Everyday, you could be walking by people in the halls who are listening to the same artist as you, and if you’re lucky, maybe even the same song. To better understand specifically what the students at Indian Hills are listening to, we interviewed a handful of them, asking about their: (1) favorite artist, (2) favorite song or album, and (3) why that artist is their favorite. After collecting the data, we can successfully say that we found a contender for Indian Hills’ favorite artist.
The music taste of students at Hills is pretty diverse, ranging across a panoply of genres and eras. However, Travis Scott was the artist that appeared the most, with around 15% of the interviewees picking him as their favorite. While that percentage may seem small in retrospect that 15% makes up a large percentage of the student body, with one in every seven interviewees picking a singular artist as their definitive favorite. Unsurprisingly then, Travis Scott also holds the title for favorite album out of all of the students interviewed. His 2023 studio album, Utopia, was chosen as students’ favorite album as much as Travis Scott himself was chosen as their favorite artist, making it the favorite of about 15% of students. This, along with the several other rappers voted in as favorites, makes rap the favorite genre of music at Hills, with around 51% of the interviewees choosing it as their favorite.
While rap came out victorious, there were numerous other names thrown around in the interviews. Some runner-ups for the #1 artist title were: Lana Del Rey with 8%, Lil Uzi Vert with 8%, and Bob Marley with 7%. And other potentially favorite genres included: R&B with 15% and Indie with 11%.
Some of the interviewees gave a quote on why they chose certain artists. Junior Nick Carreira chose Kendrick Lamar as his top artist, stating that he “really touches my heart.” Focusing more so on technique, J Michael Tompkins prefers Lil Tecca because “his music is consistent.” But overall, most students prefer albums with a variety of sounds, themes, and beats. Lots of people said that the reason their favorite album is their favorite is because it contains chill, upbeat, mellow, heavy, or sentimental music all in one album. So next time you walk through school, just think of how many other people are enjoying the same exact song you are, because it’s probably a lot more than you think.
