Summer Soundtracks: What did Conrad students listen to this summer? 

School is back in session, which means that unfortunately, all we have left of this past summer are memories. But with a school with hundreds of students, we don’t share one collective memory. 

What we can use to connect with each other is music, however. Music is an important part of modern pop culture, and we can use what we listened to to explain our summers. We asked Conrad students in a survey about what their Summer Soundtrack was to gather an idea of what our school* is listening to.

*Note: the survey had only 60 responses, so these may not accurately reflect the true tastes of the school. 

The Common Threads

The most commonly reported artists were Drake, J. Cole, and Frank Ocean. Drake and J. Cole being two of the most popular rap artists of the modern era (they, along with Kendrick Lamar, make up modern Hip Hops “Big Three”), it is unsurprising that they are among the most mentioned artists. 

Frank Ocean is a more surprising inclusion, as the R&B singer has not released a new album in 10 years and he generally has been radio silent as a whole, with fans wondering when, or if, he will drop music again. However, R&B as a whole seems to be pretty popular, as Steve Lacy, Brent Faiyaz, Olivia Dean, and other popular modern R&B artists were mentioned several times.

The overall most popular genres were Rap and Rock. Many people specified Indie specifically as opposed to just Rock. Furthermore, the tastes in general were from an older time, with many of the rockstars and rappers highlighted being from the 1990s and 2000s. The more recent artists submitted tended to be popular artists from the modern day, while the older artists varied from indie garage rock groups to highly influential rappers to hidden gems. This reflects the current trend in popular music, which is older music regaining popularity while newer music fails to chart or achieve much success. 

A lot of pop music also made this list, especially as many renowned pop artists had new releases this summer, such as Olivia Rodrigo’s You Look Pretty Sad for a Girl so in Love and Ariana Grande’s Petal. Up-and-Coming pop stars such as Katseye, Adela, and Zara Larsson were very common answers as well. K-Pop was relatively commonly reported, which is unsurprising, as despite how polarizing and controversial the genre is due to concerns over idol treatment and the discomfort with the culture surrounding it, the genre has only been growing larger and larger, with BTS, the largest K-Pop group in the world, rivaling Elvis Presley and The Beatles in popularity and sales (in fact, there were several comparisons to The Beatles at several times). Therefore, it is no surprise that K-Pop was mentioned several times.

Regional/Cultural music also had a major influence, with many people mentioning music from their own cultural origins, especially regional Mexican music.  

Notable Absences

Other than the popular artists mentioned above, some current relevant people in music were absent from the list. Of course, this doesn’t mean that Conrad students don’t listen to these artists, just that this sample group didn’t acknowledge them, suggesting that they either aren’t the top favorites of the student body, or that they don’t feel like sharing that they listened to them.

The responses were mostly centered in the 4 most popular genres: Pop, Rock, R&B, and Hip Hop. Other genres were mostly omitted, especially Country, which, despite having a few responses, was almost entirely absent outside of people mentioning Morgan Wallen, the undisputed king of the genre currently. However, country music as a whole is on the rise, with songs like Ella Langely’s “Choosin’ Texas” staying in the charts for longer than any other song, having just passed up Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You”, the song with the longest time at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. This means one of two things: either the people at Conrad who listen to the absent genres didn’t take the time to complete the survey, showing that listeners of certain genres were more inclined to take it for various reasons (nothing better to do, desire to share their music taste, etc.), or that these genres are much less prevalent in the student population, reflecting a lack of influence from popular culture in the student body. 

Personally, my theory based on conversations I’ve had or just general interactions and observations is that certain people didn’t feel the need to take the survey. I know of many fans of country, metal, and other genres that didn’t appear as often in the survey at Conrad. That doesn’t mean that these genres are less popular at Conrad (although we cannot rule that out), it just means that they may be less represented in the survey because of outstanding circumstances. Maybe these people didn’t see the survey. Maybe they just didn't want to take it. All in all, people have such diverse opinions and it’s wonderful to see how people behave, and to take in what part of the student body responded.

Recommendations

Now, for this month, I will suggest some music based on what the student body enjoyed based on this list, from up-and-coming artists to new releases from the current titans of the industry. 

AZ Chike & Tyler, The Creator - Look Like My Mama

AZ Chike rose to popularity after featuring on Kendrick Lamar's album GNX, which included the smash hits "tv off” and “luther”. Chike was featured on the ninth track “peekaboo”. Now, Chike  is gearing up to release his first studio album No Rest for the Wicked, and has released a single collaboration with alternative rapper Tyler, The Creator, who is still riding on the coattails of his 2025 album Don’t Tap the Glass. The single released alongside a music video featuring references to movies, such as Sinners and Napoleon Dynamite.

Olivia Rodrigo - Serena Joy

Olivia Rodrigo decided that she should use her platform for good with her single “Serena Joy”, the inaugural single for her Daisy Chains festival, a festival dedicated to supporting charities for women and girls. Rodrigo, age 23, is tired of singing about her high school age breakups, and is moving on to a more political persona in her music. Love it or hate it, you must admit, it is impressive.

Taylor Swift - Patient Zero

Personally, I dislike Taylor Swift's music. I can see why others enjoy it, but it’s just not for me. But, love it or not, it's hard to deny the monumental size of Swift's empire and her fanbase (known as Swifties). She suddenly released “Patient Zero”, the first single from The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore, a surprise deluxe edition of her divisive 2025 album The Life of a Showgirl. Despite rumors that she might take a hiatus or quit music entirely after her marriage to Kansas Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, Swift shows no signs of slowing down. 

Conclusion

In conclusion, we as a school community are very diverse in our music tastes and we enjoy various things, even things that weren't mentioned in the survey. (Or I didn’t go over in this article, sorry, I couldn’t say everyone's exact taste!) We can use this to connect with one another, too. Next time you’re talking with a friend, ask them: what’s your favorite music artist?