My brother and I don’t like the same type of music. He likes mainstream rap music, artists like Logic, Migos, and Big Sean. Me on the other hand, I like more chill and indie songs. For example, some of my favorite songs are by the Alessi Brothers, MGMT, and Mac Demarco, all of which have their unique sounds and styles. The Alessi Brothers have about two good songs (songs that I like), one being Seabird and the other being Oh Lori. The story that these two songs depict contrast in many ways. Seabird is about being free and letting go of the past, while Oh Lori is about settling down and staying with those who love you. Both of which are sung by opposing brothers, which shows how different and unique each of them are. This analysis in itself makes it seem like I think that music of our past generation is better than the popular rap and pop songs that are out there today, but that’s not true. I do like some of the songs of today, but they paint no story at all. Most of them are about money, sex, and drugs, which is okay but everyone knows about comes with money, sex and drugs. It’s such an overused theme that even rock stars of the past made songs about it.

If I was to tell any of that to my brother he would most likely dismiss me because he hates older songs. He probably doesn’t even consider them, he more considers that they are older which by his standards makes them something that isn’t worth listening. To put it simply, he doesn’t care about what an artist like Logic is saying, but just that Logic is saying it. This of course leads to conflict in the car. Our car comes with one audio jack for one phone at a time. It’s an old beat up AUX cord, with a weird lengthening contraption in the middle. It used to be white, but due to negligence and years of use it looks more grey with the occasional stain or spot. The cord is so long that it can extend to the back seats of the car, but we never need the length because we both usually sit in front. His phone, an iPhone X with a sleek and modern case rests on a phone holder which is connected to the blades of the AC. My phone, an iPhone 7 with a slightly torn and loose case sits on my lap, resting.  His phone of course is plugged in and I’m subjected to listening to the same three songs over and over again. This doesn’t bode well with me, and when I try to change the song he retaliates by telling me, “I’m driving so I get to pick.”

The AUX cord is tucked in a small compartment near the shifter. It’s plugged in, and the song playing is Logic’s song Indica Badu. It’s about the third time that I’ve listened to that song, mainly because of how long the car ride was that day. We have rental properties in Rutherford, which we need to maintain a lot, and it was the beginning of spring and weeds start popping up around then. The car ride lasts about 20 minutes there, and 20 back if the traffic is good. But what’s not good is listening to three of the same songs by all of the same artists.

Enough was enough, I asked my brother to play something that I liked, something that wasn’t the same freaking three songs… I decided on MGMT’s song, When You Die. It’s a song with chill lyrics and an amazing repeating riff. I thought he would like it, so I asked, “Dude can I pick the next song, we’ve listened to this one a ton of times” Since he wasn’t paying attention to the music and more to the road he didn’t say anything.

“What?” He asked.
“Can I change the song kid” I replied.
“Yeah sure as long as it isn’t junk” He said.

This was after a long day of work, so he was probably more focused on getting home. I unplugged his, at that time, brand new iPhone X and put it on the dashboard. I took the AUX cord and wiped it off, trying to clean the plug that would go into my phone.

“Wait don’t use that one” My brother said, “check the glovebox”

I opened the glovebox and found a brand new apple AUX cord, it was encased in a blue wrap that protected the wire from getting dirty. My favorite color is blue, but he probably didn’t get the blue one on purpose, probably. I took out the old one and placed it inside the glovebox, knowing that that AUX cord would probably be never used again. I plugged in my phone and searched for the song I wanted, scrolling past Alessi Brothers Seabird. Then I finally found the perfect, which wasn’t actually the song I thought of originally. I compromised with the song Psycho by Post Malone, a song that was pretty chill, but still had a rap and lyricism feeling throughout the song. He actually raised the song up, and we had a pretty good car ride after that. The old cord is probably still there in the glovebox, but it won’t find use for a while.

Rationale: Throughout my story I kept referencing songs and artists that hold meaning to my relationship with me and brother. Specifically, my mentioning of the Alessi Brother’s shows how I really want our relationship to be as close as theirs but because of our differences in music it won’t happen. The two songs Seabird and Oh Lori show the differences in our relationship, him wanting to leave home and go to an out of state college while I want our family to stay in New Jersey. Our phones also highlight our differences, showing that he cares more about the appearance of his phone while I don’t. Also, the old AUX cord shows how bad our relationship is currently, since we fight over music in our car. This unlike the new AUX cord that is new and is a sign of peace and trust, which is now in place and won’t be replaced for a long time.