Acquired tastes in entertainment

Sometimes, the first time we watch a new show, or listen to a new band, we don't like them. However, once we become more familiar with them, we stop being bothered by what initially put us off them, and they begin to grow on us. Here's a topic for all of these 'acquired tastes' - whether they're genres, specific shows, specific actors or characters, bands, authors, or anything else from the world of entertainment .

One example for me is Anne Robinson on The Weakest Link. When I first saw her back in 2000 or 2001, she was very different from anything I was used to on a quiz show: she just seemed straight-up mean to the contestants. However, the format of the quiz itself was good, so I stuck around in spite of my initial dislike of her. And then, once the initial shock had worn off, she began to grow on me, and I found her put-downs of the contestants rather funny . Indeed, without her 'strict headmistress' demeanour, The Weakest Link wouldn't have been half the show it was!

What about you?

I remember hearing a Linkin Park song in a YouTube video when I was thirteen (can't remember what song or video it was now, though, and I doubt it still exists) and I hated it. It just sounded like loud noise to me. Then, after hearing a few more songs and eventually even buying an album, they became one of my favorite bands, and I even saw them live in 2011. I know LP's music isn't for everyone, but I still enjoy it to this day. My favorite album of theirs is that same one I bought in 2007, which is called Meteora, though I like all of their music.

I also didn't like My Little Pony growing up, but became a huge fan of it as an adult, which might sound strange. It's likely because the MLP cartoons were of low quality back in 2003 (when the series was rebooted and I was in the target age range), but the 2010 reboot was a genuinely good cartoon show, and the one that came after is pretty good too. Plus I like how cute the toy figures are!

I also didn't like Hello Kitty growing up, for some reason. I think I was just annoyed at how popular it was. I became a Hello Kitty/Sanrio fan when I was fourteen and I still am to this day (I want to thank @Jirachu for introducing me to the other characters, which got me into Sanrio in general). I have a Sanrio poster in my office with HK and a bunch of other characters, some manga and assorted merch, and I have all the Sanrio villagers and items in my Animal Crossing: New Horizons game, which I got by scanning the Amiibo cards I bought from Target. I also really like Aggretsuko on Netflix.

I didn’t like Pokémon till I was 12….but I think it was more I was in denial about liking it to please my parents, cos I had looottts of Pokémon dreams (which I called nightmares, of course…) from ages 9 to 11. Not kidding.

Maybe a better example for me in this thread is Taylor swift. I didn’t see the big deal in her so much at the old house, some songs I even just hated, cos of phobias I had, but as I moved out, I heard more stuff from her through my day program (newer stuff), and found her pretty cool. I still wasn’t a huuuge fan yet, and after awhile, I got very into heavy metal (also something I was never into when I was younger), but now, the last few days/months or so, I have been learning more what kind of person she is, combined with my gaining more overall self confidence, or at least trying to find who I am more now, and I am becoming a much bigger fan these days and would like to watch eras at once point

A lot of very cute shows probably I also got into later on, but that might be more lack of exposure at younger ages than anything.

Also, I wasn't much into music with screaming, heavy dubstep, or rapping when I was younger, but now there are artists I love with those types of music (especially Flyleaf for the first example, Skrillex for the second, and Linkin Park for the third). I guess I became more and more open to different types of music as I got older.

Melcharge wrote:Also, I wasn't much into music with screaming, heavy dubstep, or rapping when I was younger, but now there are artists I love with those types of music (especially Flyleaf for the first example, Skrillex for the second, and Linkin Park for the third). I guess I became more and more open to different types of music as I got older.

Metal is great, but now I am starting to get a little more into pop again xD since I am so into Taylor swift these days (I am listening to a song by her right now named “paper rings”. That song is really cute and upbeat^^).

Not all her songs are as happy and bouncy as this one, but in general, they are generally on the cuter and girlier side^^ it’s really fun to listen to music that helps me embrace that side to myself even more. It shows my becoming even more confident, too, but nightwish is still cool too. Actually, a nightwish song just started playing for me now on YouTube xD but I might still listen to paper rings again instead haha.