I’m going to tell you all a story. Two years ago, one of my friends and I created a fake Tinder account for historical German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck. The goal was to see how many matches we could make. We made over 300, but that’s not the point. While exploring the wilds of Tinder, I noticed a lot of people included the phrase “I love music” in their bios, which, after giving it two years of thought, I have decided is an entirely meaningless notion.
“I love music” doesn’t say anything about you, nor does it suggest anything about your relationship with music, because music is a ubiquitous art form. Actually, it would be far braver to say “I hate music” and mean it—looking at you, John Lydon—because that would, in fact, be unusual. “I love music” expresses all of the insight and introspection as the phrase “I love food,” and really only allows for two responses: “me too,” or the impassive “that’s cool.”
As such, “I love music” does not invite conversation. By saying nothing about yourself, you give nothing to others to synthesize, reflect on or challenge. “I love music” is a phrase for those who have nothing to contribute to discussion, and let’s be honest, those people aren’t very much fun at parties.
This is not to condemn those of you who regularly say “I love music,” nor those of you who write it everywhere on social media. Rather, I’m calling for a reassessment of how we talk about music. “I love music” says nothing about how you love music, so, instead, write about that—write about how you love music! Music is a wonderful thing, and there are so many ways in which we interact with it. Are you a casual listener of the radio? A musician yourself? Do you spend hours meticulously curating playlists on Spotify? Do you collect vinyl, cassettes, or CDs? What kinds of music are you drawn to and why?
An answer to any one of these questions would be altogether more meaningful than saying “I love music” because it requires introspection. You are forced to examine how and why you indulge your love of music. As we know, any amount of introspection is good for the further development of the mind. Plus, putting thought into an answer invites real conversation, and even if that’s not your purpose on a place like Tinder, it’s at least more interesting than a lot of the sorry excuses for small talk you hear about on that app.
To summarize: explain how you love music. It’s better for you and for the people around you.
While we’re on the subject, I would also like to address that classic bind we’ve all found ourselves in—the inability to answer the question “what kind of music do you listen to?” Often, we default to “all kinds,” but this falls into the same trap as “I love music” in that it doesn’t say much about you. Instead, mention your favorite genre, if you have one, your favorite bands/artists, or go with my personal favorite: “I like lots of genres, but I’ve been really into X band/genre/scene recently.” That last one is a great way to demonstrate that you actively seek out new music.
Remember, always think critically about what you love!
