Undergraduate / 'Music is my passion' - UChicago Supplement essay [NEW]

The Prompt: Share with us a few of your favorite books, poems, authors, films, plays, pieces of music, musicians, performers, paintings, artists, blogs, magazines, or newspapers? Feel free to touch on one, some, or all of the categories listed, or add a category of your own.

Music has always been one of my greatest passions. Recently, my parents were watching one of those old home videos that I really love and am not embarrassed by in the least, well... maybe I would hide them if they planned to show them to any of my friends, but that's not the case. Four years old and there I was singing a song at the top of my lungs, making my parents deaf.

It's always been there, whether it was those Mexican Rancheras that my dad blasted in the car (or whenever he wanted us to wake up), my mom listening to her oldies as she cleaned the house, or my sister playing her 90s mix tapes loud and proud in her bedroom; it always lighted up and colored the day. I grew to appreciate all types of music as I grew up.

It all started with Leo Dan, one of the many influential Mexican artists of his time, He was in fact Argentinian as I now know, but gained a lot of popularity in Mexico for his embracement of Mariachi music. Many were the nights that I slept to his music as a kid. Then it was Selena, who made me dance and sing to her catchy cumbia songs as I showed the neighborhood my new karaoke machine. Both, of course, inspired me to join my school choir and later join a Mariachi class that was offered in high school. From there it just went all over the place, I now listen to several types of music; anything from Jazz, blues, country, oldies, etc. to Pop, Rock, Hip-hop and everything in between.

Some of my all-time favorite artists are; David Bowie, The Smiths, New Order, The Clash, and The Beatles. Being the artists that fit well for any mood and situations, they hold that special place which you always turn to and therefore become the reason for them being my top.

Literature, on the other hand, is also one of my main interests. Music, being closely related to poetry; led me to find the works of poets such as Robert frost, Emily Dickinson and Edgar Allen Poe fascinating. Moreover, the works of great writers are often referenced in songs. For example, half of the album Diamond Dogs by David Bowie consists of songs that were meant to be theatrically performed having the book 1984 by George Orwell as its theme. Other than the plethora of often suggested reading in music, other writers that I've found to be my favorites are Aldous Huxley, Charlotte Brontë, and Stephen King.

With music and reading being almost hand in hand, both have remained my focus. Both movies and art haven't strayed too far from my attention either; there are always those works that make you think and end up evoking numerous outlooks. I enjoy finding new things; be it music, stories, poems, movies, art, or so on; anything that gives me awareness or a new outlook on life; is always something I enjoy.