What music would these kids listen to?
January 8, 2025 3:00 PM Subscribe
It's been a long time since I was teenager and I don't have kids. But the story I'm writing has in it two teenagers on a long car ride. Brother and sister. He's 16, she's 15. They're white, middle class, from the Bay Area. I don't know them well enough to know their musical tastes. Maybe their musical tastes will help me get to know them better. I'm out of touch with what kids listen to. Can you suggest possible his and hers play lists?
Granddaughter who is 15 and fits your criteria is a passionate Billie Eilish and Taylor Swift aficionado.
posted by mmf at 3:02 PM on January 8 [4 favorites]
posted by mmf at 3:02 PM on January 8 [4 favorites]
He likes Ethiopian jazz from the 1970s, the genre having first come to his attention after seeing the music of Mulatu Astatke featured in Jim Jarmusch's movie Broken Flowers.
She likes Riot Grrrl bands like Bikini Kill and Sleater-Kinney, which she first heard of after an interviewer asked The Linda Lindas about their influences.
posted by box at 3:16 PM on January 8 [5 favorites]
She likes Riot Grrrl bands like Bikini Kill and Sleater-Kinney, which she first heard of after an interviewer asked The Linda Lindas about their influences.
posted by box at 3:16 PM on January 8 [5 favorites]
The teenagers who live next door to me spent all summer blasting on repeat a playlist with several selections from the Tangled soundtrack and Se Busca over and over and over and over. (It was around the 2 week mark when I pulled up Shazam which is how come I know this with certainty.) In conclusion, kids are a land of contrast.
posted by phunniemee at 3:35 PM on January 8
posted by phunniemee at 3:35 PM on January 8
Hozier, and Noah Kahan.
posted by metasarah at 3:53 PM on January 8 [1 favorite]
posted by metasarah at 3:53 PM on January 8 [1 favorite]
Here's a scattering of what my 16 year old listens to: SZA, Frank Ocean, Doechii, Bowie, Mitski, Men I Trust, Childish Gambino, Lana Del Rey, City Pop, The Smiths, Cocteau Twins, Elton John, Sade, Amy Winehouse, Sonic Youth, Father John Misty.
posted by cocoagirl at 5:48 PM on January 8 [2 favorites]
posted by cocoagirl at 5:48 PM on January 8 [2 favorites]
13 year old daughter listens to Sirius XM Hits 1 and The Pulse, which are pretty well represented by The Billboard Hot 100.
Off the top of my head I’d mention Olivia Rodrigo, Teddy Swims, Sabrina Carpenter, Gracie Abrams, AJR, Dua Lipa, Taylor Swift, Hosier, Imagine Dragons, Ariana Grande, Miley Cyrus, Panic at the Disco, Jellyroll, 5 Seconds of Summer, Meghan Trainor.
posted by Winnie the Proust at 5:51 PM on January 8 [3 favorites]
Off the top of my head I’d mention Olivia Rodrigo, Teddy Swims, Sabrina Carpenter, Gracie Abrams, AJR, Dua Lipa, Taylor Swift, Hosier, Imagine Dragons, Ariana Grande, Miley Cyrus, Panic at the Disco, Jellyroll, 5 Seconds of Summer, Meghan Trainor.
posted by Winnie the Proust at 5:51 PM on January 8 [3 favorites]
Oh, and of course Harry Styles, Ed Sheeran, Lewis Capaldi, and Billie Eilish.
posted by Winnie the Proust at 5:58 PM on January 8
posted by Winnie the Proust at 5:58 PM on January 8
Musicians who have had songs go viral on TikTok would likely be part of it. Hozier (Too Sweet, Work Song), Billie Eilish (Happier Than Ever, bad guy, lovely), Sabrina Carpenter (Espresso), Charli xcx (all of the Brat album), Sam Smith (Unholy, Fire On Fire), Loveless (Middle of the Night, I Love It When It Rains) are some.
posted by brook horse at 6:33 PM on January 8 [4 favorites]
posted by brook horse at 6:33 PM on January 8 [4 favorites]
My kids are a little older than this. One of them was really into Twenty One Pilots at about that age. (She still likes them and the other kid does now too, but not with the same level of obsession.) One of the things that really appealed to her was that a lot of the songs and videos refer to an imaginary world with a lot of mysterious lore. She currently listens to a lot of Radiohead and went through a period of listening to a ton of Glass Animals.
The other kid started listening to a lot of Japanese stuff at that age. She watches a lot of anime too, and some of the songs she likes are anime theme songs. She somehow has managed to learn a medium amount of Japanese and can tell you at least roughly what most of the songs are about and what a lot of the lyrics mean. Artists she likes include Radwimps, Yoasobi, and Eve. She also was a big Panic at the Disco fan at around that age.
posted by Redstart at 7:44 PM on January 8
The other kid started listening to a lot of Japanese stuff at that age. She watches a lot of anime too, and some of the songs she likes are anime theme songs. She somehow has managed to learn a medium amount of Japanese and can tell you at least roughly what most of the songs are about and what a lot of the lyrics mean. Artists she likes include Radwimps, Yoasobi, and Eve. She also was a big Panic at the Disco fan at around that age.
posted by Redstart at 7:44 PM on January 8
Chappell Roan
posted by bearette at 4:41 AM on January 9 [2 favorites]
posted by bearette at 4:41 AM on January 9 [2 favorites]
Kendrick Lamar, Lana del Rey, Sabrina Carpenter, SZA, Chappell Roan.
posted by edithkeeler at 6:01 AM on January 9 [1 favorite]
posted by edithkeeler at 6:01 AM on January 9 [1 favorite]
this Sabrina Carpenter video were she and Jenna Ortega continually murder each other in horror movie parodies over a boyfriend is pretty hilarious and still going on strong.
posted by The_Vegetables at 7:31 AM on January 9 [2 favorites]
posted by The_Vegetables at 7:31 AM on January 9 [2 favorites]
One kid listens to Japanese ‘PHONK’. This is originally from Roblox- which is a whole huge thing with the young folk. Imagine a video game. A dark and Japanese video game about cars. Dxrk ダーク - AIRCRAFT is representative.
posted by zenon at 10:36 AM on January 9
posted by zenon at 10:36 AM on January 9
It’s not just music for driving around late at night (like 本田TADAKATSU x サヌSANUMACHI !) here is something brand new that is musically adjacent from Imogen Heap
and her track What Have You Done To Me?
posted by zenon at 10:48 AM on January 9
and her track What Have You Done To Me?
posted by zenon at 10:48 AM on January 9
Some observations of my 16-year-old daughters and their friends:
- Kids musical habits are LOT more eclectic than when I was a teen (late 80s / early 90s). Then you could listen to what was on the radio, MTV, or the CDs you managed to save up for and carefully select. Now they can listen to anything at any time, so there's no cost to them to trying out everything
- They don't seem as tribal and possessive about their music? The concept of a "poser" doesn't really exist. You don't worry that enjoying music from outside of your tribe will destroy your entire sense of self.
- They don't have any notion of selling out? If they hear a song they like on an ad, or a tiktok video, they'll add it to a playlist.
- They don't automatically ignore music by era? My peers and I thought a lot from the mid to late 60s was good, but anything from the 70s was basically trash. My kids are pretty uninterested in when the music was made. Their playlists skew recent, but have healthy representation from 60s through the present. (They just discovered the Ronettes, and Be My Baby has been on heavy rotation lately)
- Same with genre? My teenaged peers hated country music on general principles. My kids don't seem automatically predisposed against anything.
All that being said Taylor Swift is huge for them. But i'm looking at a recent playlist one daughter made, and I'm pretty impressed. How did these artists get on her radar, much less end up on the same playlist: David Allan Coe, Arctic Monkeys, Elvis, Counting Crows, Mitski, Iron & Wine...
posted by uberfunk at 11:30 AM on January 9 [2 favorites]
- Kids musical habits are LOT more eclectic than when I was a teen (late 80s / early 90s). Then you could listen to what was on the radio, MTV, or the CDs you managed to save up for and carefully select. Now they can listen to anything at any time, so there's no cost to them to trying out everything
- They don't seem as tribal and possessive about their music? The concept of a "poser" doesn't really exist. You don't worry that enjoying music from outside of your tribe will destroy your entire sense of self.
- They don't have any notion of selling out? If they hear a song they like on an ad, or a tiktok video, they'll add it to a playlist.
- They don't automatically ignore music by era? My peers and I thought a lot from the mid to late 60s was good, but anything from the 70s was basically trash. My kids are pretty uninterested in when the music was made. Their playlists skew recent, but have healthy representation from 60s through the present. (They just discovered the Ronettes, and Be My Baby has been on heavy rotation lately)
- Same with genre? My teenaged peers hated country music on general principles. My kids don't seem automatically predisposed against anything.
All that being said Taylor Swift is huge for them. But i'm looking at a recent playlist one daughter made, and I'm pretty impressed. How did these artists get on her radar, much less end up on the same playlist: David Allan Coe, Arctic Monkeys, Elvis, Counting Crows, Mitski, Iron & Wine...
posted by uberfunk at 11:30 AM on January 9 [2 favorites]
Interesting, I’m not a teen but I’m a good decade or two younger than most folks here and those are some artists I have one or two songs by on a playlist too. Curious if they’re the same ones?
Arctic Monkeys - Do I Wanna Know?
Elvis - Can’t Help Falling in Love
Counting Crows - Accidentally in Love
Iron & Wine - Boy with a Coin
Mitski isn’t on there because the sound doesn’t vibe but I’m aware of her through Tumblr. I know Do I Wanna Know? made big rounds on there, and Accidentally in Love is on Shrek 2 which also gets a lot of love there. I feel like Boy with a Coin may have been popular in fandom circles too.
I’ve been surprised to find a lot of teens are on Tumblr these days, and a lot of older stuff circulates there.
posted by brook horse at 8:32 PM on January 9 [1 favorite]
Arctic Monkeys - Do I Wanna Know?
Elvis - Can’t Help Falling in Love
Counting Crows - Accidentally in Love
Iron & Wine - Boy with a Coin
Mitski isn’t on there because the sound doesn’t vibe but I’m aware of her through Tumblr. I know Do I Wanna Know? made big rounds on there, and Accidentally in Love is on Shrek 2 which also gets a lot of love there. I feel like Boy with a Coin may have been popular in fandom circles too.
I’ve been surprised to find a lot of teens are on Tumblr these days, and a lot of older stuff circulates there.
posted by brook horse at 8:32 PM on January 9 [1 favorite]
Heh... are all teenagers the same now, and does TikTok drive all music choices? I live with a 15 and 17-year-old. Just last night, we were listening to various covers of Do I Wanna Know by the Arctic Monkeys. They are also obsessed with Frank Ocean, SZA, The Smiths, Gracie Abrams, Tyler the Creator, Bowie, Childish Gambino, Lord Huron, Radiohead, and Tears for Fears. It feels like a completely random trip through the last six decades every time I listen to a playlist they've built. The younger of the two also has a charming obsession with The Beach Boys.
posted by hessie at 6:54 AM on January 10
posted by hessie at 6:54 AM on January 10
@brook horse: Very interesting. Those are indeed the Elvis and Counting Crows songs on her list! The Iron & Wine is "Flightless Bird, American Mouth" which was in the first Twilight. The Arctic Monkeys was "I Wanna Be Yours", which apparently has 2B streams on Spotify. I'd never heard it but obviously it's out there.
It would be fascinating to sleuth out how she discovered a lot of these. But I guess it's always interesting how people you love find things they love.
posted by uberfunk at 7:10 AM on January 10
It would be fascinating to sleuth out how she discovered a lot of these. But I guess it's always interesting how people you love find things they love.
posted by uberfunk at 7:10 AM on January 10
Seconding uberfunk; the kids these days are really omnivorous regarding music. I am constantly surprised how all-over-the-map their tastes are. They also are unmoored from albums, working from feeds and playlists instead. I would say, regarding your characters, pick a vibe for them and make sure at least half of their music is contemporary.
posted by Eikonaut at 7:52 AM on January 10
posted by Eikonaut at 7:52 AM on January 10
I’ll stop posting after this but it’s fascinating to me that people find the “random trips through the decades” thing weird because yeah, that doesn’t factor into the playlist creation of anyone my age that I know. Nor even really genre. I’m currently listening to a playlist that includes Carla Thomas (60s), Fleetwood Mac (70s), Blur (90s), Evanescence (00s), Train (10s), and Daisy Grenade (20s). It wouldn’t occur to me that this would be considered disjointed and random.
posted by brook horse at 8:28 AM on January 10
posted by brook horse at 8:28 AM on January 10
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It's bewildering.
But I swear you could go with Radiohead. I don't know if it's just our location/demographic or time is a scribble.
posted by A Terrible Llama at 3:02 PM on January 8 [1 favorite]