The Songs I Keep Coming Back To and the Memories They Bring With Them

Songs

There are some songs you listen to once and move on from, and then there are songs that somehow stay with you for years. You may not listen to them every day, but whenever they come on, you immediately recognize them. Sometimes they remind you of a particular person, a place, a relationship, a period of your life, or even a feeling you haven’t experienced in a long time.

That’s one of the things I love about music. A good song can take you somewhere without you having to do anything. You can be sitting in your room, driving to work, cooking dinner, or walking down the street, and suddenly a familiar song comes on. Before you know it, you’re remembering something from years ago.

Nigerian music has a special way of doing this for me. There are songs that instantly bring back memories of parties, road trips, weekends with friends, family gatherings, or just those ordinary days when music was playing in the background.

Songs like “Fall” by Davido, “Ojuelegba” by Wizkid, “Essence” by Wizkid featuring Tems, and “Love Nwantiti” by CKay are the kind of songs that can completely change the mood of a room. They have that quality where you don’t necessarily have to be a huge music fan to know the words once the song starts playing.

Then there are songs like “Rush” by Ayra Starr, “Calm Down” by Rema, and “Unavailable” by Davido featuring Musa Keys. These are the kind of songs that are difficult to sit still through. You hear the beat and, almost automatically, you start moving along with it.

What I like about Nigerian music is the variety. You can go from Afrobeats to Afropop, highlife, old-school Nigerian music, and newer sounds that are constantly changing. There are songs for almost every mood. You can have something playing while you’re getting ready in the morning, something completely different for a night out, and another song for when you’re sitting quietly thinking about life.

American music has the same effect, just in a different way. There are songs that seem to belong to certain moments in time. “Blinding Lights” by The Weeknd is one of those songs that immediately creates a particular mood. “As It Was” by Harry Styles has that feeling of looking back and realizing that things have changed. “Someone Like You” by Adele is the kind of song that can bring out emotions you weren’t expecting, while “Perfect” by Ed Sheeran has become one of those songs people associate with love and special moments.

Then there are the classics that never seem to disappear. Songs like “Stand by Me” by Ben E. King, “I Will Always Love You” by Whitney Houston, and “Billie Jean” by Michael Jackson have been around for decades, but people still listen to them. There’s something about a great song that allows it to survive different generations.

Of course, everyone has different tastes. One person’s favourite song might be another person’s skip. That’s what makes music interesting. You don’t have to understand why someone loves a particular song. Sometimes the reason is simply that it means something to them.

I think that’s why people become attached to certain songs. It’s rarely only about the music itself. It’s about what was happening in your life when you heard it.

Maybe you listened to a particular song every morning while getting ready for school. Maybe you and your friends had a song that you always played when you went out. Maybe there was a song someone you loved introduced you to, and now you can’t hear it without thinking about them.

Sometimes the memory is a happy one. Sometimes it isn’t. There are songs I associate with good times, and there are songs I probably wouldn’t choose to listen to when I’m already having a bad day. But even those songs have their place because they remind me of where I’ve been.

That’s the strange thing about music. The song stays the same, but the person listening to it changes. You might hear a song at 18 and think it’s about one thing. Then you hear it again at 25 and suddenly understand it differently. The lyrics haven’t changed. Your life has.

I also think music has a way of bringing people together. You can meet someone you’ve never spoken to before, discover that you both love the same artist, and suddenly have something to talk about. A song can cross languages, cultures, age groups, and backgrounds in a way that few other things can.

That’s especially true with Nigerian music today. Artists like Burna Boy, Wizkid, Davido, Tems, Rema, Asake, Ayra Starr, Omah Lay, and Fireboy DML have helped Nigerian music reach listeners all over the world. At the same time, American artists continue to influence the music people listen to everywhere.

For me, there’s no single type of music that always works. Sometimes I want something energetic. Sometimes I want something nostalgic. Sometimes I just want a song that sounds good while I’m driving.

At the end of the day, I think that’s why we keep coming back to certain songs. They become part of our lives without us realizing it. Years later, a few familiar notes can bring back a person, a place, a conversation, or an entire period of our lives. Music doesn’t just give us something to listen to. Sometimes, it gives us something to remember.