now are James Blake, Still Woozy, and Electric Guest. And I'm actually going to see Electric Guest live in concert in February up in Chicago.
00:20:56
Speaker
really excited for that. Yeah, so upbeat but not too upbeat, really interesting, something I could honestly listen to if I was doing anything, walking in between classes or walking to work, coming back home after a long day, just something that, you know, I could unwind to if I wanted to or, you know, even to listen to while I'm doing homework, just something that I could either
00:21:19
Speaker
you know, really be focused on and listening to or background music even, just really vibey music. I'm loving that, yeah.
00:21:28
Speaker
I'm gonna have to check them out because I have quite literally never heard of them and that is what I've been told is the turning point when you become old is when the music of young people you're no longer at the forefront of the conversation you are the recipient of understanding what is cool and so I'm gonna go look it up and everybody this is the notice to the public I'm old now um I used to be the person like have you heard of this new artist I now I gotta learn it from other people so
00:21:55
Speaker
When you're thinking about your conversations with your peers, both in the music school, outside of the music school, and you think about the artist, and we've kind of talked about the hip hop genre of artists, but what are the key characteristics that make a group or a group or individual artist popular among Generation Z? If you could distill the magic sauce of the people that really resonate with Gen Z, what is that like?
00:22:25
Speaker
Sure, yeah, I think my conversations with people outside of the music school about what makes an artist popular, you know, why do we as Gen Z like this specific artist so much, it's definitely different whether I'm talking to my business school friends or my music school friends.
00:22:44
Speaker
And I think just with the general public, what makes them popular is their social media presence, which we touched on a little bit, how relatable they are. Like, for example, Lizzo, she's all about body positivity, love yourself, be yourself, and that's really relatable. And also Billie Eilish, she's so open about her struggles with loving herself and loving her music making and
00:23:09
Speaker
just not having always been sure of herself and now she's finally, you know, she's getting herself out there. She is, she's very relatable because she shares her struggles and I think that's a huge theme that Generation Z is working towards is being able to talk about our different, you know, mental health issues and just your regular everyday difficulties being able to create a dialogue about that is becoming easier and easier and having these
00:23:39
Speaker
artists not only create amazing music, but they're also just relatable as people, you know, they're people too. And definitely the ones that share their personal life, let us know that they are people too. Those are certainly the people that
00:24:01
Speaker
are the most popular, I think, with Generation Z, people who are relatable. And also, if they're activists, you know, what do they do for the benefit of the world? Because they all have this ability to influence so many people with their, you know, the number of followers that they have on Instagram and all the people listening to their music, what they say is really important because it's reaching so many people.
00:24:25
Speaker
And yeah, I think we're definitely just, like I said, we're looking for the whole package. Someone who is making incredible music, relatable music that's fun and interesting, but is also just a good person deep down. That's what we're looking for.
00:24:42
Speaker
That is wonderful. And it is, it's its demand to be a good person is what I love about Renzi. But before I let you go, this has been super enlightening. And I want to thank you for sharing your insights. And we didn't talk that much about orchestral music, but I'm sure we could. And we're excited to see where, you know, your career takes you. I know you've got about a year and a half left in school, and then it's out into that crazy real world. Don't do it. It's a trap. No, it's fun.
00:25:10
Speaker
But before you go, I have one question I ask all my guests. What is your favorite thing about your Gen Z peers?
Gen Z's Social Values
00:25:17
Speaker
Wow. We're all very driven and we're also connected.
00:25:24
Speaker
We're all in this together, definitely fighting for and also against the same things, you know, climate change, student loan debt, the sort of music that we listen to, we're all very connected. I love how connected we are as a generation and how much love and support we have for one another. I think those are definitely a few things that I love about my colleagues, my Generation Z peers, is that
00:25:49
Speaker
We're just very relatable to one another. We're going through the same thing, especially here in college. It's easy to relate to one another and the struggles that we're going through and we're not afraid to do that. We're not afraid to speak with one another about what's going on, difficulties in classes and life in general and our worries about the future because we know that it's impacting all of us and, you know, it will impact us for the rest of our lives together.
00:26:16
Speaker
And yeah, I think just our ability to connect to one another and our willingness to is really important to me. That's one of my favorite things about my colleagues. I first love that you call them colleagues. Big fan. We're all colleagues in society. And I agree with you. I think that your generation has this unique knack of the ability to be vulnerable and open up conversations in ways that I in my time on earth have not seen.
00:26:46
Speaker
and the willingness to do it so publicly and so on your own at such a young age and doing it bravely I think is a big thing and you touched on it the ability to open up and kind of be communal towards one another is really special among this group and I love just being able to witness you all do that for each other and witness you all growing up and supporting one another so thank you for being a part of Gen Z y'all are great
00:27:09
Speaker
But a bigger thank you for being here today, Carly. I know you've got a lot of other stuff you could be doing, but sharing your insights on music, the music industry, and what's cool with the kids is always appreciated. So thank you so much. Thank you.
00:27:25
Speaker
One of the most amazing things about music is its ability to connect people in the human experience.
Episode Wrap-up
00:27:30
Speaker
And for Generation Z, they have their own ways of listening and artists that they love that connect them to one another and those in other generations. I want to thank Carly for spending time chatting about music and giving us a little more insight on what is popular and what matters to Generation Z. And I want to thank you for tuning into this episode and taking a break from your normal playlist or radio station.
00:27:50
Speaker
If you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to rate, review, and subscribe wherever you listen to your podcasts. We only have one more episode of season two, and you certainly don't want to miss it. And your feedback is important to me to improve the show and for others to find the show. Speaking of feedback, I'm already starting to brainstorm and dream about season three, but this is a podcast that explores the topics and interests of my listeners.
00:28:10
Speaker
So if you know of a member of Generation Z or have a topic you think I need to speak more about, head over to my website, meganmgrace.com, or you can find me on social media to let me know. I'm on Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Thanks again for hanging out. Let's continue this conversation. We'll chat soon.