How Does One Transition From Loving Punk Rock to Chillhop?

I lived half of my life in the Philippines — a country that was inhabited by Spaniards (1521), Americans (1898), Japanese (WW2), Chinese (16th–19th century), and Indians (1898–1930s).

Whoever came had their own culture to share, thus, influencing the Filipinos way of life. I’m guessing music is part of that too. I never enjoyed listening to ethnic or tribal music from my ancestors. My last name is Reyes, so it’s also possible that my great great great grandparents were not full Filipinos. But I digress. All I’m saying is…

I can’t jam to ethnic or tribal music, but I can jam to Wester or European music.

No, their music is not the reason why I now live in North America.

Going from a third-world country to a first-world country drastically changed my taste in music. My current environment played a big factor as well as my current phase in life. Perhaps that’s a given because it would be weird if you never changed your taste in music ever in your life.

Now, I’m not gonna romanticize how music changed my life and all that, but I wanna share a quick look into the evolution of an immigrant’s taste in music.

Row row row your boat

My first introduction to music was my mother’s lullabies.

However, that only lasted for about a year or so until nursery rhymes came into the picture. I was naturally drawn to it. Its fast phase and jolly rhythm are more fun to sing and listen to than the calming lullabies. I was a kid — who in their right mind would prefer sleep over play?

Then, I continued to grow and started noticing other types of music.

Born free to follow your heart

We had a huge vinyl record player back then.

It looked more like a big wooden box. It’s about 30x larger than what you can see in the store today. Probably because it has its own sound system, which, takes up a lot of space. When you open the box, you’ll see the vinyl player to your left. To your right, is where you store the vinyl records.

Browsing through those records, I had a good idea of the grown-up’s music preference.

Frank Sinatra was my granma’s jam. I’ve grown to like Cat Stevens, The Beatles, America, and other old Country Music from my dad. And pop music (ABBA) from my mom. I didn’t mind pop music when I was a kid but a part of me finds it to be lame.

That dislike has grown stronger when I was introduced to punk rock music.

You can’t go forcing something if it’s just not right

Punk rock music was first introduced to me by my cousin. This was back in the 90s when Green Day released their first album.

I loved that album. Every song in it was worth the money. No, I didn’t buy their album. I was nine. Whatever money they give me needs to be spent on food. Instead, I borrowed my cousin’s. He also taught me how to create another copy of it by buying a blank tape instead. That way, both of us have the ability to listen to Green Day and rock out on days when you just feel like you want to “express yourself” — whatever that means.

Whenever I find myself unconsciously rocking my head back-n-forth, that’s how I know I’m hooked.

The combination of drums and electric guitar sounds unique to me. The lyrics had an effect too. Listening to punk rock makes me feel like it’s ok to be a loser. I’m not sure if that’s what got me hooked.

Punk rock was my jam until I moved to Canada — where I had to go back to high school because the K12 system has not been implemented in the Philippines yet.

See you at the crossroads, crossroads, crossroads

One of my main goals in high school (other than getting a diploma) was to fit in.

My love for punk rock music wasn’t something I could leverage. For some reason, my friends found it to be lame. Like I said earlier, it’s the music genre for people who somehow couldn’t get it right.

I’m sure everyone has their own unique reason why they like a certain type of music.

However, I once judged a friend for liking emo music. But it turns out that his reasons for liking it have less to do with what’s going on in his life but more about the mix, flow, tempo or tune of the music. And he is right: Why can’t you like music simply because you just like it?

I tried to be “open” to it but I cannot find myself unconsciously rocking my head back-n-forth. This wasn’t the case for hip-hop and RnB.

Now, rap, hip-hop, and RnB are not new to me.

Before I left the Philippines, my friends listened to Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Craig David and Eminem. I like how these genres do not summon feelings of rage or hate. I’m sure I’d feel differently if I paid more attention to the lyrics. But English is not my first language. I did not care about what these songs were saying; I cared more about the song’s beat and its rhythm.

Having said that, I was able to fit my music taste to my friends (in Canada) pretty quickly.

That was the case until I hit mid 20’s.

It’s gonna be may

I graduated from college, found a job, and had to drive to work every day. At that point in my life, FM radio became my friend on my daily commute.

I have pirated music CDs stashed in my car (just in case nothing good comes on the radio). But surprisingly, I rarely had to put them on. I’ve gotten sick and tired of listening to the same songs over and over. Hunting for new music to download illegally was also exhausting. I listened to whatever comes on the radio, may it be from a boy band, pop, classic, etc.

I did not have a preference.

Sometimes, I would even sing along to Backstreet Boys or *NSYNC. Sure, I found them to be lame back in the day, but at that time, I just didn’t care. That continued to be the case for a long time. I even listened to orchestras!

It must be a sign that I’m getting old.

Then as the internet evolved, music apps such as Songza and Spotify came out and introduced me to a wider range of music genres. I enjoyed Japanese rock, Korean R-n-B, Caribbean music, anime intros — basically music that would make my friends and family think, “WTF is this guy listening to?”

I’m a weirdo.

I embraced that about myself. Self-help books made me realize how important it is to be me. At this point in my life, I’ve gotten into the habit of reading and educating myself on how to continuously get better.

Then I fell in love with sharing what I’m learning through writing.

Beats, please

Reading and writing — especially writing — requires mental focus.

I can’t get the kind of focus I need when I listen to songs (music with lyrics). I either find myself singing along or frequently losing my train of thought. But I still love to listen to music, so what did I do? The most obvious thing, type in “Instrumentals” on YouTube.

And through the search results, I noticed a new type of music called “Lo-Fi Hip-Hop”.

I loved it. No words; just music; pure focus. There’s even a website that allows you to listen to a variety of lo-fi music without the ads.

Among the selection, Chillhop music was probably the best. Now, there’s a lot of copy-cats out there. What you should look for is an image of a raccoon. That’s their trademark. I suppose it doesn’t matter which artist you listen to as long as you are getting the focus you need. But I highly recommend them because they’ve been there since the beginning. Their playlist is carefully curated.

This is the music I’m listening to while I write this article.