Students shout out smaller musiciains; Underground artists celebrated

 While mainstream artists like Harry Styles and Taylor Swift have endless fans and support, many students also make sure to mix in lesser-known musicians that have yet to become household names to their playlists.

     Senior Kaitlyn Mulholland, for example, loves the group “Lovely the Band”,  an American Indie pop band that formed in a nightclub in California, consisting of vocalist Mitchy Collins, guitarist Jordan Greenwald, and drummer Sam Price.

     Mulholland stated, “they have a lot of guitar and I like some of their lyrics.”  She added and explained that she discovered them when “Luke Hemmings from 5 Seconds of Summer sent out a tweet telling his fans to listen to them.”

     Similarly, sophomore Ava Pippet commented that underground artist “Phoebe Bridgers is probably [her] favorite.” Bridgers is a 27-year-old American singer who was a member of the band Sloppy Jane before embarking on her solo career.

     Pippet described Bridgers’ music as “kind of happy but also sad depending on what song it is.” Pippet considers this music “chill, simple [and…] really good for a rainy day.” She added, “when you’re walking through the hallway you can just listen to it without being distracted.”

     Freshman Jasmine Cox named her favorite lesser-known music group as the Arctic Monkeys. This group is an English band that formed in 2002 consisting of Alex Turner, Jamie Cook, Nick O’Malley, and Matt Helders.

     Cox stated, “I feel like a lot of people don’t know about them” and explained “it just has a really good beat to it and makes me happy.” Cox recommended for other people to check out this band.

     Music teacher Ms. Katelyn Hemling has also experienced being a fan of an underground group. “I used to listen to Two-Door Cinema Club when they were not super well-known,” stated Hemling. Two-Door Cinema Club was an Irish alternative band that consisted of Alex Trimble, Sam Halliday and Kevin Baird. 

     The teacher explained “they just had a really fun sound that I thought was kind of unique for the time and it wasn’t the standard.”Hemling continued “I got to go see them a lot because they were relatively unknown so it was easy to get tickets and they were smaller shows which allowed us to get up close.”

     While it can be tempting to keep a small artist to yourself, senior Julia Harris feels that it’s unfair to gatekeep musicians. She stated “I understand feeling excited because you found a hidden gem that’s just yours, but artists make their money off of spreading their music.”

     She further explained “true fans of a group or musician share their art not only so other people can enjoy it as much as they do, but also so that artists can continue producing and sharing their talent.”