CS 400U Digital Media and New Aural Cultures Fall 2024

 Like the millions of other Spotify users around the world, I was excited yet not surprised to unravel my 2024 Spotify-wrapped. I enjoy the process of seeing all the music phases I lived through in 2024. I tend to listen to my favourite songs on repeat until I can no longer stand them, then move on to the next set of favourites. Spotify wrapped reminds me of each set of favourites and each set is connected to a specific moment or phase allowing me to partially return to that moment when I hear the songs again. For instance, in February I was lucky enough to attend a Burna Boy Concert. January and February consisted of me listening to his newest album on repeat. So it is no surprise that he is in the top five Artists I listened to most this year. However when the Spotify-wrapped playlist shuffles to City Boys I vividly remember the way I felt the first few months of 2024.  Have you connected any core emotions or memories to a set of songs?

  There was a time when music was tied to specific moments and places. Radios played your favourite tracks only when the station decided, and honestly, it was annoying when I couldn't hear my favourite song when I wanted to. However today, music has evolved into something that we can listen to anywhere and everywhere, thanks to digital platforms and streaming services. One statistic proves just how much this transformation has reshaped our lives, I listened to Drake for 96,000 minutes this year alone. It’s mind-blowing to consider how unimaginable this would’ve been just a few decades ago. Back then, accessing even a fraction of that would require stacks of CDs, perfect tuning on the radio, or hours spent rewinding tapes. Now, music follows us everywhere, on commutes, study sessions, workouts, parties or moments of relaxation. The ability to stream anything, anytime, has made music an integral part of our daily lives, reflecting our emotions, boosting productivity, and creating mem...

 Hey guys, for this blog post, I'd like to share my Spotify wrapped for 2021. This year in particular, is significant to me because this was my first-year of university. I have fond memories of isolation and zoom classes:p  I've been looking forward to Spotify wrapped every year because it shows you a lot about your growth through the years. The same way people attribute scents to a certain period, sound/music is no different.  When I reflect on my Spotify Wrapped, I think of my old professors, classes, friends, and mindset at the time. My eighteen year old self couldn't anticipate how much she would change or how her music taste would evolve. Spotify Wrapped evokes nostalgia in me and I'm excited to see my Spotify Wrapped for this year, as it should be coming out in less than a week! I love going back and listening to these old playlists, as it brings up a lot of hard, yet also fond, memories of my life. 

 Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about how audiobooks have transformed my relationship with storytelling. For years, I was a die-hard reader, convinced that nothing could compare to the feeling of flipping through the pages of a book. But once I listened to Verity by Colleen Hoover, I was hooked on the power of sound. Audiobooks, especially in a thriller like Verity , don’t just tell a story—they immerse you in it. The narrators’ voices breathe life into the characters, their pacing and intonation adding layers of emotion that sometimes words on a page can’t capture. There’s a moment in Verity when the tension is so thick you can almost feel it vibrating through the speaker. The narrator’s voice shifts from calm to frantic, and it heightens the suspense in a way that’s hard to match with silent reading. This is what I love about audiobooks: they aren’t just a replacement for reading—they’re an entirely different experience rooted in aural culture. In this course, we’ve discussed...