When the pandemic first hit and mayhem swept the country, one of the things I that felt in control of was my music choices.
Listening to the songs that used to be a part of my morning commutes made me sad and remorseful for a life I felt like I would never lead again. Same with songs that I would listen to getting ready to clubbing with my girlfriends or one that I remember belting out on a road trip. Basically all songs that held a memory were really hard for me to listen to.
Woman Listening to Sad Music While She’s Already Sad to Be Sadder: https://t.co/JzHkEmoHUu pic.twitter.com/ImAGjZ4Mg5
— Reductress (@Reductress) February 20, 2021
So I became obsessed with finding new music, through people I followed on Instagram, suggestions through Spotify and when new music would drop from my favourite artists, or really old music that I just stumbled on and liked the lyrics to. I would really only listen to these 10-15 songs for months on end until I found new ones or the “new normal” was easier to stomach.
I do not think for a second that I have the pinnacle of music taste (let’s make that clear) and some of these songs are wildly different from each other, but here are songs that helped me through quarantine.
Sleeping on the Floor (The Lumineers): This song about escaping to new cities and exploring them was what I kept dreaming of doing hidden away in my house and everyone scared to go outside. I’m sure everyone fantasized about doing very normal things, maybe concerts or flying on a plane, or going to a party, but road tripping to a new city was that weird fantasy for me and this song fuelled that.
Simpler times pic.twitter.com/jd9o4k7wC6
— The Lumineers (@thelumineers) February 16, 2021
Islands in the Stream (Dolly Parton & Kenny Rogers): A weird choice I know but when Kenny Rogers passed away I became reacquainted with this song and could not turn it off. I sang both parts of the duet with just as much spunk as the lead singers did.
If the World Was Ending (JP Saxe, Julia Michael): This song even sounds like peak-COVID but weirdly enough was playing on the radio before the pandemic hit. It’s sad, it’s truthful and full of those wondering questions about relationships that never really took off. This song felt strangely cathartic, when a lot of times it did feel like the end of the world was here.