Winter 2020/21 Playlist: Annotated
I honestly think my Winter playlists are some of the best—the season is the most versatile. Glittering snow, iced-over mud, bleak cloud cover. In the case of this year’s playlist, it calls for everything from sparkly disco to the quietest folk strains.
1) “The Seasons, Op. 37a, TH 135: XI. November: Troika” by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky - Normally evening winter walks with my dog are pretty gloomy, considering it gets dark so early. But lately I’ve been listening to classical music while I walk, which makes them much more dramatic. And who doesn’t love Tchaikovsky? I didn’t realize he’d written songs for the seasons, like Vivaldi did, until I started my dramatic walk project. Figured we’d begin with “November,” when the cold first creeps in.
2) “Love Again” by Dua Lipa - Dua Lipa’s disco revival album Future Nostalgia may be my favorite of 2020. Pop perfection. And I’ve been waiting all year to use this one—so catchy! Here’s an interesting history of the hook she sampled, by the way. Disco is ideal for winter—snow is nature’s glitter, after all.
3) “Chromatica II” by Lady Gaga - Another of my favorite 2020 albums. This 41-second, string-heavy transition piece is mainly here because “911” just isn’t the same song without it.
4) “911” by Lady Gaga - Mental health disco! Seriously—the song is about antipsychotic medications she has to take. It’s a tough call whether this one or “Stupid Love” is my favorite on Chromatica—though I suppose it doesn’t matter. It’s a great album overall. Maybe not quite Born This Way good, but definitely up there.
5) “Superstar” by Tennis - There are roughly ten million covers of this song, but I dig the 80s synth, Stranger Things vibe of this one. My sister’s going to hate it. Sorry, Molly.
6) “I Care” by Beyoncé.- Don’t we all want to go back to 2011 and hide there? It was a simpler time. A Bey classic, and its melody fits well with the overall vibe of the playlist, I think.
7) “windhymn” by Dua Saleh - An eerie little gem from Dua Saleh—it really does sound like the wind blowing outside your window on a winter night.
8) “Rack of His” by Fiona Apple - Can’t discount Fetch the Bolt Cutters in the race for best album of 2020. I want to live in Fiona Apple’s brain. It must be so weird in there. The awkward rhythm and whistle-like sounds of this song follow “windhymn” nicely.
9) “The Calendar Song” by Laura Jane Grace - Is Laura Jane Grace the bard of our generation? Might be! No one does depression + beauty + punk like her. This acoustic number is perfect.
10) “Wake Me” by Bleachers, featuring Lucius - I will never not like a song that evokes 50s and 60s girl groups. This is an immutable fact. I enjoy the echo on this track—it sounds like they actually recorded it sometime in the midcentury.
11) “Pays imaginaire” by Polo & Pan - I like this song because it’s quite literally Debussy’s “Clair de Lune,” but for dancing. I find it charming.
12) “Can’t Explain It” by CHIKA, featuring Charlie Wilson - I wanted to put this on a mix last year, but there was bad timing—it came out too late for my fall playlist, but it didn’t fit on the winter playlist. I’m glad it found a place this year. CHIKA’s incredible.
13) “Fun” by Blondie - I’ve wanted to put this on a playlist for years. Its name says everything you need to know about it. Blondie’s album Pollinator came out in 2017, and it kills. I love when older bands refuse to acknowledge that there’s a prime to be passed.
14) “Heart of Glass (Live from the iHeart Festival)” by Miley Cyrus - See what I did there? A Blondie song and then a Blondie cover. Cute, right? Also: where is the Miley Cyrus covers album that we all deserve? I've never been a huge fan of her own music, but whenever she does a cover, at any point in her career (see: “Jolene,” “Don’t Dream It’s Over,” “Zombie”), I’m obsessed with it.
15) “The Great Gold Sheep” by The Mountain Goats - I admit that Miley Cyrus to The Mountain Goats is a strange transition, but Miley’s “Heart of Glass” cover ends pretty abruptly, so I felt it was a good opportunity to make a sharp musical pivot. The Mountain Goats blessed us with not one, but two new albums during this hell year. I love John Darnielle so much.
16) “Too Little Too Late” by Department of Eagles - Yeah, you heard correctly—that is the guy from Grizzly Bear. This is an older song, from 2009, that popped up on my Spotify Discover Weekly playlist last month. As always, grateful for that algorithm.
17) “Easy to Be Around” by Diane Cluck - Another song from a Discover Weekly playlist! The melody is kind of bleak, and the harmonies are mildly deranged—but it’s beautiful? Music works in mysterious ways. This is a song for when you’re driving past snowy farm fields yet to be planted.
18) “Christine” by EERA - Is it another Discover Weekly playlist song? You bet. Here’s a second immutable fact: if you write an acoustic song with tight, three-part vocal harmony, I will love it.
19) “Just a Touch” by Perfume Genius - When I’m making a seasonal playlist, I often throw a few songs from a single album on there so that I can decide which one to use later. I had almost half of Perfume Genius’ Set My Heart On Fire Immediately listed. It’s a perfect winter album in general, so it was tough to pick.
20) “Good Time Girl” by Sofi Tukker, featuring Charlie Barker - I first heard this song in the title sequence for The New Pope earlier this year. If you haven’t watched The New Pope or its predecessor The Young Pope, you absolutely should—not so much for plot, but for vibes. No one does maximalist aesthetics like the Roman Catholic church. Now this song will always make me think of nuns dancing with a neon cross. Like I said: vibes.
21) “Je disparais dans tes bras” by Christine and the Queens - I always want to like Christine and the Queens more than I actually do. Genderqueer dance music—what’s not to love? But I just can’t seem to get into it. This one’s good though. It’s like gliding home on a rough-but-slippery sidewalk.
22) “Take Care” by Sad13 - Melodically, at least, this song is a fairytale winter. Quiet snowfall in the forest. Just gorgeous.
23) “Punisher” by Phoebe Bridgers - I am very late to the Phoebe Bridgers party. And when I say party, I mean sobfest. This song is stunning. Your tears will freeze onto your skin and sparkle.
24) “The Seasons, Op. 37a, TH 135: I. January: By the Fireside” by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky - Needed to bring it full circle with some more Tchaikovsky! The man really knew how to write an ending. Aspiring composers, take note!
25) “Here Comes the Sun” by Nina Simone - After the dumpster fire that was 2020, I figured we’d all need Nina Simone to sing some hope into our lives. An excellent cover.
Need some more Winter music?