I’m not really much of a music listener. 

I mean, I like music, but I will never be one of those people who says, “I love music” during an icebreaker. I don’t listen to music when I cook; I don’t want my food to burn. I don’t listen to music in the shower; I don’t want my phone to get wet. And I definitely don’t listen to music when studying; I like to think properly. 

Every year, when Apple Music Replay — or, for the less raffiné, Spotify Wrapped — debuts, I loathe seeing people post the number of minutes they’ve listened to music. And to answer your presumed question, yes, my total listening time in 2024 was low: 8,868 minutes.

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It may be weird that someone who seems to dislike music is writing a column about it, but this is just my relationship with music. 

I have always liked run-of-the-mill, mainstream popular music, and I have no shame in that. 

If you had told my 13-year-old self that I would no longer be a Drake listener in 2025 — or well before that — I wouldn’t have accepted that as a conceivable option in this universe. 2018, when Drake had three No. 1 Billboard Top 100 songs, was as much my year as it was Drake’s. Drake’s success, in my teenage mind, was also my own.

I would say I liked Drake because that was what I liked, but looking back, I was just following the mainstream masses. When everyone stopped being fans of Drake, so did I. Drake wasn’t my “indie” artist; he was Drake. 

Of course, I have my consistent, core artists — A$AP Rocky, JAY-Z and Travis Scott — but also, what Black kid from Brooklyn doesn’t like them? Once again, I’m one of hundreds of thousands, not “indie,” and I’m completely complacent. But I’m also exceptionally different; my love for “LIVE.LOVE.A$AP” and “LONG.LIVE.A$AP (Deluxe Edition)” is idiosyncratic. No one loves them the same way I do. 

I became a fan of The Weeknd at the same time as everyone else. On one of his popular albums — one of my favorite albums — “Starboy,” my two favorite songs are some of the album’s most popular songs: “Starboy” and “Party Monster.” On The Weeknd’s lowest-selling album, “Dawn FM,” which is by far my favorite album, I once again love the most popular song on the album: “Out of Time.” But when people stopped listening to him after the mess that was “The Idol,” I stayed. 

But once again, this is The Weeknd; he was quite literally 2024’s second-most-streamed artist on Spotify. Not “unique.”

My love for “Dawn FM” is special. It’s one of the few albums I can play fully through without skipping a song. Part of my disdain for music is constantly having to find music that matches the mood or the aesthetic I want, and so I hate playlists.

The only playlists I ever use are my automatically generated Apple Music Replay-made playlists for each year, and still, I can’t listen to those without skipping songs because there is no cohesive mood or aesthetic in the list. I can’t imagine spending time sitting on my phone grouping songs under trite titles like “Songs for the shower,” “Song that make me cry” or “Hype Music” when I can just queue songs I want to listen to at the moment. A playlist will never do that for me. 

So, I guess this is my unique music take. I am “indie” in a sense. 

When high school came, I believed I would develop a more distinct music taste. I had “discovered” Lana Del Rey and convinced myself I had found my go-to “indie” artist, or at least indie among guys. However, I soon realized I wasn’t unique; I was just another guy who listens to Lana while working out. Clearly, mainstream media is subconsciously curating my music choices. 

I still won’t let anyone tell me I’m not in a TikTok edit or that I don’t feel like a main character when I play “Brooklyn Baby” or even “Poker Face” by Lady Gaga when I’m in the gym. 

They simply don’t listen to the song the same way I listen to the song. 

I’ve been told by my friends that my music is “so mainstream” and that I “play the same songs all the time.” And that’s fine. 

Popular music is popular for a reason. Not everyone can be “indie” or “discover” a new artist, and to be quite frank, that sounds like too much work. I’ve come to terms with the fact that my music is not particularly unique. I like what I like because it’s popular. And that’s perfectly fine by me. 

I genuinely love my mainstream music and probably won’t change my music taste or make a playlist anytime soon; queueing will do just fine. 

“Jam Journal” is a rotating column featuring a new Daily Trojan editor in each installment commenting on the music most important to them. Deon Botshekan is an associate managing editor at the Daily Trojan.