The truth was that most of what I'd been enjoying fell into two categories: Old Dad (Tom Waits, Lucinda Williams, Simon & Garfunkel) or New Dad (Vampire Weekend, Sturgill Simpson, Solange). There's a technical term for what was happening to me. I was becoming washed. As studies indicate, by thirty-three, music discovery typically flatlines, and personal tastes solidify, anchored in nostalgia rather than exploration. This realization hit hard as I sensed a stagnation in my musical engagement.
Browse around online and you will learn that your tastes are shaped in adolescence, your openness to new music peaks in your early twenties, and music discovery stops at thirty-three. The looming fear of reaching a stage where discovering new music feels impossible made me question my own listening habits profoundly. Reflecting on this phenomenon revealed a collective identity crisis experienced when aging: the struggle to connect with evolving musical landscapes as familiarity breeds content.
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