I never thought about using music to describe Americans. This gave me a different insight on Americans and America as a whole. Music is a way to express the artist’s feelings and I didn’t realize how many would write music about their country. Whether they were mad or happy or just expressing their life, I feel now that most artists write about their homes, or where they come from. When you said “238 million users, 175 million users, 60 million users, these are the numbers put up by the top streaming apps Spotify, Soundcloud, and Apple music ” I was shocked. I know lots of people listen to music for many different reasons but I truly didn’t think about how many did. 238 million people is a lot! Americans use music for many different reasons, which is important in our culture. Now more than ever I do believe music helps us understand whats going on in the world and sometimes even to forget what’s happening.

Aidan, I love the way you approached the idea of American values. Focusing on music is unique and you tied it together very well. Since music plays such a big role in our society today I can imagine a lot of people can relate to this. I like the way you connected it to the Vietnam war, whether you know it or not this connected to other American values like freedom and community. The people didn’t like what was going on with their government and the war, so they spoke out against it in a very influential way using music. This expresses freedom and community because the musicians used freedom of speech to bring their community together, with the subtle form of protest, music. In the paragraph about censorship and how artists were being oppressed, I think this is a another great example of how music reflects the current happenings of the time. On that same note, I also saw another connection between the current events and music in the paragraph about Lizzo’s song on anti-commitment. The section about censorship and oppression of musicians is relating the American value of freedom and the section about anti-commitment ties in with freedom and important topics of today about empowering women. The way you connected pop culture from the past and present to connect to American values was very clever. How much do you think music influenced today’s culture? What do you think America would be like if music wasn’t as important as it was and currently is today?

Hi Aidan,
I really like how you pointed out how the use of music has changed over time but it has always been used to address issues that people are facing. From Billie Holiday talking about lynchings and such activities being ignored in the south to Phil Ohcs voicing his dismay in Vietnam, music has been and always will be used as a way to express feelings and voice opinions. While reading this I realized how prevalent it still was for musicians and artists to voice their concerns and beliefs through music. An artist I listen to often Polo G uses his music to voice concerns about the violence in Southside Chicago. “He decries the racial inequities and gentrification in Chicago, and, in the next verse bares the psychological effects of the constant violence spilling out into neighborhood streets like those near the Marshall Field Garden Apartments where he grew up.” (chicago.suntimes.com). I feel like this is a way that music is used nowadays, people talking about violence and poverty in places they grew up in. I think that music will only grow to be more popular and will always be used to voice opinions and concerns about society.

https://chicago.suntimes.com/2019/8/23/20825767/polo-g-chicago-success-finer-things-rap