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April! Big month for shots! Unfortunately not these types of shots, although mine did also make me feel like my body was falling apart the next day. Cheers to a shift in health and weather that has forecasted what just might be the most h-word season of our lives, so long as “Kiss Me More” stays on repeat.
These high hopes for the r(wh)oaring ‘20s have ushered in a new wave of graphic tee slogans and punny playlists, the likes of which include Shot Girl Summer, Moderna Love, and a Quarantine Party playlist that features a bunch of song titles that are about sickness and therefore have probably been banned from being played at grocery stores this year (long story explained here).
Recently, playlist titles have started to feel like a Venmo transaction caption--I spend an unnecessary amount of energy trying to say something witty that literally no one else will care about. And like Venmo, when these titles are public to others and the artist themselves, you probably want to be subtler than a transaction saying “Money for Plan B” and a playlist called “What We Were Doing Before We Had To Get Plan B.”
So I did crowdsource momentarily by asking people on Instagram what they called their respective ~scandy~ playlists, and then SUDDENLY MY ACCOUNT BECAME TEMPORARILY DISABLED because SIN???, so clearly Instagram wants me to repent but I will NOT because the responses did not disappoint! Selections include:
Indiscreet Classics: “bangerz”, “baby makin musiq”
Emojis: “😈”, “🌚”, “:-*” (for the traditionalists)
Indiscernible Mouth Sounds: “mhmm”, “whoops", “woohoo”
Wistfulness & Nostalgia: “thinking about [friend’s name], a lesbian from college”, “sloped ceilings” (a reference to our college home)
The Honest Ones: “If I ever fall in love again”, “If you make fun of me for these songs then this will not work out”
If you’re looking for more inspiration, this stellar Oddly Specific Playlists article highlights the popularity of slowed & reverbed songs that listeners would like “to get their organs rearranged to”. Yowza.
Personally, I also have one of these playlists (of course), but it has 600 songs and I’ve literally never listened to it; I’ve just been hoarding good makeout songs throughout my entire adulthood waiting for someone to ask me about it and then maybe I show them it and then they fall deeply in love with me and/or hire me to curate romantic playlists or something. No luck yet, tba.
Final thoughts: earlier this month, literal child Olivia Rodrigo dropped ANOTHER absolute smasher in which she sang about how she showed her ex Glee first and now he’s watching it with his new girlfriend. She said some other stuff too, but I am addicted to this song and I truly cannot stop thinking about the fact that probably my most-listened track of the year mentioned f*cking Glee. As problematic and cringe as the show was, I have to wonder… was Glee the blueprint? Dancing and organizing playlists and lipsyncing and acting dramatically using popular songs? Hmmmmm look who’s still doing that now (teens)! Check out this article from my alma mater if you, too, sometime wonder what Rachel Berry would be singing now (100% Olivia Rodrigo).
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vv niche, April ‘21: one-hit wonders or lesser-known ballads that ROCKED MY WORLD as a child (proceed with caution, this reeks of 2008 Pandora Radio and my BFF’s mix CDs <3)
songs for moving abroad and changing your identity: just been toying with this idea recently nbd
latenight backseat of the uber midway between manhattan and brooklyn: because we’re starting! to! go! places! again!
the millennium can have a beer now: as always, 2021’s greatest hits (imho)
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Houston Kendrick, Small Infinity: Houston Kendrick is the kind of artist you should know now, because he MUST and will undoubtedly blow up. Such clever lyrics, stellar musicianship, seamless blending of genres. Especially suitable for introverts, sad suburbanites, and American Spirit / Eggo enthusiasts.
La Femme, Paradigmes: If you’ve been around me in any social setting throughout the past year, I unfortunately have probably taken the aux with a pretentious “I’m really into French music right now.” Whatever, their music sounds like nothing else I’ve ever heard and feels like the future and slaps even though I have no idea what they’re saying.
Paul McCartney et al., McCartney III Imagined: What a perfect combination of what I like and what my dad likes! Seriously, it’s just COOL that some of my all-time favorite artists and a literal Beatle have produced such distinct collaborations. History in the making, heaux.