well for me, i was not raised with a lot of anything. not a lot of exposure to music, almost none to films and tv. it feels like they were restricted becasue my father made fun of all of those cultural things. so i had nothing, and even now i have a lot of anhedonia, as a result of that, and as a result of depression. i think i am incapable of liking something on my own. i may like it but there is little attachment to it. i don't care about it.

so for example with music, i may enjoy a type of music, but generally i am neglectful of it, or i ignore it (can't think of the word.... imagine that i am a mother who does not respond to a child's distress). but if someone else tells me they really like a song i will latch onto it even if it's not really my type. for example, i was reading a fan fiction, where Sherlock (Holmes from BBC Sherlock) goes through a tough time, and the writer recommended the readers listen to "stop crying your heart out" by oasis, which, apologies to those who like it, is a bit bland to me.

but i listened, and sometimes still do, listen to it on repeat, because it makes me feel close to : a) sherlock and the story world; b) the author of the fan fic. So i would not say it is empathy for me, but some kind of crutch for me to feel close to someone, and use them to help me form a personality (I'm defining personality as a person with desires, dislikes, in general, not a depressed husk of anhedonia, which i am).

so now the object, the horrible song, is important to me through that person, and this is the only way that a thing could ever become important to me.

that's what i think. maybe it was a bit relevant to what you wrote?