Table of contents
Cognitive functions by themselves
Fe (Extroverted feeling) | Fi (Introverted Feeling)
Ne (Extroverted Intuition) | Ni (Introverted Intuition)
Se (Extroverted Sensing) | Si (Introverted Sensing)
Te (Extroverted Thinking) | Ti (Introverted Thinking)
16 Personalities + Music intro
MBTI personality types
ENFJ and INFJ | ENFP and INFP
ENTJ and INTJ | ENTP and INTP
ESFJ and ISFJ | ESFP and ISFP
ESTJ and ISTJ | ESTP and ISTP
MBTI v. Spotify Personality Types
Book conclusion
Intro
A lot of people have found utility in MBTI’s category-sorting and common language for everybody’s cognitive processes.
A lot of people like music.
It’s natural to combine MBTI and music studies.
But how to combine them has vexed enough people to where it remains mostly musings. You can find videos of rock songs or classical songs or fill-in-the-blank songs representing each of the types. But those choices box the music in before the box of type shows up. And discussion threads end up based on individual tastes, which can have so many raisons d’etre that they are inconclusive.
With this book, I think I can lay down a proper take on how the cognitive functions and personality types interact with music.
Why do I think that? Vanity is a leading candidate, but I also have a lot of musical experience, both producing and consuming. I have two albums as Restless Mosaic and seven under a previous name. I’m collaborating with artists who have multiple Billboard Club Play #1s and been executive producers on Grammy-nominated albums, and my music has been heard over 2,000,000 times (most of that in YouTube videos, and a significant chunk of that “most” in the MBTI community). I shouldn’t quit my day job, but I have generated respect of multiple people who use or make music in their day jobs.
And a quirky thing about me is that I write true to my MBTI stack. Many reviews for my first album discussed my work in ways that showed I was an INTP even though they didn’t know anything about the system. It would be freaky, except it isn’t.
I’ve come up with a framework (what INTP wouldn’t?) for describing the intersections of MBTI and music. I’ve explored the intersections enough that I can write this tiny book about it. So I have. Take that, or something.
Overview
In both writing and listening to music, the cognitive functions do different things and display differently when permutated. Put those permutations together, and it is fair to say a particular song or artist displays a personality type in their music.
There are three big things that does not mean, plus an extra note, which are really the standard set of MBTI disclaimers with a musical flair:
- All people of type X write true to their stack. I happen to, but I have no evidence that’s common. If you make your living as a pop artist, you need to write pop songs regardless of your type. That will change the perception from the outside as to the artist’s type, but it shouldn’t. And like with everyone’s music use, some artists use art to who explore who they aren’t. (You can’t spell “aren’t” without “art.”) So just like you might have learned some behavior to succeed at your job, a professional musician might have learned some behavior to succeed at their job. You can get some good guesses as to a musician’s type if their oeuvre is large enough, but without personal interviews to link to that oeuvre you’re not likely to be right.
- All people of type X like music from Y. There are many reasons people like music, and there are many reasons people use music. Some people use music to understand things that they naturally are not. I have a lot of Fi songs that I use when I need to remember who I am and my INTP brain returns bupkis results. Other types are just as likely to do similar things with music or any other art: use it to help understand more of the world and themselves.
- Liking artist X means you are type Y. Even if the artist is that type, you easily might value something different from the song than they intended. I like a lot of psychedelic music, but I have no interest in drugs, which the YouTube comments for that music routinely inform me would improve the listening experience; I just like the expansiveness of the sound with my Ne.The same goes for dance music; the proverbial club is the literal opposite of where you will find me, but it can be a good sound all the same. If you’ve ever had an authority figure worry you are becoming a ne’er-do-well because you like the art of a ne’er-do-well, I’m describing the MBTI equivalent of that energy.
- Lyrics and instrumental tracks are often very different in type from each other. I treat lyrics and music composition/production separately, because they are separate. That muddies the waters as to whether an entire song is exactly one type. But that mud makes the overall endeavor more interesting. For each song, I’ll tell you which part I’m associating with a type – I don’t want you to think I’m applying a set of lyrics when I’m not.
These are why I speak of music or an artist displaying a type rather than being a type. This is true even if I say “this is an ISFJ song”; that’s for brevity more than anything else. So that’s an intro and overview. The rest of this book covers each of the cognitive functions from several perspectives and then combines them into the 16 personalities. I’ll be generous with song examples, because otherwise what’s the point of me knowing and categorizing all these songs?
Next part: Fe (Extroverted Feeling)
restlessmosaic.com 