Everyone interprets music differently. Some people use music to express themselves artistically, while others simply listen to music while doing certain activities. Music can represent past cultures, relationships, emotions, people, and a variety of other things. Music has evolved and changed into several different styles in our modern era. In this article, you will be able to see some of today’s most popular music genres.

Pop music is one of the most popular music genres. It is categorized by high-energy music that incorporates repeated choruses and hooks plus rhythm and tempos that are easy to dance to. Pop could be easily compared to HipHop as well.  Pop is a music genre that continuously changes throughout the times and is differently defined by every person. Pop is a music genre aimed at a general audience and tends to be heavily influenced by current and new trends. Many artists like Lady Gaga,  Micheal Jackson, Lana Del Ray, Britney Spears, etc. tend to have extremely popular music that would be categorized as pop. Some semi-recent trending pop songs include, “Drivers License”, “Montero”, and “Rain On Me”. Many tend to listen to Pop songs while doing activities such as driving, exercising, and cleaning. Many tend to find listening to music, especially Pop, gives them motivation and energy to complete many tasks which also contributes to why Pop is one of the most popular music genres.

Country music is a piece of music most commonly associated with the South and the early 1920’s Southern United States. Country music originates from the folk music of Southern working-class Americans including Appalachian, Cajun, Creole, and the cowboy Western music styles of New Mexico, Red Dirt, Tejano, and Texas country. As time went on and trends changed, Country music did as well and evolved to incorporate Cowboy and frontier values. Musicians like Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, Shania Twain, Toby Keith, and Loretta Lynn would be categorized as Country artists/musicians. Some famous country songs would include, “Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain”, “Jolene”, and “Before He Cheats”. If you find yourself liking Rhythm and Blues, and overall very homey music you should consider checking out Country music.

Rock music is a broad genre of music that centers around music bands and electric guitars, bass, electric piano, etc.  Rock gave the rise to tones of other alternative subgenres of music and style. Rock music also embodied and included many cultural and social movements. Some famous rock bands and musicians would include The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, Queen, and Nirvana. Some famous rock songs include, “Purple Haze”, “Start Me Up”, and “Whole Lotta Love”. If you find yourself enjoying music that makes statements about the world,  includes some yelling, and incorporates many techniques from other music genres, you should check out some Rock music.

Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of the South. Jazz is heavily influenced by earlier forms of music such as blues which arose from African-American slaves on plantations.

As Jazz circulated throughout the world it influenced and gave the rise to many new music genres. Jazz also brought attention to African-American contributions to culture and history. Thought Jazz can be hard to define, some instruments commonly used in the genre are saxophones, piano, trumpet, trombone, bass, and drums. Some famous Jazz musicians are Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, and Ella Fitzgerald. Jazz was a more popular genre in the past which is why many famous Jazz musicians are either extremely old, or have sadly passed. Some extremely popular Jazz songs are “So what”, “Take Five”, and “What a Wonderful World”. There are tons of different Jazz subcultures so depending on the artist and the time the song was written, it could sound completely different from what you’d normally expect. However, if you find yourself wanting to try something new, Jazz is a music genre you should make sure to check out.

In this article, I only listed a minuscule amount of genres. You could check out Lofi, Metal, Indie, Punk Rock, Hip-hop, and so much more. Though there is one thing all genres have in common, which is they have the power to make us feel. Music can greatly influence us and our moods which is why it has become so popular. This is why if you find yourself not enjoying music, you should just try and check out new genres instead of giving up music as a whole.