What are students listening to at CSULB?

The next time you run into a classmate with their earbuds in, they may just be listening to alternative R&B.

That’s because for Long Beach State students, the most popular genre of music is alternative R&B, according to Everynoise.com, which maps what people are listening to on Spotify, takes that data and creates an algorithm that will organize these songs, by genre, and create lists.

These are the four top genres students listen to at Long Beach State, according to the website Everynoise, which takes data from Spotify to map out music habits. Photo credit: Paris Barraza

One of the features of this website is the ability to sort by university and find out what your classmates are listening to, what the most popular genres on campus are and even create a playlist tailored towards the likes and dislikes of the average student. The website can even draw similarities between different universities with similar tastes in music.

California Polytechnic State University, Pomona and California State University, Fullerton are the most similar to CSULB, as all three schools feature alternative R&B and “Cali rap” in their top three genres.

Jada Knight, a second-year journalism student, can “vibe to anything,” but has been drawn to alternative R&B, like a majority of her classmates.

“This genre is just so comforting to me,” Knight said. “I just see myself in it because the genre has a plethora of diverse, creative, different sounds that go into their music. Like, they could take any sound and turn it into a masterpiece.”

Knight loves the fluidity of artists putting “their own twist” on classic songs and incorporating other genres, like Bossa Nova. Her go-to artists are SZA, Brent Faiyaz, Kali Uchis, Solange and The Internet.

According to the website, the most popular alternative R&B artists are currently Khalid, Frank Ocean and Joji. Artists can also fall under multiple categories, like Doja Cat, whose music has recently drawn in Jackey Lee, a fourth-year theater student. Doja Cat falls under categories including pop, which is the second most listened to genre for CSULB students.

“Music really makes me happy and a lot of memories are ingrained within it,” Lee said. “Best invention ever, couldn’t live without it.”

Lee gravitates towards pop, rock and hip hop when she wants to “feel pumped” and turns on R&B and Lo-fi music when she is trying to focus and mellow out.

Everynoise creates a Spotify playlist based around the music students listen to. These are the songs that fit the tastes of Long Beach State Students. Photo credit: Paris Barraza

For Jennifer Matiz, a second-year political science major minoring in communication studies and international studies, has always been drawn to Latin music as an ode to her Mexican and Colombian roots.

“It’s addictive and I love how it connects to my Latin culture,” Matiz said. “I grew up in a Latino household, so that type of music was on 24/7. I actually didn’t really start listening to non-Latin music until I left high school.”

Within the Latin music genre, Matiz enjoys bachata, merengue, cumbia, salsa and reggaeton. As of lately, she has been into artists like Selena Gomez, who released “Revelación,” a Spanish album, earlier this year.

Matiz may be a unique listener among her peers, given that Latin is one of the least popular genres amongst CSULB students.

Still, she also enjoys pop, indie and alternative music, rock and EDM.

“The world isn’t in one color or sounds,” Matiz said. “So, why limit yourself to just one?”