Maria Arambula

Have you joined the 30 Day Song challenge yet? The fast growing Facebook group should soon approach around 500,000 users. For those yet to be introduced, participants follow a list of prompts and post a song for the day, usually in the form of a YouTube clip. The questions are less than hard-hitting, including “Your favorite song” “Song that makes you happy.” “Song that you listen to when happy”. Redundancies aside, the list is easily followed by many types of people, even if the questions are less than inspired.

If your Facebook friends are anything like mine you are bound to have a few serial YouTube song posters that don’t require a group challenge to post music. These friends have no problem sharing their favorite music, and assume that if they like it you will too. Whether it is Uncle Larry quoting Beatles lyrics or your record collecting friend sharing a video of some obscure 70’s Brazillian songwriter. The rest of us either occasionally post a song on a whim or may never dare to under normal circumstances. However, the urge to sing out to your Facebook friends via YouTube never really goes away. In walks this somewhat absurd 30 Day Song Challenge and suddenly that pent up desire to be a DJ can be released. Even the most shy Facebook wallflower is as fervent about YouTube music videos as your Uncle and posting recollections of the songs they were listening to when they met their significant others or divulging their morning habits that include making toast and getting “pumped up” with Knights of Cydonia.

In viewing the lists of both my friends and of strangers on the forum, what strikes me the most is the huge variety of songs. In this hyper-individualized music climate no one is listening to the same thing. There won’t be a huge new dance craze that everyone will of course agree on for the “Song you can dance to” day. This enormous variety says a lot about how we experience music, which has gone from something we share, to something we listen to alone on our headphones or in front of our personal screens. In the music industry’s decade-long scramble to figure out how to adapt to the digital era it seems they have forgot that more than anything the visceral nature of our love of music. When silly daily prompts like the 30 Day Music Challenge prove so irresistible it tells me that even though the giant record labels are failing us with their offerings of auto-tuned-celebrity-tragedies-in-waiting, we still love music and a love so pure is meant for sharing.

Having come of age with the internet I had my first blog at 13, however, this was before they were even called blogs. The first one was made with super simple html code and free site hosting.

Sometimes I find myself lamenting the loss of the written word in more traditional forms, and think that I should try to write something else other than a blog. Then, I realize that I have always lived in a world with access to computers, that this is more authentic and natural to me than perhaps I would like to admit. So here we are again. Over and over I have started a blog, deleted it, missed it’s presence and started another one back up. In fact this is at least the second time I’ve written this sort of post. Now I swear I’m for real. Right? I’m going to do it this time. I’m going to write and publish my thoughts and opinions for anyone to read. No pretensions, no expectations of anything else, except to keep this humble little place on the internet readable and active.