6. Break Away

The first thing that comes to mind is the Kelly Clarkson song. Frankly, I'm not unconvinced that that's not where this prompt came from. I used to like her music but I stopped listening to her around Jr. High when I decided I was too cool for pop music and that goth rock was a much better life choice. And although that music choice essentially turned me into the person I am today, I'm no longer a complete snob regarding music.

I started with Evanescence and Linkin Park after I stopped with the Kelly Clarkson thing. I decided that listening to dark broody music was going to make a significantly more alluring human being because I would suddenly be one of those goth girls that got all the attention. It did not happen for several reasons. Firstly, I was a happy person, generally speaking. In Jr. High was happy. I was bullied a little bit, mostly behind my back, but I knew about it and I was happy anyway. I told myself that they were idiots and that I was awesome and it didn't matter what they said. I had a pretty good hold on myself at that point in time, I was able to control my emotions and keep myself happy. I also starting dealing with really depressed people at this point, so I was more focused on keeping them happy than being sad myself yet.

What this music did for me, however, was it unlocked a creativity in me. I was able to sympathize with the lyrics and I found myself feeling emotions that I hadn't felt before and that unlocked new ideas in my mind that I was able to explore in my stories. It also opened up a passion in me for good music. I found many other artists as a result of this musical choice such as Within Temptation (which I found all of once and then came across years later thanks to a friend of mine), Epica (which was a short lived romance, although I did get another friend hooked on them), and eventually Rammstein, although I owe a great deal of that addiction to my brother and his friend who took me along to their concert when I was in my senior year of high school because they needed someone 18 or older to go with them and I sort of liked the band up until then. I'm sure I'll get another opportunity to discuss Rammstein before this challenge is over, so I'll leave it at that for them.

I guess I should tie this all together with a musing about "Breaking Away." I suppose the ultimate point of all of this music talk is that I've broken away from mainstream music and found a few avenues of my own without falling into the hipster subcategory where I only listen to indie music. I don't tend to listen to indie music, but I have a soft spot for one-of-a-kind artists like Florence and the Machine, Sarah Slean, and Solar Fields.