Musical Red Flags

 So we’ve all heard of a red flag, something about a person that just doesn’t sit right and raises a cause for concern. Sometimes, these can be music related, for example a person’s music taste or their attitude towards musicians, so I’ve compiled a list, in no particular order, of my top five musical red flags. 

1 - They gatekeep music from you or generally from new fans. 

It’s a huge culture at the moment for existing fans to judge new fans of their favourite artists and, whether intentionally or not, make them feel unwelcome in the fan community. This has been a thing for a while, I remember being judged for being a ‘local’ in 2019 when I joined the Billie Eilish fandom, and quite frankly it’s just icky. I understand wanting to protect your favourite artists and keep them for you, but other people have a right to like the same music as you, and more fans brings more exposure and income for the artist. 

2 - They judge artists based on their appearance. 

Other than health concerns, there is no valid reason to judge artists based on their appearance. Musicians are just people and they’re allowed to look messy, to gain or lose weight and to change any part of their appearance. Artists don’t owe their fans looking a certain way, so it’s a massive red flag to judge them based on looks. 

3 - They shuffle albums rather than listening to them in order. 

This has to be one of my biggest musical pet peeves. Of course, it’s okay to shuffle a few playlist but when listening to a full album the order should be respected. Musicians often spend a while agonising over the order of an album or EP, deciding which songs work where and which songs should lead into which others. In order will never not be the best way to listen to an album, and that’s a hill I will die on. 

4 - They don’t believe in going to shows. 

Obviously, there are valid reasons not to go to shows such as mental conditions and financial status, but if someone doesn’t go to shows simply because they can’t be bothered or they think there’s no reason to, that’s when it becomes a huge red flag. Artists get so much of their revenue from touring, plus seeing an artist live is one of the best ways to engage with them and show your support. 

5 - They have an intense hatred of Taylor Swift that they can’t justify. 

Of course, it’s fine not to like someone’s music. But maturing is realising that people with a particularly deep hatred of Taylor Swift especially usually can’t justify it because the reason behind it is, you guessed it, misogyny. Am I Taylor’s biggest fan? No. Do I accept that she’s good at what she does? Yes! Asking someone how they feel about TS can be a great way to gauge how they really feel about women.