I have always disliked the term ‘guilty pleasure’. I never fully grasped the concept. If you like something YOU LIKE SOMETHING. Who cares if it’s something no self-respecting person should listen to? You like it for some reason”¦even if that reason is completely invalid.

The Internet defines guilty pleasure as, “Something that brings pleasure but is considered taboo, unadvisable or lowbrow”. That or an Ashley Tisdale record. (Who?/Exactly.)

When thinking of guilty pleasures, my mind automatically jumps to the soundtrack of my swing set. (I love swing sets because I’m a pre-schooler.) I do not, under any circumstances swing to good music. I pick the worst of the worst. Though I enjoy it just as much if not more than some of my favorite music.

I cannot explain the attraction of the crappy music I listen to and in other circumstances, I would never dream of listening to. Almost daily, I find myself on the swings, listening to Destiny Child’s, Fergie, Panic! At the Disco and Mest.

Yes, I know every single word to Fergie’s The Dutchess and yes, I’m more than a little ashamed to write that sentence. Yet it’s true and hilarious.

Is it really a guilty pleasure if I’m willing to admit it? I’d like to think so. I have tried listening to these artists when not in motion and it’s not the same. In fact, I cannot handle it otherwise.

The strangest part is, I was never into these artists. I always imagined guilty pleasures were developed after someone was too old to listen to a particular genre or artist. This is rarely the case for me, so where does this leave me? I suppose, it simply means I notso secretly have bad taste.

When I listen to the Spice Girls and Backstreet Boys, I can explain that. Those artists remind me of a wonderfully innocent and simple time in my life. For that, I will never stop.

Everyone has a guilty pleasure to some degree. But with me, I’m not entirely ashamed of any of it. It’s a part of me just as much as the “real” music I listen to. It’s time I came clean.

Do you have any guilty pleasures?

Soundtrack in Motion:
Destiny’s Child – Lose My Breath/Say My Name/Jumpin’ Jumpin’
Kelly Clarkson – Since U Been Gone
Justin Timberlake – Cry Me a River
Amy Winehouse – You Know I’m Know Good
Usher – Burn/Yeah!
Spice Girls – Stop/Spice Up Your Life
Backstreet Boys – As Long As You Love Me
Panic! At the Disco – But It’s Better If You Do
Britney Spears – Outrageous/Stronger

“¦I can say no more without losing my dignity.