Music is different for everyone. Music is the tapping of a pen to a beat. Music is an entire orchestra working together to play a symphony. Music is the songs on your electronic device. Music is everywhere, in everything.

So, why do people judge others for what they prefer?

Growing up in Long Island, New York, my friends and I listened to the hottest hits on the radio. I never understood the lyrics or who the artist was. All I knew for sure was that I loved the beat and sound. I never had many CDs, just a Girl Authority one and two Kidz Bop CD’s I got for my 7th birthday.

In the 5th grade, my mother bought me my first cell phone. It was a red Verizon phone that flipped open vertically. On it, my mom had put some of her own songs to listen to while she worked since she had a phone without music. Being the curious child I was, I started listening to what she put on, and got into Tom Petty, Lynard Skynard, the Rolling Stones, and more.

Since then, I’ve had a very mixed up taste of music. I’ll listen to the latest hits and I’ll listen to the old stuff from when my mother was little. Most people don’t seem to mind the fact that I listen to some modern stuff. However, if I say that I was into the Beatles or Billy Joel? Although there are those who don’t mind, some still tell me that it’s “white people music” or that I have a bad taste. I’ve even heard people make fun of others for liking modern music, claiming that it’s “trash” and that “old music is so much better.”

No matter how old or new a piece of music is, it can be good. Not everyone in the world will like something. It’s the same as one person liking chocolate ice cream, someone else liking vanilla. It’s only a matter of taste for someone to prefer one genre over the other. So, the moral of the story is don’t judge a genre by it’s age or cover. All music is good, it’s just a matter of picking your favorites.