When he first arrived at UT in spring 2024, Ali Al Dulaimi struggled to find his community in organizations he joined. After a year of bad luck, he decided to create his own. Wanting to give peers a space to share in meaningful conversation about art, Al Dulaimi decided music would draw the most discourse.
“Everyone’s always looking for a community, someplace they belong,” said Al Dulaimi, a government sophomore eyeing a career in urban planning. “Music is one of the easiest ways to find people you belong to.”
Music Appreciation Club, refounded by Al Dulaimi in fall 2025, operates like a book club: members convene once a week and trade opinions on an album chosen by the group. They took on Hayley Williams’ Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party on Wednesday. English junior Luke Pedersen, a film fanatic looking to expand his music taste, said people often nominate records they hold dear.
“People like to yap about media they love,” said Pedersen, who has been introduced to some of his favorite albums through Music Appreciation Club. “This gives them a space where they finally have a chance to divulge and yap about their favorite albums of all time, shit that they love. It’s cathartic to be able to do that.”
In UT’s previous iteration of Music Appreciation Club, which dissolved in 2022, members shared songs at weekly meetings to create playlists. This time around, Al Dulaimi hopes to inspire appreciation for the album as an artistic experience. Vice President Kaden Clennon said he has listened to over 1,000 albums in his lifetime.
“Ever since the streaming age, people care only about playlists or singles,” history sophomore Clennon said. “An album can be a really impactful medium.”
Clennon joined when the club had five members. Now, meetings routinely have over 20 music fans, and @utaustin_mac sits at over 200 followers on Instagram, a surge Clennon said indicates a desire among peers to return to in-person experiences.
“Online (forums) can breed a toxic community for music discussion,” Clennon said. “Which I think is rarer in person.”
Al Dulaimi, who participated in music debates on Reddit before Music Appreciation Club, said he finds face-to-face discourse much more meaningful.
“I’ve spoken to a lot of old heads — like, grey-hair old heads — about my club,” Al Dulaimi said. “They’re always so excited for us that the younger generation can put down their phones for a couple minutes and see each other eye to eye.”
Outside weekly meetings, members of Music Appreciation Club meet regularly to shop at record stores, sing karaoke or lay down on picnic blankets. Several officers play together in a band called Worms With Accessories, and Al Dulaimi said one member found his roommate through the club.
“It’s not work, it’s not home, but it can feel like home,” Al Dulaimi said.
