Skip to main content

Blog # 1: Music and Me

   

     Hello! My name is Estrella Seabolt and I am currently a sophomore at Converse. I plan on majoring in biology for now as I would like to become a veterinarian in the future. At Converse, I am involved with Cru and I also compete on the Acro and Tumbling team. 

    I was born in Georgia, however I am from a military family so I've lived in or visited many different states and countries. I lived in Florida, Arizona, Virginia, Germany, and Belgium. In addition, I've visited Italy, France, Poland, and the Netherlands. I have one sister, 2 kitties, and 3 dogs at home. Before I came to college, I was a gymnast. I started with Mommy and Me classes at 3, and continued until the end of the summer before freshman year of college. 


       



Because my family moved around a lot, I had to constantly change schools which wasn't good for my social life. So, music became a coping mechanism for me and helped me through a lot of hard times.

1. An Example of Music I Like Right Now:
    
    One of my favorite artists for the past 2-3 years of my life is Alec Benjamin. Alec is from Phoenix, Arizona and writes his own music. He is mostly known for his vulnerability and storytelling in his songwriting, which is why I am drawn to his music. He came into the public eye after someone on the 12th season of America's Got Talent performed an act to his song, "I Build a Friend". I discovered Alec Benjamin's music by accident. I was listening to a radio station on a music app and his song "Outrunning Karma" came on. I was immediately entranced by his voice, vulnerability, and storytelling. If I had to choose, I would say that his single with content creator Dream called "Change my Clothes" is one of my favorite songs of his. "Change my Clothes" is about how both Dream and Alec have big dreams and goals in life, but they can't seem to accomplish them because they are afraid to get out of their comfort zone and make mistakes/fail.

Here are two videos of the songs mentioned above: "Outrunning Karma" and "Change my Clothes"








2. An Example of Personally Meaningful Music:

    I like a lot of different music, but a band and their music that is personally meaningful to me is Imagine Dragons. Imagine Dragons is a pop rock band consisting of lead singer Dan Reynolds, guitarist Wayne Sermon, bassist Ben McKee, and drummer Daniel Platzman. I was introduced to Imagine Dragons when I was in 5th or 6th grade by my dad. We were traveling in the car and my dad was showing me music that he was into at the time, and one of the songs he let me listen to was "Demons" by Imagine Dragons. Ever since then, I've loved their music. And every time I listen to it, I think back to that time I was in the car with my dad and how close we were. 




3. An Example of Music I Don't Really Connect With: 
    
    One example of music that I don't connect with is The Beatles. I took The Beatles class here at Converse during 2022 Jan Term and their music just isn't for me. I'm just not a big fan of rock 'n' roll music. One of the songs I listened to was "Yellow Submarine" which I definitely did not connect to and it was one of the songs that I disliked the most. Also, the music video for "Yellow Submarine" was kind of scary and weird. Even though I don't necessarily like The Beatles or their music, I can say that I love their creativity and imagination when coming up with their songs. 
    





Comments

  1. I totally agree with you about the Beatles! I can totally recognize the talent that they have and all of the hard work that went into their songs. However, I am not a fan of their music. It just isn't something that sits well with me. I get a lot of people questioning why I don't like The Beatles, so I am glad that I am not the only one :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Estrella! Wow! I have never heard of Alec Benjamin before, but I really love his sound. My favorite is “Change My Clothes”. I really relate to that fear of failure that he is kind of describing in his music. His voice sounded much different than I was expecting, too! I will be keeping an eye on him going forward.
    I AM familiar with Imagine Dragons. I think they have a great sound. It’s so wonderful that it reminds you of your relationship with your dad. I love how music can transport us to another place.
    I have never been a Beatles fan either. Awesome blog, thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hey Estrella! I'm also a part of CRU, that's so cool! I love Imagine Dragons as well. I know many of their hit songs like "Thunder" or "Enemy" but I would like to know their music more in depth. I'm also not a huge Beatles fan. I have a lot of respect for there music, but it's never been one of my favorite styles.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hey Estrella! I also come from a military family and completely agree on your statement about using music to cope. I feel music has helped me a lot through my years of school.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I love that you included pictures on your blog of your pets! I miss my dog as he is at home with my family. It is cool that you have visited so many different places. I also am not a huge Beatles fan. I can appreciate their music but personally I would not be adding it to my playlist. I am defiantly going to listen to your favourite songs.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I can totally relate to how you said that music can be a coping mechanism. Yes, sometimes I listen just for the pure enjoyment, but sometimes I like to just listen to music when I'm sad or even to chill if I am angry about something. I also love that song by Imagine Dragons.

    ReplyDelete
  7. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Some of the artists you shared in this blog are new to me. I knew about The Beatles and even though I think they are really original and talented I don’t like their music that much. I knew a little bit about Imagine Dragons. I think I've probably heard some of their songs in the past but It was interesting to watch the video clip you shared of them in your vlog. About Alec Benjamin, I liked the songs you shared. I liked the lyrics of the songs and also the sounds. I love that you talked about your pets and I also enjoyed reading the story of how you came to know Imagine Dragons.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Music and Rituals: German Christmas Music

Christmas in Germany is a magical time of year. I lived in Germany for about 4 years, and they have many wonderful Christmas traditions that my family have implemented into our life to this day. Some popular Christmas traditions in Germany include the use of the Advent Calendar, going to Christmas Markets (my personal favorite), St. Nicholas Day, Three Kings Day, and of course, singing German Christmas songs! In Germany, I had to take a German class, where we learned all about Germany and its culture. During Christmastime, we would learn about all the different traditions and songs sung during Christmas. German Advent Calendar                                                                     German Christmas Market                    German Christmas music has a ...

Big Blog 1: Gospel Music

  History of Gospel Music: Gospel music is a genre of Christian music. It is used to refer to songs sung by both white and African American Christians. Worship between these two groups were similar, however some differences crept in over time, so now Gospel music is more associated with African Americans and became deeply rooted within the African American church. Gospel music is comprised of hymns and other songs borrowed from oral traditions of the African American culture. Hymns were brought over by Europeans who settled in North America. During slavery, many African Americans would sing while working to combat the pain and suffering of slavery. Slaves could often hear their masters and other whites singing these hymns during the Sunday service and modified the songs into a call and response format (This gave rise to spirituals, which later influenced the development of Gospel music). While hymns were introduced in the 18 th century, the 17 th century was dominated by psal...

Big Blog 2: Puerto Rican Bomba y Plena Music and Culture

  Overview of Puerto Rican Music and Culture: The music of Puerto Rico is the heart of its culture, and is a product of many diverse cultural backgrounds. The musical sources that influenced the music of Puerto Rico are European, Indigenous, and African influences. Puerto Rican music also has origins in the Caribbean. Today, Puerto Rican music culture is comprised of many different genres, such as bomba, danza, guaracha, reggaeton, plena, and more recently, latin trap.  Early Puerto Rican Music Culture: Unfortunately, music culture in Puerto Rico was poorly documented in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries. However, we do know that it included Spanish church music, military band music, and diverse genres of dance music from the jíbaros and enslaved Africans. These two groups of people never made up more than 11% of the population, but they did greatly contribute to Puerto Rico's musical culture. Soon, in the 19th century, more on Puerto Rican music emerged into history. One of ...