People Who Listen To The Same Songs On Repeat As They Get Older Usually Have These 3 Reasons, According To Research
Scientists are finally studying why it happens, and they have a few explanations.
PintoArt | Shutterstock Young people like following trends; it's a fact of life. Older people tend to age out of what's hip, preferring to stick with what they know. One example of this comes from the music people listen to. The younger you are, the more likely you are to pay attention to what’s popular. But, as you get older, that becomes less important. These aren’t just observations; there’s actual science to back them up.
Stephen Beech from Talker News reported that researchers from Sweden and Slovenia conducted a study that examined 15 years' worth of music listening information gathered from Last.fm, a website that lets users input the kind of music they’re listening to on platforms like Spotify. The study included 40,000 different users, and they concluded that people do tend to listen to the same songs more frequently as they get older. They think they know why.
People who listen to the same songs on repeat as they get older usually have these 3 reasons:
1. They’re chasing nostalgia
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One of the biggest reasons that people tend to listen to a more select group of songs and go back to the ones they knew in their youth, the older they get, is because they want that feeling of nostalgia. Professor Alan Said from Sweden’s University of Gothenburg, one of the study’s co-authors, explained that “nostalgia” is one of the biggest factors that play into what we listen to as we get older. He described those songs as the “soundtrack of our lives.”
So, what’s the big deal about nostalgia, and why is it something that we all seem to crave? Krystine Batcho, PhD, a psychologist and professor at LeMoyne College, spoke to Kaitlin Luna, host of the American Psychological Association’s “Speaking of Psychology” podcast. Of nostalgia, Dr. Batcho said, “It’s a very comforting emotion. It also brings back; it stimulates memories of the times when we were accepted and loved unconditionally.”
Because nostalgia is so comforting, it’s something that we all naturally seek out, especially as we get older. There’s nothing quite so nostalgic as playing a song that defined a certain period in your life or one that reminds you of your youth and listening to it on repeat. As we get older, we do this more and more, meaning we’re probably going to listen to the same songs pretty often.
2. Their taste in music becomes more refined
According to Beech, our taste in music becomes more “unique” the older we get. Said added, “You don’t go to a music festival just to listen to one particular band, but when you become an adult, you’ve usually found a style of music that you identify with. The charts become less important.” When you’re young, you may be open to a little bit of everything, and your listening habits will probably reflect that as you try to keep up with everything popular that your friends are listening to. The older you get, the firmer you are about liking certain genres or artists best and sticking with them.
Chuck Dinerstein, MD, MBA, wrote about the study’s findings for the American Council on Science and Health. “Overall, during our adolescent years, we are intensely engaged in music and active discovery of both new tracks by artists we appreciate and new artists,” he said. This changes as we enter our 30s and have greater day-to-day responsibilities. “We listen less, to fewer tracks, but continue to discover new artists, albeit at a slower pace than our teen years,” he continued. “By late adulthood (>55 years), we may be listening a bit more, but to a refined list of favorites.”
As we get older, we come to know ourselves better. The same can be said for any area of life. For example, the older you are, the better you know and understand your personal style. Your music style is the same. You let go of the things you just listened to because they were popular and instead stick with what you really like, which you know better than ever.
3. They aren’t actively trying to discover new music
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Said made an interesting observation about older adults. “Most 65-year-olds don’t embark on a musical exploration journey,” he noted. It’s not something we often give consideration to, but when you think about it, it’s true. Young people love discovering new music. They scour Spotify and Apple Music for new artists they’ll enjoy, and they go to concerts to see artists they aren’t very familiar with just to see if they like them.
The desire to keep up with trends and relate to one’s friends definitely plays a strong role in this. However, another study published in Frontiers in Neuroscience suggested that listening to so much music is actually good for young people’s mental health as well. “This pervasive presence of music provides adolescents with a means to express themselves and articulate their emotions; furthermore, it has emerged as a crucial avenue for their social interactions,” researchers said.
Adolescence is a difficult time for everyone, and anyone who’s young could definitely use a mental health boost. Listening to a variety of music provides this and gives young people a way to express how they’re feeling. As we get older, we may not need that boost as much or be as desperate for an outlet for expression. Instead, we stick to what we know.
As we get older, we’re probably going to find ourselves listening to the same songs on repeat. But the great thing about listening to and being a fan of music is that there are no rules. If you want to listen to the same songs over and over again, that’s fine. If you just want to listen to the songs you loved when you were younger to evoke a sense of nostalgia, that’s perfectly okay too. You can listen to whatever music you want to without questioning your choices.
Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer with a bachelor’s degree in English and Journalism who covers news, psychology, lifestyle, and human interest topics.
