Earphones in, music on, world off. Every teenager is constantly in this zone of tuning out and tuning in: living under the power of the headphones 24/7, and rocking out to any number of artists. But do we know exactly how important they consider music or what they are listening to?

The Oracle sent out a survey requesting the opinions of  Archer students on different aspects of music. The 142 anonymous students who responded also rated the importance of music in their lives on a scale of one to five (five signifying the most importance).

According to the results, no student rated music as a “one,” or of having minimal importance. Instead, over half the students rated its importance as a five, indicating maximum importance. The other half said it had great importance but not as extreme— ratings in the threes or fours.

The survey collected information from students in grades sixth through twelfth. Modern day stereotypes exhibit girls in this age group “fan-girling” over Teen pop icons. But with respect to the data collected, is this an accurate representation? Apparently, it is.

The students mentioned artists they considered to be their favorite.  More than 82 artists were mentioned by the 142 students. But which name kept popping up?

The answer: Taylor Swift.

Fifteen girls said their favorite artist of all time was the mesmerizing 23-year-old country singer. Close behind was the boy band One Direction with 14 votes. Other frequently mentioned artists were Vampire Weekend, Bruno Mars, The Beatles, Arctic Monkeys, Lorde, and Eminem. Yet not everyone could pinpoint their favorite artist— 30 girls said they were undecided.

The survey also asked students to indicate their favorite and least favorite genres. As seen to the left, the two biggest sections are Pop (at 34.8% of the students) and Alternative (28.3% of the students). From there, other genres of high preference were Hip-Hop/Rap, Rock & Roll, Easy Listenings/Swings, etc. “Other Genre” (8% of students) refers to all genres rarely mentioned. This includes Classical, Country, K-Pop, Epic Music Genre, Dubstep, Electronic, Show Tunes, Musical Theatre, Christmas, Dance, and Soul with Pop. The “Other” category refers to the approximately 2.5% of students saying they did not have a favorite genre or it was dependent on their mood.

Finally, students were asked how they would describe their music taste. 59 girls chose the option “I listen to anything except for a couple of genres.” 33 girls said, “I only listen to my favorite genre,” and 35 girls indicated “I like ALL types of music.” Interestingly enough, 15 girls gave  “other” replies such as, “I listen to anything except country,” contradicting Taylor Swift’s majority as the most liked artist.

Students listen to a wide array of various music styles. Regardless of what genre or artist they are listening to, music plays an important role in these students’ lives.

Featured Image: An Archer student listening to music on the bus. Photographer: Rosemary Pastron ’16