As the bell rings, students immediately put in their earbuds, often listening to music in order to block out the sound of the other shuffling students as they head to their next class during passing period. Music is ingrained into our everyday lives and can be used for a lot of different reasons. It can be something that soothes or intensifies a person’s mood. With this in mind, most songs that you hear might have a deeper meaning within the lyric margins.

As we think of music, our mind often skips right to the popular songs on the radio. Yet that isn’t what is always going through the headphones of someone next to you. Sophomore, Marjorie Lim, says that what attracts her to Christian music is that it has the ability to inspire her and improve her mood.

“I’m Catholic, so I feel like it centers me. Whenever I’m having a bad day, I just need to be uplifted. The song itself doesn’t necessarily have to be uplifting, but it just reminds me of God’s presence in my life. I’d say music is my motivation to do a lot of things. I feel like I wouldn’t be the person I am today without the music I listen to and without being part of music programs throughout my life,” said Lim

Lim also has a number of Christian bands and artists that she has been listening to on repeat.

“I’m really into Christian Music right now because I’m on a secular fast, which means I can’t listen to anything but Christian music until around April. Christian music-wise, I really like Antioch College Worship, Hillsong, and Elevation,” said Lim.

Another type of music that has received a lot of attention lately is K-pop. Language is a strong barrier when it comes to understanding music.  While listening to international music and having a little understanding of it may seem like a problem, sophomore, Kayla Baluyot, says that she still enjoys listening to Korean music because of the sound and the memorable beat it gives out.

“I mostly listen to Korean music, K-pop. My favorite is a group called Big Bang. It’s different from music here in America and I just find the style more appealing and more catchy. I like the language, too. Music is very important, and it’s apart of my everyday life. Whenever I have free time and while I’m doing simple work that doesn’t require much thought is when I find myself listening to music. I like songs that are slow-paced, kind of like ballads,”said Baluyot.

Baluyot also says that the meaning behind many K-pop songs have a deeper connotation than most music that is produced in America.

“The message behind most Korean songs is more diverse. I feel like in American music the same topic comes up and it’s the same stuff over and over again. But you can find in the lyrics, in Korean music, that it’s different and the style overall,” said Baluyot.

Favorite music genres differ for everyone. For sophomore, William Bonilla, he says he listens to old style music because of the unique sound it gives and the artists’ lyrics are more straight to the point. This music from many decades ago has a certain style that makes him feel content.

“The kind of music that I listen to is kind of the old fifties, sixties type of music. I listen to soul and jazz music. What attracts me is how cinematic they made their music and how the lyrics sounded, and just the flow and the rhythm that was in the fifties and sixties. It’s almost like they told a story. I like songs the that are like honest and truthful,” said Bonilla.

Music is a very important factor in a lot of students’ lives at Lake Ridge. Although some teachers and authorities at Lake Ridge prohibit the use of headphones, when given permission, students jump at any given chance and opportunity to put in their earbuds and escape away while solving the next math question.