Mixtapes and Sharing
A couple of years ago, a friend of mine asked me if we wanted to exchange mixtapes.
I was actually deeply afraid. Despite working with music, I'm very self conscious about my taste, probably due to some bullying during my formative years and my brother going "still listening to your Japanese stuff?". Others like me, who listen to a lot of different genres, are often at loss against "What kind of music do you listen to?" and risk answering "You know, all sort of things...". I had this conversation with my old piano teacher (the asshole one) once, and he replied "oh, so you don't like music!"1.
But, after explaining this little issue with the worms in my brain, I trusted him and started exchanging mixtapes every few months. The first one was awkward, with the second I was finding my own footing, and after that it's just been fun. So much so that I've also suggested doing the same with other friends, and I've realized: we don't share our music very often, do we2? And if we do, sometimes it's hard to put some time aside to just listen to it quietly...
It's a habit I've come to like a lot, even though I really wouldn't do it with anyone. It's fun to craft a playlist for people whose taste I'm familiar with, balancing music I love and tracks3 I think they might be up their alley, and I also love to hear what they've crafted for me! It's much easier for me to know people through what they love, and it makes me feel extremely grateful too. But I'm also someone who takes these kind of things too seriously.
How fucking dare you, you piece of shit.↩
Alright, I know I don't! This is a rhetorical question. There's no comment section! You can't reply and say "No, I do, actually"! You gotta find how to reach me. If you really care about proving me wrong, good luck! Try your best! It's not that hard actually.↩
One of the reasons I was very self-conscious is that I listen to a lot more soundtracks than songs, and often pay little attention to lyrics, so it seemed like I would make mixtapes the "wrong" way... now I don't stress so much about it anymore.↩