By: Mia Kelley

The frigid winds of winter are in the past, and the sun has started to warm up students’ daily walks through campus; evidence that Spring is upon the University of Arkansas. With this temperature change, another season lies just beyond the horizon: concert season. As students work their way through the semester and closer to the summer, they move nearer to a plethora of concert dates and live music events by their favorite artists. 

While some crave the intimate events of smaller local artists, like the ones that perform at George’s Majestic Lounge on Dickson Street, others count down the days to their next big concert date in a stadium.

Among the headlining news in nationwide music updates, artists Harry Styles, Tame Impala and Bruno Mars all announced tour dates in January for the remainder of 2026. 

Freshman University of Arkansas student Sania Parise said she acquired tickets for a Harry Styles show this October for his Kiss All the Time, Disco Occasionally tour. Other than wanting to see artists solely for their music and production, Parise said she loves to get dressed up for the themes of each concert she attends as well, getting inspiration from apps like Pinterest. 

“For Taylor Swift, I wore a more glittery outfit, and for Lana [Del Ray] I wore more pastels and tried to fit more of her aesthetic,” she said. 

Music is one of the many tools students use to stabilize their mood and explore the expression of their interests everyday.  Parise said that motivates her through her day, and allows her to be more creative with how she spends her downtime. 

“I love listening to music while I drive because it clears my mind,” she said. “It makes me super focused, even when I’m getting ready.”

For others, music also serves the purpose of providing comfort and nostalgia, especially for out-of-state students. 

Freshman Ellie Wyckoff said her two older brothers exposed her to a wide range of music genres, which allowed her to curate her own taste and become obsessed with different sounds as well. She attributes her love for R&B and rap to her brothers, and her interest in indie genres to her own discovery,  combined with the music interests of her friends. 

Music not only weaves its way into her workouts and walks to class, but into her friendships; Wyckoff said it plays a huge part in them, to the point that when a new album drops it’s a big deal, and they all listen to it together.

Wyckoff is planning on attending the Austin City Limits music festival in Austin, Texas in October. She attended this two-weekend festival in 2025, and said she was so infatuated with the experience that she has to go back. 

“It truly felt like a cultural experience,” she said. “I was able to see headliners like Hozier, but I also found a lot of small artists that I didn’t know prior to ACL, which was really cool.”

With so many artists employing social media managers to film their performances and teasers in this modern era of music communication, fans don’t always need to see their favorite artists live to experience their talent firsthand. Wyckoff said that live performances are just a different feel that cannot be rivaled by any other viewing of the artist.

“With all the fans [in the room] you capture so much more energy that you wouldn’t otherwise have…you kind of get to see what [the artists] are like as a person, too,” she said. 

Music’s role in Wyckoff’s life has been one of escapism and release of the day that she experiences outside of her earbuds. 

“For me, music has genuinely helped me with problems in my life,” she said. “I think most students love music because it offers an escape for them.”

Sophomore Sarah Schwaller was also introduced to the idea of music as an act of expression from a family member: her dad.  She said her dad’s knowledge of music influenced the way she interacted with different genres throughout her childhood, and affects the way she interprets new songs now. 

“He very much makes an effort to teach us about the [music] he loved to listen to when he was me and my siblings’ ages, and he also tries to discover new music and new artists,” she said. 

Schwaller described how her dad and his friends first heard the artist Tame Impala in a bar in Austin back when the band had just started to release music, which allowed her to become familiar with them at a young age. 

“I’ve been listening to Tame Impala since they were very, very new, so it’s fun to see them grow and become so big,” she said. 

Music has also made its way into how she shares her interests with her dad: Schwaller explained how she often tries to hide songs that she loves from him in the chance that he also loves it and plays it continuously.

“I gatekept a song by the Neighborhood, ‘Devil’s Advocate’ because I knew he would love it,” she said. “I kept it from him for a couple years, then he finally heard it, loved it… and now I’m going to their concert with him this year.”

As a student who attends about one concert a month, Schwaller has experienced both large stadium tours and intimate listening venues. She said that smaller venues have unique advantages that the larger shows lack. 

“At George’s [Majestic Lounge], you have opportunities to speak to the artists after, which I haven’t experienced anywhere else,” she said. “You can just go and introduce yourself, and say hello, and I just think that’s really cool.”

Most of all though, Schwaller said she appreciates how there are so many different interpretations of the same music, which has brought her closer to so many different people on campus, unified under the interest in one particular song, or artist. 

“There’s so much music that I’ve been able to talk to other people about, and they’re like ‘oh my gosh, I love that song too,’ because of the story that that song tells,” she said. 

Schwaller described sharing song interests with others as a form of emotional connection, unique to others that one would form with classmates or even friends.

“I think college students having the opportunity to listen to the music that they like and share it with others so openly is good for the human experience; it brings people closer in such a large community.”