My current commute to work is forty minutes long. It’s not great. The west Michigan countryside can be pleasant to drive through, but I know it’s only a matter of time until a deer crossing the road makes it much less pleasant. The main positive I’ve discovered is that you can listen to a lot of music driving an hour and a half a day.

I’ve never really been big into music before. In college I just listened to what my friends listened to. It wasn’t until I started to drive for work that I’ve had the time to find new music, and I have been enjoying diving into this new world. This year I’ve discovered Sombr and enjoyed sifting through the Hozier deep tracks I knew I recognized from somewhere, maybe a past life. Speaking of past lives, Maggie Rogers has amazed me with her voice, especially in “New Song.” Florence and the Machines’ newest album Everybody Scream hit me like a ton of bricks. I bought the vinyl and I don’t even have a record player yet.

The last couple of years my roommates and I have been making predictions for our most listened to songs and artists before Spotify Wrapped comes out. It’s interesting to compare our perception of the year to the actual stats. I’m expecting at least three Hozier songs in the top five. Seeing how one year differs from the next and how my taste in music is changing and being influenced—Breaking News: Spotify CEO invests $600 million in Military AI Drone Startup.

Oh. Well that’s a shame. I just started to get into this. Hmm, what else can I stream music with… Apple Music? I’m sure Apple has a clean record… typing… planned obsolescence lawsuits… Trump’s ballroom… sighs.

…

Have you watched the Good Place? It’s a very good show where the main characters are recently dead and are struggling with the complexities of the afterlife. (Some spoilers ahead) While making their case to be allowed into the Good Place, the show’s version of Heaven, our heroes realize the system for scoring the lives on earth is flawed. Good actions can have negative points because of the unintended/unknown side effects of that action. Buying a gift for a friend could be unintentionally supporting the exploitation of workers on the other side of the world. Listening to your favorite music could mean supporting wealth inequality and the construction of a surveillance state. They learn that no one has made it into the Good Place in hundreds of years. The complexity of society has seemingly made it impossible to live a good life.

The Good Place concluded in 2020, and man has the world become even more complicated. Am I supporting unsustainable agricultural practices and the cultural eutrophication of our world every time I buy groceries? Do I need to cancel every streaming service? It can start to become overwhelming when you look into the unintended side effects of our actions in our interwoven world. Maybe this is why living off-grid and growing all my own food has always intrigued me. It seems easier to deal with the moral difficulties of consumerism by avoiding it all together.

So what do we do? I can’t fight every battle here, but where do I draw the line? I don’t think I should abandon my newfound enjoyment in music because the waters can get murky. Yes, there are better options than Spotify and I’m looking into them. My short and honestly ineffective time as a Cultural Discerner at Calvin taught me that retreating from the world isn’t the answer. I can choose how I spend my dollars, and in extension, what those dollars support, but I need to make sure I keep spending them. Giving up when confronted with the imperfections of the world isn’t going to make the world a better place, so I’ll keep on finding new artists and buying new records I can’t play yet.

All of this to say, I listened to a lot of Hozier this year. I’m looking forward to what I find next year. Also looking forward to buying a record player so “One of the Greats” can haunt my roommates along with me.

Nathan Hilbrands

Nathan Hilbrands (’21) graduated with degrees in geography and environmental health and conservation. He is currently working for the Allegan Conservation District as a watershed technician. He enjoys collecting National Geographic issues that he rarely looks at again, playing disc golf a lot without improving, and trying new board games.