Have You Listened to As It Was by Harry Styles?

I’m officially from another planet

Just when I think I couldn’t become more detached from society, I somehow manage to impress myself. Today, Spotify released its Spotify Wrapped recap for 2022. Some interesting tidbits were revealed about people’s streaming habits.

Bad Bunny, who I have heard about, was the most-streamed artist globally, which makes it the third year in a row that he takes this title. I cannot understand any of his songs, but he sings with such emotion over really cool beats that it doesn’t matter. Music is truly a universal language.

But then came Harry Styles for his song As It Was; the most-streamed song in the world for 2022. Harry is everywhere, but I honestly cannot name a single song of his and only recently watched him for any length of time in the movie, Don’t Worry Darling, which was actually a pretty decent dystopian film.

The publication, Axios, reported if you didn’t listen to this song, you were probably lying.

So, I immediately went to YouTube to find the video with 371M views — crazy!

Nope, had never heard the song once — and it was good.

Getting older doesn’t have to mean becoming detached from society, but somehow, I find myself with a lot less time listening to radio, streaming services, or watching television… including the news. There always seems to be more important stuff to do and who wants to hear another story about a violent attack, a robbery, road rage, the pandemic, inflation, and a Congress that can’t get its shit together.

I now use distractions for a specific purpose. Yes, I caught every episode of House of the Dragon this year, but I was purposeful in working that into my schedule — for better or worse. No more just leaving the television on having it watch me.

So, I do try to keep up with some things, but it seems like too many things are vying for my attention these days. Somehow, I missed Harry, but it sounds like he got enough views from everyone else.

Admittedly, it’s much easier for me to keep up with movies, than the latest songs and dances — its just not my thing.

Nevertheless, when my niece wants to show me the latest TikTok challenge, I can’t help but feel like an alien.

Why are the humans doing this? How did I get on this planet? Should I tell my family I just listened to “As It Was”… and liked it?

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