Today’s Music Isn’t the Sole Problem: It’s the Listeners by Enyjé Sandoz

The current state of music often weighs heavily on my mind. After a series of thoughts—turned Twitter rant, I concluded: today’s music isn’t the sole problem—it’s the listeners. 

I present to you, my Twitter rant, but refined and without the typos: 

Something I think about often is how artists receive flak for going ‘mainstream’ as if that’s not the goal of 98% of ‘underground’ artists. 

Yes, some people don’t intend to blow up into these massive artists, some don’t desire it at all, but a lot of them do—and that’s ok. 

100% of the music we know and love today is because, at some point, an artist broke through the ‘mainstream’ channel. This granted them access to a greater audience, which made their music blow up. 

A Question for Fans: If being mainstream was such an issue, then why is there such importance placed on awards, sales, and charts? 

To which I reply: They can’t achieve these things if no one knows who they are. 

This is not to say accolades determine an artist’s worth, but just as anyone in any other industry aspires, they want to be recognized for their skill, talent, and work ethic. They are deserving of their proper dues. 

Now, I won’t act obtuse and turn a blind eye to the shift in the quality of music once SOME artists make it mainstream, which is largely out of their control. The issue is not the fact that they’ve gone mainstream, but rather trying to appeal to the masses. 

I’m not saying being mainstream is a walk in the park, but an artist’s artistry shouldn’t be invalidated based on their success. 

ANOTHER THING: When it comes to mainstream artists, so much of their music isn’t heard if it isn’t a social media phenomenon. Before social media, it was radio, but even then, I feel like people still explored artists’ catalogs because how else would they discover new music? 

Nowadays, social media is the one-stop shop for A LOT of people when venturing out and exploring artists’ music. 

Social media should be the introduction, not the sole experience. 

This then breeds the whole: “Oh, [insert artist] makes the same song,” shtick. 

When in reality, they’re just listening to what’s popular. If said song became popular, the chances of another song with a similar vibe and angle going ‘viral’ are palpable. 

Listeners are making excuses, and quite frankly, it is tired; it is lame; it is redundant; it is because people fail to seek out artists’ music, but rather allow it to be fed to them. 

See, the 80s defied these musical limitations because A LOT OF it sounds alike (sonically) — it’s called a genre for a reason, yet the shit still slaps and each artists’ vibe shun through the music. But, point being: it still had a similar vibe and sound. 

And in today’s world, the music isn’t 100% of the problem — about 54% of that is the consumption of it. 

If TikTok is your sole source of music, please expect to hear the same shit over and over again. 

And do not even get me started on when an artist branches out from their original sound, people start begging them to make music like their old music, yet they will be the first to say all of their music sounds the same. 

CHOOSE. 

Which one is it?

lmfao, *flak, not flax. 💀💀💀💀 https://t.co/YMx6hf7HLq

— Enyjé (@enyjemai) June 15, 2025