College/subject/society are the tried and tested ways of making friends here. But what about musical taste? Many of us love pigeonholing ourselves musically, showing off our impeccable taste by posting our Spotify Wrapped, or letting the music we listen to define us. I won’t go as far as saying it’s performative, but many of us like that our music says something about who we are and how we want to be perceived by others. I like to think that personality and taste shape what we listen to more than the music shapes us, but that’s a two-way street: our music is an ideal tool for connecting with others.

“Inviting acquaintances to evensong is a great way to bond”

This is especially true of musical subcultures that are visibly different from the mainstream (metal, emo, goth, etc.) that like to visually differentiate themselves from the rest, but even outside of subculture, there is space to use music as a form of connecting with others, no matter how vanilla you are. If you’re struggling to find a solid group of friends or just want to meet new like-minded individuals, might I suggest you look to your playlists for inspiration? Humans bond over music: they make friends at concerts or grow their social circles through their bandmates. I’ve witnessed several friendships here develop from someone queuing the right song or artist on the Bluetooth speaker and catching the attention of another fan in the room. I myself have made friends by inviting people in a society group chat to tag along to a concert.

Cambridge is a small and very musical place. There are several societies dedicated to playing live music or appreciating different genres. If you’re partial to a certain musical subculture, I can guarantee there is probably no shortage of fans of what you like here. Inviting acquaintances to evensong is a great way to bond, and karaoke is even better if you’re not as socially inhibited as I am. Another more sure-fire way to forge new connections is to start a band. You don’t have to perform, you don’t even have to be that good – as long as some of you show up and jam together. Lots of students are quite willing to play music just for fun, and if you’re a drummer, someone will always be in need of you (it feels nice to be wanted).

“More than ever before, there is something for everyone musically”

I think an important aspect of why music is becoming a more powerful way of befriending people is the noticeable decline in musical monoculture. Critics and music fans have been lamenting the staleness of pop music since the early 2010s, but this is probably a good thing for music as a whole. YouTube and streaming have been incredible for uncovering artists and genres that wouldn’t have made it big if radio and physical sales were the only easy and cheap ways of accessing music. It’s also basically impossible to keep up with everything that’s going on musically nowadays. Maybe I just live under a rock, but I regularly discover hugely influential contemporary artists with millions of monthly listeners. With everyone’s recommendation algorithms pushing often vastly different content, it’s so easy to be completely unaware of massive names or trends in areas of music that we’re unfamiliar with. I think this speaks volumes to the diversity of music that’s out there, and how spoilt for choice we are. More than ever before, there is something for everyone musically.

I’d argue that this fragmentation of musical culture has actually been good for bringing us together. It’s much easier to connect with someone over your shared love of a less well-known artist than it is to bond over household names. This new musical landscape has exposed more listeners to artists they might like and allowed them to try stuff out cheaply. As a consequence, it is now easier than ever to find people who also love, not just like, the same things that you do, especially in a city and university as musical as Cambridge.