Favoritism

As I sit here trying to finish my homework late at night due to a night at work, I listen to some music on Pandora, I have come up with a good question that baffles me every time someone asks it. The common query: What is your favorite kind of music? Also very related: Who's your favorite singer, or what's your favorite book, favorite movie, etc. My reply to all of these is, why do I have to have a favorite? The one inquiry into my interests that bothers me, and is impossible to answer, is: what kind of music is on your iPod?

For me, what is on my iPod is, first of all, whatever I like. I try not to simply buy the music that is popular at the time (although that does happen), rather than buy a song that I enjoy. Being a musical person, I always listen to the music behind the lyrics. Lackluster beats just don't get me as excited as an intricate bass line does. People who look at my iPod might think I am strange due to my wide variety of music genres. When I say I have everything, I do not lie. My in-pocket musical library contains anything from "gangsta" rap to Sibelius violin concertos. This is why these questions about favorites are so difficult for me to understand, and to answer. How am I supposed to tell you my favorite genre when I like them all, when I listen to them all. Maybe next time I should just fool them and say Irish polka rap...or maybe not. I think my best answer to the question is music with depth.

Why do we ask others what their favorites are, though? As children we are asked what our favorite color is, or our favorite animal. The obvious answer to me is that we are simply very interested in other people. We want to know about them, and these questions are conduits for us to access their personality. I spoke earlier of my seemingly wide variety of music genres, which now, when thinking of our favorites as aspects of personality, has a much different meaning. While some people have a definite favorite conventional genre (rap, country, classical), others might not have a single favorite in these everyday genres. Instead, these individuals look for qualities in the music other than the label given to it. A good example that comes to mind is Hope by Twista and Faith Evans. Some people enjoy the lyrics and rhymes that Twista delivers much like a rap song. Other people might listen to the song from another viewpoint, focusing on the strings in the background (Yes, rap musicians do use strings sometimes) as well as the light percussion. The common "genre" on the iPods of these people would be musical music.

Questions about favorites are so difficult to answer, as well. Haven't you been asked by someone what your favorite movie is and simply been unable to answer? The category of Movie contains an extreme number of films that to pick one that is my favorite, at least for me, is a daunting challenge. Plus, it is so hard to decide what is better between a fingernail-biting action/suspense movie and a tear jerking Nicholas Sparks type movie. The way they cause emotions is so different and so profound in their respective ways, that to decide which one is "better" is nearly impossible. One solution could be to ask, what's your favorite action movie, or your favorite sad movie. Asking these, however, would be odd as well, because you still don't know which one they like more! Therefore, my friends, the question of favorites will always be asked, and you will always be expected to have an answer ready. You could do like me and say Irish polka rap, or you could just pick one of your top 5 and say that's your favorite. If you feel bad about placing that one above the others, take your top 7 (I know, it's hard to pick that, too) and pick one as your favorite for each day of the week.