Last year, Audrey’s Corner Co-Editor Jill Amari and Managing Editor Brendan Williams created a Spotify playlist called “keep on dancing” to promote positive, feel-good music, which anyone who has Spotify can like and listen to. This semester, writers express how music has impacted their own lives.
My Bad Days Spotify Playlist
by Jillian Reis
Everybody has bad days–the ones where you would rather not do anything except curl up in bed with the shades drawn surrounded by *insert your favorite comfort food here*. Those are the days I am most grateful for my Spotify playlist. It is a mess of different artists, genres and tunes. Here are some of my favorite songs on my playlist that help me the most on bad days.
“9 to 5” by Dolly Parton
I only added this song quite recently, but I am absolutely convinced it is impossible to be sad while listening to “9 to 5.” A song about the daily grind and just getting by, the beat is immaculate and I love the bounce it has. I think everyone can relate to the feeling of repetition that can be “enough to drive you crazy if you let it.” It’s just a really happy and relatable song.
“Carnaval Del Barrio” from In the Heights (movie)
I love musicals and grew up on Broadway soundtracks. This song is one to come out of that, and “Carnaval” is one of my favorite Broadway songs. In the musical, this song is sung the day after they lose power. It’s hot, they’re worried about their neighborhood being shut down, things are looking their worst. In response, they throw a celebration to show that there is good to be found in their darkest hour (yes, that was intentional). Sometimes, when things are bad, you have to be the one to make them good. Also, we love Lin-Manuel Miranda.
“Everybody Loves Me” by OneRepublic
The absolute ego of this song fills me with so much confidence that some people might consider it a problem; not that I care because I have already convinced myself with this song that I am the best person ever to grace the face of the Earth. Confidence can be the key to getting through a bad day, and this song is great for that–especially the chorus, which is my favorite part.
“Netflix Trip” by AJR
This isn’t the same kind of happy, positive song as the first three songs. Fun fact: I cried the first time I listened to this song. Being young means asking a lot of questions about yourself, who you are and where you’re going. “Who are we to wonder where we’re going? Who am I to tell me who I am?” It’s a song to tell you that it’s okay and that life will play out the way it’s supposed to because sometimes it’s okay to cry your eyes out on a bad day. You get the tears out so you can hold your head high the rest of the day.
“The Phantom of the Opera” from Phantom of the Opera (Broadway)
Another Broadway song, because when I said I grew up on Broadway, I was not kidding. The Phantom of the Opera is a situational song on the Bad Day Playlist. By situational I mean that I have to be in the car by myself for it to work. When that all lines up, I will proceed to sing this song as loudly as I can, as badly as I can. Do I sound like Toad from Super Mario bros? I sure do! I sound absolutely awful and by the end, I am laughing my butt off. Being silly is the best thing to do during a bad day if you can manage it because you can’t help but laugh it off.
So that’s my playlist for bad days. There’re a lot of other songs to talk about, but I don’t think there are enough pages in the newspaper to fit them all. You can try listening to these songs, or better yet, make your own playlist of all the songs that put you in a good mood. So if you ever feel yourself in the 9 to 5 grind, try making your own happiness and having some confidence, and if that doesn’t work, it’s okay to cry.
Additional tip: Stay away from older men with fancy masks living in theaters. The relationships are not going anywhere good. I promise.
Better Now
by Jules Rezza
The concert,
I think I’d hoped I would do with you. In some alternate universe where you took the train with me, my entire hand around two of your fingers, while hundreds of people with places to be jostled me into you.
And you came not because of the music I always showed you, but because watching me love something so genuinely was making you fall in love all over again.
I didn’t think when the day arrived, and I handed your ticket to my best friend, my soulmate, I’d feel an ounce of disappointment.
I never imagined that sitting next to her, trees curling around the metal and plastic of the outdoor arena, l would feel more whole than I ever had with you.
That every sound, dragged from the streets of New York–that every laugh and 3 o’clock conversation–that all the little flickers of noise we usually ignore would mosaic-style build the perfect music, the perfect moment.
I didn’t realize it would feel like fire in my veins, unfettered light in my brain as I squeezed her hand, as we screamed every word. For every lonely person. For every imperfect person. For everyone. For ourselves.
I didn’t realize that this would be the first ax to the last tether connecting me to you.
Music and my sister.
