The hidden music pleasures of SHS

As senior Kristen Zung walks down the halls, she changes the song on her iPod with caution. She does it when no one is around her, embarrassed that someone may see what she is listening to. Although Zung is ashamed of her guilty pleasure, she cannot stop herself from replaying these songs again and again.

Zung is hooked on all the classic Disney tunes. She explained that when she hears an old Disney song, she reminisces about all of the positive memories from her childhood and is filled with a “magical feeling inside.” Despite this, however, she is too afraid to admit this guilty pleasure to her close friends.

“I don’t let my friends know about it because Disney music can make me bawl like a baby,” Zung said.

While Zung has a hidden obsession with Disney music, sophomore Amanda Le confessed that she has all the Hannah Montana songs downloaded onto her iTunes account.

“I think her songs are really catchy,” Le said. “I never listen to her in public, though. My friends think all her songs are obnoxious.”

Le and Zung are not the only ones with embarrassing music addictions. Defying popular opinion, sophomore Uma Kumar is a big fan of the song “Call Me Maybe” by Carly Rae Jepsen. While others call the song “annoying and repetitive,” Kumar can play the song on repeat.

“Sometimes I just subconsciously start singing it to myself and my friends tell me to shut up,” Kumar said. “I feel like I’m the only one who still likes the song.”

Most people like to keep their guilty pleasures hidden, so having others find out about them can often be a mortifying experience. Senior Wesley Park has always enjoyed listening to Korean pop on his iPod, but one day while singing along at school, a passerby “made a weird face” at him.

“After that incident, I stopped singing along to my music in public,” Park said.

Although Park had a bad experience with others discovering his guilty pleasure, not all people do. Sophomore Jessica Uong knows every lyric to each song from the popular Nickelodeon show “Victorious.” Despite the potential embarrassment this may cause, Uong still plays the songs when her friends are over.

Instead of giving her odd looks, Uong’s friends learned to sing along with her. She said that even though it’s a strange obsession of hers, she’s glad her friends understand.

“We have even made dance routines for some of the songs,” Uong said. “I think my guilty pleasure may be starting to get out of hand.”