Music Listening and Critique: A Personal Reflection

The listener's emotional response to music should guide their analysis, prioritizing feeling over rigid theory.

### Understanding My Music Listening and Critiquing Process
* 🎶 Recently, I received a message from a fan named Jess asking about my process for **listening to, analyzing, and critiquing music**, which surprised me as I see myself as "**just some guy**" sharing opinions online.
* 🤔 My initial reaction to a song or album is primarily based on **how it makes me feel**, rather than focusing on music theory, which I find can be a **robotic way to experience art**.
* 🎤 I prefer discussing the **emotion and intent behind music**, as exemplified by Carly Rae Jepsen's *Emotion*, which, despite being familiar, **succeeds in its execution**.
* 🎵 Venturing into diverse musical landscapes often increases the **desire for originality**, contrasting with artists like Drake, whose recent work feels **complacent** to me.
* 🎉 In contrast, I found 100 gecs refreshing and fun, showcasing how **context and intent matter** in music appreciation, as they bring a **playful and rebellious spirit** to their work.
* 🧐 My listening process involves using quality equipment, as I believe it allows me to **experience music as the artist intended**, and I typically listen to songs multiple times to form a **well-rounded opinion**.
* 📊 I encourage active listening by asking **specific questions about lyrics, instrumentals, and song structure** to deepen understanding and appreciation of music.
* 🙏 Ultimately, my goal is to **inspire others to engage more thoughtfully with music**, as personal opinions can **evolve over time**, reflecting growth and changing perspectives.

so recently I got a message on Instagram from a fan named Jess and she was basically wondering what my process is for listening to, analyzing, and then critiquing music. This kind of thing always comes as a bit of a shock to me because I can't emphasize this enough, I

am truly just some guy that decided to start sharing his opinions online. I have wondered the same exact thing for people like Fantano, but I don't know, it just blows my mind that anybody would care about these specifics for me. I gave Jess

a quick little summary, but it got me thinking more and more about the ways that I consume this art form and that's what we'll be discussing today. This will be a very casual conversation discussing random topics that come to mind within this concept and more than ever before I

need to reiterate this is just how I do things. I'm not trying to force anything on anyone, but these are the mantras and perspectives that I find helpful and feel comfortable with when it comes to listening to music. Everything is different for everybody all of the time.

forever and I'm curious to hear your own methods in the comments below. [Applause] [Music] First and foremost, my gut reaction to a song or album is always going to start with how it makes me feel rather than worrying too much about theory. There are

certainly times where music theory is bound to be used as evidence or front and center for a dialogue about trends or whatever and obviously it's always there regardless of if we're talking about it or not, but here if you watch music related videos on YouTube, I'm sure you know Rick Beato.

He's a very popular creator, and I'm not hating on him when I say this, but he seems to look at things in the complete opposite way that I choose to. Any review that I've seen from him, any reaction to something he's hearing for the first

time, every video explaining why a particular song is good, why new music sucks, and so on and so on. It's this, "So it starts in F major, so it's 2 5 1, which is a minor third down, then I hear a major third down to F, then a

major second up to G, D flat, E flat, F, A flat, B flat. It's just a perfect fourth interval, all those upper extensions and nines, the the sus fours, the sharp elevens, and like honestly, for me, we do not care. Sure, music theory can be very

interesting and worth talking about, but I think constantly hearing songs through this lens comes off as a very robotic way to experience art. If there's a weird time signature on a top 40 track or you want to hyper fixate on the harmonies in a Post Malone song, then sure, be my guest

and go off, but personally, I'd rather talk about emotion and intent with a little bit of context and get back to the exact chord progressions and whatnot later on. Discussing emotion is a perfect segue to one of my absolute favorite phrases that I bring up in some of my videos when an

album, song, movie, or whatever else is described with, "It knows what it is" or "It's good at what it is." The point being made is that this thing is not doing anything revolutionary and unique, but it's working with the same old stuff in such a fantastic way that its quality

outweighs any need for originality. Carly Rae Jepsen's *Emotion* is a dance-pop album released in 2015. You have heard thousands of songs that sound pretty similar to what's on here, but the record still succeeds anyway. When you're able

to find the absolute essence of whatever subgenre and mood you're digging into, this can be just as exciting as hearing something completely unique. Different doesn't always mean good, and familiar doesn't always mean bad. [Music] With that being said, I think the more

you venture out into the musical landscape, the hungrier you'll be for anything going against whatever the norm is at that moment. There is one extremely popular artist that I tend to kind of bash on the channel, and it's just because I'm bored by what they've put

out over the last five years or so. Drake is fine if you try to isolate these albums. I don't think any of them are too bad, but this musician could be doing so much more. He's shown that he can go back and forth between R&B, rap, hip hop,

bangers, and then a wonderful fusion of the two, but then complacency, doing the same old thing without being good at what it is, and I personally lose interest. And it's perfect timing for this because I saw 100 gecs in concert a few nights ago and they were

refreshing and extraordinary. Definitely some of the most fun I've ever had at a show. In a world where Drake is sleepwalking his way to the top of the charts and Grammy nominations, then I hear an album that sounds like this. [Music]

this is what's going to make me enthusiastic and have a better chance of moving me in some way 100 gecs are playful, funny, rebellious, sarcastic, there's some level of irony there and I could go on and on, these are the adjectives and

vibes that come through within their tracks, entire projects, music videos, etc. Context matters, music does not exist in a vacuum, and even if you want to argue that your first reaction and opinions of an artist that you've never listened to are completely pure and not based on

prior knowledge of them, there will always be some kind of bias. Once we accept that we're constantly comparing art that's new to us to what we've already consumed before it, it helps show that context and intent does matter and those things lead to determining authenticity. Ed Sheeran and Chance the

rapper's most recent projects feel less genuine because we know what they're capable of and what they've portrayed themselves as through their music in the past. But that's not me saying that changing your sound is automatically a bad thing. Taylor Swift going from

Fearless to Folklore was a natural progression. You can listen to one Weezer album and it will feel completely different than another. Kanye's entire discography is one big example of this. You just have to judge for yourself and make your own opinion based on whether

or not the music in that context works for you. I love the line off of *The Life of Pablo*, "Now if I this model and she just bleached her apple and I get bleach on my t-shirt I'm a feel like an apple", but it's because *The Life of Pablo* is

This raw, self-indulgent, messy critique of fame and celebrity... Now imagine if you went back 12 years to the college dropout you were listening to this very sincere, conscious look at Kanye's upbringing, and that line was on 'Family Business'. It would be terrible when I...

first heard King Crimson, I think when I was in high school. I really enjoyed it, but things became much more impressive after I learned that this album was made in the 60s with this level of timeless innovation. You could tell me that it was from the future and I'd believe you. I

saw Lil Dicky's 'Save That Money' going viral when it came out, and my initial reaction was that it was a relatively funny, well-executed novelty song. Then I learned that he wants to be taken seriously as a rapper. I heard more of

his music and my opinion of him became pretty negative. I'm firing a lot of different examples at you right now, but I hope that my point came through. I'm more than happy to give every new release a chance, but having opinions on music is not black and white. There are

albums that I did not care for when I first heard them that I love now. There are musicians that I used to be obsessed with that I don't listen to at all anymore. How much you like and appreciate something can depend on a million different factors, and then those

thoughts can change over time with you growing as a person. Remember that thing I said about everything changing for everyone all the time forever? Keep that in mind when somebody shares their opinion. Before I share my most important point, I want to give a more literal, slightly

boring answer to how I listen to music in case anybody's been waiting for that this whole time and I've been babbling and being pretentious equipment wise I have Beyerdynamic DT990s that I love rocket speakers on either side of my desk that are absolutely insane and then

I can't remember the specifics but I got a cheap subwoofer in my car that's better than nothing if I'm ever checking something out for the first time I try to listen using one of those methods because it's much closer to how the

artist actually intended for everybody to hear their music I went a long time as a music lover without having any kind of nice headphones or speakers and I promise you the difference is night and day it's been genuinely life-changing since I upgraded years ago studio grade

stuff is not as expensive as you might think and I highly recommend looking into better gear if you haven't already unless it's a first reaction sort of thing I've listened to any album or song that I'm doing a video on a minimum of like three or four times obviously

projects that I love I've gone back to hundreds of times but if it's a rising artist video or something I make sure to do a few re-listens one just enjoying it at least one time with the lyrics in front of me but as always it depends

and I've talked about this before in my video about Fantano and criticism in general but my most crucial point when it comes to any of this is that you should be able to say why you like or dislike certain music if you're being an

active music listener and you know listening to the music as opposed to somebody just throwing on a Spotify playlist in the background or something tell me your specific reactions to the song this can obviously go back to theory but assuming the average person doesn't have a strong background in that

department try to start by asking yourself questions like this do you like the lyrics what about the lyrics have you heard certain cliches before do they work in this context did the words make you feel a strong emotion did they hurt you did it make you happy what about the

instrumental how does it sound like it was recorded is there depth to it does it sound a little too basic or is it clearly the product of a lot of hard work what do you think about the structure of the song is it boring repetitive or is it special in some way

not that I'm seriously asking myself these questions when I'm listening to something I don't want this to feel like you're doing a book report but I think you know what I mean the more you can discuss things in detail the more you'll

get out of music in general the more you'll demand a high-quality product and so on this whole video might have been unnecessary to many of you but if there's one person out there that's going to open their mind and focus on music a little bit more

that's all I ask thank you for watching that video it's something a little bit different a little bit more casual conversational if you want to support the channel feel free to like comment and subscribe you can follow me on social media at renshaw.hs you can buy

My merch, support my Patreon, and thank you again. I'll see you soon.

How to Listen to Music (...like, really)

Alfo Media

The creator shares their process of listening to and critiquing music, emphasizing their personal approach.

They express surprise at the interest in their methods, contrasting their own perspective with that of established critics.

The discussion will be casual and focus on personal methods, not prescriptive rules.

The creator reiterates that their approach is personal and not intended to be universally applicable.

Gut reaction and emotional response are prioritized over immediate theoretical analysis.

Emotional Response vs. Technical Analysis

The creator contrasts their approach with that of Rick Beato, highlighting the difference in prioritizing emotion versus technical details.

While acknowledging the value of music theory, they find a purely technical approach robotic and less engaging.

They prefer discussing emotion and intent, leaving detailed technical analysis for later.

The concept of "It knows what it is" is introduced, emphasizing the value of effective execution over radical originality.

Carly Rae Jepsen's *Emotion* is used as an example of an album that succeeds despite using familiar elements.

The creator discusses the desire for novelty and how familiarity can lead to boredom, using Drake as an example.

100 gecs are presented as a contrast to Drake, highlighting their refreshing and innovative approach.

The importance of context and the inevitability of bias in evaluating music are discussed.

Ed Sheeran and Chance the Rapper's recent works are used as examples of music that feels less genuine due to past expectations.

The creator emphasizes that changing musical styles isn't inherently bad and provides examples of artists successfully evolving their sound.

Contextual Understanding and Shifting Opinions

King Crimson and Lil Dicky are used to illustrate how context and intent influence opinions over time.

The creator emphasizes that opinions on music are fluid and can change over time.

They highlight the multitude of factors influencing musical appreciation and the evolving nature of personal taste.

The creator briefly describes their listening setup and equipment.

Active Listening and Articulating Opinions

The importance of being able to articulate why one likes or dislikes music is stressed.

The creator suggests questions to guide active listening and critical analysis, focusing on lyrics, instrumentals, and structure.

They encourage detailed discussion to enhance musical appreciation and demand higher quality.

The creator concludes by hoping the video encourages more mindful engagement with music.