What type are you?
INFJ
What kind (genre preferably) of music do you primarily listen to? Why?
I know what genres I don't like, even after trying to let them sink in. It's difficult to list down what I like but I can say that I primarily listen to Metal, Rock, Jazz and Classical.
When I was younger I was very picky with specific music genres. I couldn't tolerate any music with distortion guitars, screaming vocals or really hard hitting drum rhythms. I couldn't imagine myself listening to hard rock, heavy metal, jazz, new age, experimental or country. It was pop (and classical, through classical piano training) all the way. As I matured, I started listening to Glam Rock. From there, I went on to Progressive, Nu-Metal, Indie, Alternative Rock, Speed Metal and Thrash Metal. I started going into Electronic Dance Music because it was one of many ways for me to compose music without a band. I went through phases of Trance, House, Jungle and Breakbeats. When I met my boyfriend, I started listening to what he listens to, Death Metal, Black Metal, Grindcore, Industrial, etc. I met my ENFP friend and I was introduced to Blues and Psychedelic Rock. Currently, I've been digging Funk House, Bebop, Cool Jazz, Baroque and Romantic Classical. I'm keeping my mind as open as I can as I've come to realise that it's only beneficial to know what you have all around you than to just be ignorant and narrow minded about the other genres. You'll never know what you'll pick up from the other genres.
Do you value lyrics over the musical content? Or visa versa?
Musical content. I almost don't pay any attention to the lyrical contents. I automatically muffle the vocals in my mind and focus on everything going on but the vocals. It's strange that, unless I consciously memorise them, I can barely remember lyrics for most of the songs I've heard. I remember the melodic and harmonic lines far more easily than the lyrics. In fact, I recognise most of the songs by musical progressions than by lyrics. There are only a handful of songs which I remember through catchy phrases or words that emphasizes or summarises the song, e.g. "I never promised you a rose garden... there's gotta be a little rain sometimes.." from Rose Garden by Lynn Anderson. Omg, I love that song!
I'm also quite fond of instrumental pieces. If it's progressive instrumental, all the better for my ears and mind.
How do you think this music reflects upon you as a person?
My choice of listening music doesn't quite reflect a lot about who I am. I find that my music composition does a better job at that. I've composed basslines for numerous originals for a few bands of very different genres and through those recordings, I can tell that it does tell a story about who I am as an individual and what I feel during the time when it was written. The messages are vaguely distinct for others, but to my own ears, they are like the pennings of my journal (I don't keep a journal though). My bf and friends tell me that my basslines are uniquely my style, i.e. gentle, cheery and accomodating. The same applies to my own songs that I have composed, save it's on a much broader platform and not just basslines.
My INFP friend loves some of the songs I've composed. I love some of the songs that he had composed too (we were in the same band for 2 years before) but both of our compositions are entirely different in many aspects, e.g. genre, sound, mood and feel, progressions, etc. I can tell how he is like through his songs (I know him quite well in person) so I can somewhat understand how others may see me through my own compositions too.