Thoughts on escapism through playlists

Something that captures everyone’s attention is sound. We turn our heads at the siren of an ambulance barreling down the street. We smile to ourselves at the sound of laughter from a restaurant we pass by, or to the popular music coming from the store we don’t normally go into. Sound, in all its annoyance and glory, is inevitable in the world we live in. We cannot escape the buzz of electricity or the creaks on the hardwood floor. These, and many more, are the sounds of life, reminding us we are still here when it can become so easy to forget.

But if you are like me, you spent most of your adolescence trying to make a new soundtrack for your life. Through playlists, life’s sounds had to become one of an indie movie. The new sound in your ears became what you wished your life was, drowning out the unfavorable reality. You no longer are “here” but rather in your head. The escapism is one that puts you in control of an out of control world, skipping, editing, and adding songs for the perfect moment. They become our created superpower, allowing us to live within the created reality we build and drown out the noise from outside. We overload with sound, never to experience silence in its fullness. 

The playlists we keep tell us about who we are, subconsciously or consciously. The songs we choose, the order we cast, is almost the same as crafting a story. There is a beginning, the middle, and the inevitable end. The difference is, we can repeat it over and over again as many times as our hearts desire, and with this, change the mood of the world with a single button. We can notice patterns in our top choices, and disregard the things that we do not like. Playlists give us ultimate power over how we can affect our outlook on the world.

But what do we miss when we block out the noise of the real world, to the noises of the constructed one? What do we gain? 

Removing the headphones, I realized that silence is good sometimes. It gave me comfort, both in my ears and in my mind, to have a break from the constant noise. Then I realized there was still noise all around me, but these noises of the world were just as calming as perceived silence. Suddenly, it hit me: we can never actually escape reality no matter how many songs we play or the volume they are played at. And that’s okay too! Though we can try to escape through our playlists, sometimes removing the headphones can also set everything right.