Spring 2020 Playlist: Annotated
It’s a jam-packed QUARANTINE EDITION of the Spring Playlist this year—couldn’t seem to edit myself down to 20 songs no matter how hard I tried. Some themes: songs I listened to as an undergraduate, obscure folk music, the 80s.
1) “So Much Better,” Evan Olson - If you’re an avid podcast listener, this is your new favorite song. If you don’t listen to podcasts regularly, you have never heard this song. (Please do yourself a favor and check out this delightful episode of Reply All.)
2) “the one,” Marika Hackman - If I recall correctly, this was in one of the Discover Weekly playlists Spotify made me. Thanks, creepy algorithm. I felt like the beat from “So Much Better” bounced right into this one.
3) “Heels,” Sir Babygirl - I think this was also in a Discover Weekly playlist? Spotify owns my soul.
4) “19.10,” Childish Gambino - Bless Donald Glover for dropping new music during this pandemic. We all need it.
5) “Stupid Love,” Lady Gaga - I was thrilled when I heard Gaga’s latest single at the end of February. It’s just a simple pop song. No frills. Big Born This Way vibes. I’m into it.
6) “Rare Thing,” Frances Quinlan - Those of you who have been following my seasonal playlists are aware that I’m mildly obsessed with the band Hop Along. This is off the debut solo album of their singer Frances Quinlan.
7) “My Mind is Made Up,” Nire Nah - My friend Nire is so good! And now she doesn’t work at 826 anymore so I don’t get to see her every week! But we’re all quarantined, so I suppose I wouldn’t be seeing her every week anyway! Ugh. This is off her new record, which deals with addiction and recovery. I’m glad I got to attend the release show before the pandemic swept in.
8) “Little Sister,” Jewel - Last week I sang “Who Will Save Your Soul” for my daily #CovidKaraoke post (I have to keep myself entertained somehow), and that got me listening to Jewel’s Pieces of You album for the first time in years—it was the first CD I ever got to call mine. And it holds up! I completely forgot this song existed. Amazing she wrote it when she was so young.
9) “Wolf and Bird,” She Drew the Gun - Guess where I found this song? A DISCOVER WEEKLY PLAYLIST!
10) “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun,” Nina Nesbitt, Charlotte Lawrence & Sasha Sloan - I first heard this cover on the soundtrack of To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before: P.S. I Still Love You. (If you want to watch something fluffy and sweet during this crisis, I highly recommend the TATBILB films on Netflix.) The second the movie was over, I looked it up.
11) “Absolute Beginners,” David Bowie - As you all know, David Bowie is my soulmate. I decided months ago that I was going to put it on the Spring playlist this year. I like this one because it sounds like Bowie trying to do John Lennon. You know I’m right.
12) “Winds Change,” Orville Peck - I’m really late to the Orville Peck party, but I’m here now, and I brought my fringe. Gay cowboys forever.
13) “Other Side to This Life,” Karen Dalton - I can’t remember who, but one of you posted about Karen Dalton on Twitter, so I looked her up. She was apparently a staple in the 1960s Greenwich Village folk scene, but then the world forgot about her. Why do they always forget about the good ones?
14) “Clementina,” Jealous of the Birds - I almost put this one on my fall playlist last year, but I decided on a different Jealous of the Birds song instead. I always feel like my Spring-Fall moods are similar, and my Summer-Winter moods are similar. Anyone else? Just me?
15) “Sea Legs,” The Shins - Here’s one from my freshman year of college, way back in 2007. I hadn’t listened to this album in years, until recently. I forgot how many good songs it has. I’m finding nostalgic music comforting right now.
16) “Do You Think We’ll Last Forever?” Caroline Rose - And here’s something brand new. I liked Caroline Rose’s previous album, and I think this one is even better.
17) “Pretty & Afraid,” Jidenna - I have been telling you to listen to Jidenna’s 85 to Africa album for months now. Get on it!
18) “Head Over Heels,” Tears for Fears - My favorite Tears for Fears song. I almost put Japanese Breakfast’s cover of it on here instead, but it wasn’t dynamic enough. The original is just so good.
19) “DESIGNER,” Chika - Chika is fantastic. Her EP Industry Games is out now, and you should go listen.
20) “Can’t Be Happy All the Time,” Tones and I - New talent straight out of Australia. Her voice is so cool. You may have heard her song “Dance Monkey,” which, as the title suggests, is very danceable. This one’s much moodier.
21) “Front Row,” Metric - More college music! This one came out my junior year, though. I was studying in Beijing at the time, and new music kept me feeling connected to home.
22) “Broken Face,” Pixies - While I was in Texas for the AWP Conference, I was reading Claire Rudy Foster’s collection Shine of the Ever. The Pixies make several appearances in the book, so I started listening to them again, and…well, you get the idea. This particular song has special meaning for me because one day I ran up to my sister screaming I’VE GOT A BROKEN FACE! UH-HUH! UH-HUH! and she didn’t believe me that it was a real song.
23) “Lola,” The Raincoats - A common cover of The Kinks’ classic, I heard this one the last time I went to a cafe to write before lockdown. Those were the days. sniffle
24) “Don’t Let Me Die in America,” Of Montreal - Okay, so this one might be a little too real right now. Sorry.
25) “Tea-plucking and Catching Butterflies,” Lily Chao - Once again, this song came up on one of my Discover Weekly playlists. Turns out that Lily Chao was an artist from Taiwan, and this groovy album of traditional Chinese folk songs was released in 1968. My Chinese speaking comprehension is roughly that of a toddler learning her first words, but I like it when I can understand a lyric or two.
26) “Higher Self,” Karmic - This is off the soundtrack for HBO’s The New Pope series, which I watch because Catholicism has the best #aesthetics.
27) “We Lived Alone,” Connie Converse - Another forgotten female folk singer serving up social distancing realness.