Songs you should add to your playlist

I spend a lot of my free time – more than I should – listening to music. It’s gotten to the point where I can’t do my daily activities without it. I refuse to walk to campus or even to a friend’s house without my headphones. If I forget them, which unfortunately often happens, I walk home to catch them even if I’m late for class. Because every second of my day revolves around music, I have discovered hundreds of songs that I have become strongly attached to. My friends are tired of me talking about it, so I turned to writing the songs – what they make me think about and what they make me feel. My explanations of the songs and their respective emotions, feelings and meanings are all subjective and based on my opinions about them, which only makes them more meaningful to me. So here are seven songs that I love and that you should add to your playlist, if they’re not already there.

“Baby Baby” – Sports

I found this song while scrolling through my Spotify recommendations, and instantly fell in love. I loved the singing and the raspy but soft voice of Cale Chronister, one of the two members. I was obsessed with the rhythms of the production and their adequacy, matching the changes in tone of Chronister’s voice. The song feels like going on a date and realizing how much I really love that person as the night goes by, slowly noticing how attached I am. When I get home, I start replaying events over and over in my head, analyzing the things he said and did, smiling into my pillow. This is the song I would like to do as ‘our song’ with the person I dated, listening to it in the car with them. What I would imagine would be my first kiss with that person, even if the kiss ended up being awkward. The lyrics, “Guess I don’t know how to try / So tell me it’ll be alright / And tell me I’m what you need”, highlight issues of codependency. It’s about trying to comfort the person you care about, but not being able to because of your own problems. He analyzes the impact of simultaneously being codependent while being emotionally distant and striving to break that down. The song teaches me to be vulnerable around the people I care about despite my own personal baggage.

“Stay With Me” – Demo – Liquid Zoo

When I hear this song, I think I need closure while accepting the end of a relationship. The lyrics “Wasn’t I good enough that you chose him over me… / So won’t you stay with me / I’ll stay with you” captures the meaning of the whole song perfectly. Not understanding why they didn’t choose you, but desperately trying to accept it – but failing miserably. Knowing that if they ever changed their minds and came back to you, you would drop everything and stay. This feeling becomes so constant that it becomes regular and part of your routine. It’s a song I’d find myself listening to while trying to hang out with friends, only to think about the pain of wanting that person back all the time. The song’s upbeat and flowing melody underscores the contrast between the lyrics’ more upsetting and deeper meaning with its light-hearted production. When I ignore the words, the music comforts me. It just fits the meaning of the song. It underscores how that feeling of wanting someone back, while being hurt because of them, can become so familiar.

“Hearts in two” – Cub Sport

This song reminds me of the phase between being friends and being in a relationship. When you go out together, but without the label. When you know you want the label, but at the same time you don’t want to change anything. The idea of ​​still being young and free to live your life the way you want to, but also wanting to be with that person regardless. The song reminds me of being in the moment with that person, dancing for hours, thinking about what this situation is and where it might go. Hoping it lasts and being excited about a relationship with them, but at the same time fearing it. You are afraid of what it is and where it might go. Fear of ruining everything or having a broken heart. Afraid they’ll see you in your rawest form, stripped of all the barriers and guards that took you years to build. The higher vocals in the chorus and the rest of the song have a lighter feel, which puts you in a trance of thinking about them. The lyrics and instrumentals contrast slightly with each other; the instrumentals are more relaxed and filled with clarity, while the lyrics are crafted with moments of confusion and genuine vulnerability.

“Mixed Signals” – The Night Café

This is the song I used to listen to while dancing in my bedroom or cleaning with my wired headphones. This is the song I listen to as I write this piece, shaking my head as it plays through my headphones while the rest of my apartment and roommates are silent from exhaustion from last night’s adventures. . But it’s also a song about realizing how much you needed that special someone now that they’re gone and how confusing and devastating that realization is. Grateful that they deserved more than you gave, but also wishing you could have a second chance to give it to them. Like most of the songs on this list, the music strongly contrasts the meaning of the words. The lyrics “Times change, now you move on / While I smoke a lonely cigarette / In an empty room with the lights off”, and the lyrics of the rest of the song are filled with regret, longing and sadness. self-inflicted pain. But the instrumentals get me to get up and dance, causing my foot to tap involuntarily when I try to sit still and listen to the song.

“Sunshine Girl” – Demo – Jakob

As the weather turns from cold to freezing cold, I can’t help but think back to summer. Or at least the feeling of warmth that summer brings. This song brings me back the warmth I craved while walking in the cold. It’s a song about dating someone and realizing that it’s more than an attachment: it’s love. Wanting to spend every moment you have with them. This song epitomizes the honeymoon phase, a time filled with sunshine and nothing but happiness. I think of how many times I listened to this song on my way to the park near my house. Where I was just sitting in my car in the parking lot, listening to music and relaxing. The sun is beating through the window, balancing out the cold air from my car’s air conditioning. It’s a song full of warmth. The vocals are higher, which immediately creates a feeling of content and the instrumentals match it perfectly. The song is flowing and I can’t help but think of all the happy things. As the music runs through me, I can’t help but dream of lying next to that special someone with a huge smile on my face. This feeling is enough to keep me warm all winter.

“Time Will Tell” – Blood Orange

The first time I heard this song was on the TV show “We Are Who We Are”. It threw me into a deep dive into only listening to Blood Orange for a month straight. Every time I hear this song it takes me back to when I first watched the show last summer, sitting in my bedroom under the covers while my sheer curtains let in all the light from the outside. I played every episode without a single break, taking my laptop downstairs with me when I had to eat and bringing it back upstairs to continue. When I finished the show, I was still lying under the covers, only now this song would continue to echo in my head. The few times I left my house that week, I took my bike for a quick ride to the park near my house or through the housing estate because I had no interest in going anywhere else. I was playing the song, just thinking about the show and my quick but strong attachment to it. The song itself focuses on letting it all out in the moment, ignoring our worries as time will take care of it.

“LOL” – Juto

This song reminds me of driving back with your friends after a party or going out with people. Where everyone is tired and quiet but in a happy way, like they’re at peace with everything and happy with how the day went. When your eyes close while a nerdy smile is plastered on your face. Windows slightly open letting cool, warm but humid air into the car, but not open enough

to tie knots in your hair. The song itself is about realizing that you’re doing so much better without them. The lyrics suggest that Juto’s ex quickly moved on to someone else, but the person treats them badly compared to Juto. While Juto’s ex is stuck in something unfortunate, Juto lives his life freely and fully. While the song focuses heavily on your ex’s unhappiness, I think it’s more like being happy with where you are in life, whoever your ex is. Like most of the songs on the list, the instrumentals are smooth and the vocals fit right in, except for the contrast in Juto’s narration a few times.

I’ve created a playlist with these seven songs and a few other songs that I hope you enjoy, and which I will continue to add as I write more songs. These songs have all had a lasting impact on me, whether through the memories I created listening to them or the feelings they gave me. I hope they will do the same for you.

MiC columnist Roshni Mohan can be reached at romohan@umich.edu.