Maitlynn’s Top Five “Guilty Pleasure” Artists: Unpopular Opinions

Guilty pleasures, we've all got them. Sometimes we are too ashamed to admit them and others we unabashedly head bang and scream-sing until our throats are sore to. We're talking artists society tells us we shouldn't love but we absolutely do.

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Reasons To Feel "Guilty" About Certain Artists

Personally, I think there is no reason to ever feel "guilty" about listening to music that makes you happy; however, since the world we live in is so full of haters, it happens!

Maybe an artist or group has been considered "too young" and if you enjoy listening to it as an adult, it's weird.

Maybe an artist has a strange, different or "freaky" look as far as physical attributes go. Their style of performing could also relate to that and push some people away.

Maybe, just maybe, people are just following the crowd and jumping on some bandwagon of hating artists for no particular reason other than it is "cool" to hate on that artist and the people who enjoy them...I'm thinking of one band in particular but we will get to that here in a second.

Maitlynn's "Guilty Pleasure" Artists

5. Olivia Rodrigo

I'm just going to jump in and start with one of the biggest names in music right now.

I don't think listening to Olivia Rodrigo is inherently "guilty." The girl rocks, she can sing and has had major success this year. However, as a 24-year-old woman who has been in a stable relationship for six years, indulging in a 17-year-old's breakup album is something I am not ashamed about (but should I be?)

4. Big Time Rush

No, I am not a 14-year-old but I was when I started watching, listening to and loving some BTR!

Honestly, when my music is on shuffle and I hear that "oh, oh, oh, ohhhhh" it's GAME OVER! You know, I can't feel guilty at all, no matter how ridiculous I look. As BTR says, "It's the only life you got, so you gotta live it BIG TIME."

3. Earl Dibbles Jr. 

As much as I love my rock and teeny-pop, my "growing up in the sticks and going to school between two cornfields" roots really bring it home for me. That's where Earl Dibbles Jr. (the "Country Boy" alter-ego to Granger Smith) comes in.

I will NEVER feel guilty about pretending I don't long to live in the city again and belting out a good ol' YEE YEE every now and again.

2. Hinder

Don't pretend we all didn't feel every single emotion when "Lips of an Angel" came out...while some of us being too young to understand what it even meant.

Hinder has been called everything from "Dad Rock" to "Butt Rock" and I am unashamed to admit I often lose my voice absolutely rocking out to them in my car.

What can I say, my dad brought me up to be a rocker and I got my radio career started on rock stations. Sue me.

1. Nickelback

Some of you know this already, some of you may not. I will defend Nickelback with my every last breath. Let's not forget how much we all loved "Rockstar" okay!

I can't really pinpoint when it became "cool" to hate on Nickelback and somehow "uncool" to like them but now, I think a lot of people are really just some bandwagon haters.

I've caught so much flack over the years for liking Nickelback. People have gotten GENUINELY angry with me over it...and I love it. I carry their hatred and anger with me everyday because "this is how you remind me" that someone, somewhere is going to judge no matter what you listen to so listen to what you want!

All in all, I love that my music taste can go from Lizzo, to Chris Stapleton, to Puddle of Mudd and everything in between (and beyond).

I think it is so important to be well-rounded with our music and not let one genre be the only thing we cling to for a sense of identity...and this comes from someone who used to HATE "top 40" music and now absolutely loves working at a station where that's all we play!