[smoe]

I have seen it being referred various times that musical interest and emotional connection to it really develops and peaks around the age 14

E.g.: https://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/25/is-14-a-magic-... https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/10/opinion/sunday/favorite-s...

I think the book "This Is Your Brain on Music" also talks about it, but I haven't read it yet. https://www.amazon.com/This-Your-Brain-Music-Obsession/dp/04...

I have never dug deeper on it, but it rings very true for my own case and friends I talked with about it. To the music that awed me when I was a teenager, most intensely so Scandinavian melodic death metal, I still to this day have a stronger emotional reaction than anything I listen to before or after that period of my life. Even tough I don't listen to those songs anymore that often and there are plenty of modern songs in similar styles that I do think are better in many aspects, that just don't have the same goosebumps effect anymore.

And I think the main difference here is me, not the music that has changed, that has gotten better or worse.

[easymodex]

I don't know if that's true, around 14 I did emotionally connect to music ofc, for some reason I was into nu-metal at the time. From then on I've made several 180° turns and the music I listened to back then falls somewhere between cringy to kinda alright, depending on the song. For me it feels as my music taste is evolving the emotional connection is actually going up. Well perhaps 14 is the average but it's certainly not true for everyone, the tail can be pretty long.