By Jaclyn Wickersham
Have you ever walked around campus and observed that nearly everyone you pass has their headphones on. Have you ever wondered what they could be listening to? Annually, the Campus Activities Board produces a survey to gather information on what the Fordham community wants for their Spring Weekend concert. This year, the survey received over a thousand responses and prompted people to divulge what kind of music they listen to. Using the survey data, I am going to attempt to answer the budding question, what do students at Fordham listen to?
Countless artists, bands, and singer-songwriters are on the scene right now, making it hard to narrow down exactly what and who people are listening to; however, we can start big and work our way down. The survey asks, “what music genres would you prefer at this year’s Spring Weekend concert?”. The survey asks this exact question every year; overwhelmingly, the answer is always pop. Fordham students love pop! 81% of respondents said they wanted pop to be the genre of this year’s Spring Weekend headliner. Last year, the second most popular response was rap; however, this time around, Fordham students favored indie rock/pop slightly more than rap. 58.% of respondents said they would want the genre of the concert performer to be indie rock/pop, while 52.8% said they would want rap. Beyond the top 3 genres, the percentages begin to dwindle. Alternative and R&B hovered around 30%, while EDM, country, and Latin were favored roughly 18% of the time.
Okay, so now we know that Fordhams big three are pop, indie, and rap, but what else can the survey tell us about what Fordham students like to listen to? Well, we know 2024 was a massive year for the streaming of pop girls, and Fordham is no exception. When asked, “What has been your summer anthem?” most respondents cited hits by Sabrina Carpenter, Taylor Swift, Chappell Roan, Gracie Abrams, and Charli XCX. Beyond those dominating the pop femininominon, students have been loving Noah Kahan, A Boogie, Role Model, Clairo, Flo Millie, The Driver Era, Zach Bryan, and Still Woozy.
While we all may like to believe that our music taste is elite and that our music taste is super different and individualistic, that may not be the case. The survey suggests that we all enjoy the hits; hey, they are hits for a reason! But it also notes that while having a lot in common with one another, Fordham students also showed variety in their responses. While most Fordham folk love pop, indie, or rap, no two survey responses are the same. We may not be all that different from each other when we put our playlists on shuffle; however, there are still variations that make music listening a highly personalized and a truly unique experience.
