It helps you get out of bed in the morning and face the day. It gets you through that long subway commute to your summer internship and back. It might even help cheer you up after a rough breakup. No it’s not a strong cup of coffee, it’s music! Whether your heart beats to the tune of twangy country or bubblegum pop speaks to your soul, there are plenty of sites and songs out there waiting for you to find them with eager ears. Read on and then listen up; the soundtrack to your life is just a few scrolls and clicks away!
Start your day with a song
You thought getting up in time for class was a challenge, but now you find yourself at a summer job or internship and sleeping in every day is no longer an option. For those days when you’re struggling to get up earlier than the sun or just before your favorite café stops serving breakfast, try a few of the following tunes.
As far as we’ve heard, Sara Bareilles can’t go wrong. She had us at “Love Song” and we’ve been listening ever since. “Uncharted” will encourage you to toss those sheets aside and see what’s out there, even if it’s just another impatient latte order or a dreaded day of filing. If her beautiful voice and pick-me-up lyrics aren’t enough for you, there’s always the hilarious music video featuring Josh Groban, Adam Levine, Ben Folds, Tegan & Sara and more of some of the best names in music lip syncing along.
Alright, children of the ‘90s. If you don’t remember this tune at least vaguely, please tell your parents that a significant part of your childhood was compromised. This catchy song can be found toward the end of the Roald Dahl classic Matilda, when she finally got the mother she deserved. At the very least, tell us you heard it during Ice Age. “Send Me On My Way” defines happy-go-lucky and will perk up your day in minutes, even if you can’t understand exactly what they’re singing.
With a title like that, I couldn’t help but choose it for this list. You might be a reluctant morning person who needs a more mellow start to your day, and if so, here’s your song. Guster encourages you to “wake up, sweetheart”. Isn’t that a nicer greeting than the blaring sound of your alarm? Set your iPod to “Rise and Shine” and you might just be on your feet before the snooze button becomes necessary.
Move to the music
Finding time for regular exercise isn’t always easy, but now that it’s summertime your excuses involving textbooks and essays aren’t valid anymore. Use all this extra time to create a playlist that will motivate you to finish that last lap around the outdoor track or clock a few more miles on your bike.
Whether you’re of the Gleek camp or the ‘Glee is so last year’ camp, you have to admit that this is one catchy cover. I dare you not to follow this song’s instructions and bust a move the moment Mr. Schue starts to rap. Much like the show, it’s goofy and fun and doesn’t take itself too seriously.
This four-man band from South Carolina is known for their crooning tunes, but this one breaks the trend a bit with a pounding beat made to match your strides. The steady beat will inspire you to keep treading even when you’re sweating more than you thought was humanly possible. If you’re feeling daring you might even hit repeat when the 3 minutes are up.
Take a time machine to your parents’ heyday with this track from the Pointer Sisters. For fans of romantic comedy, remember that moment in Love Actually when Hugh Grant as prime minister did a victory dance all around his mansion? How adorable was that? Recreate the magic with this 80’s hit, and keep in mind — there are only so many opportunities you’ll have to acceptably wear neon and spandex, and working out to this song is one of them.
[pagebreak]
Chill out
Summer is the season to relax and recharge. Now is your chance to read that celebrity exposé you’re a little embarrassed to own or to perfect your blog, which you swear will be the next Cupcakes & Cashmere. Whether your relaxation techniques find you beachside (lucky girl!) or you have to squeeze in moments of solace on the subway, check out these tracks for your next harmonious holiday.
Sometimes you need to listen to a beautiful, mellow song that doesn’t have lyrics so you can zone out or eliminate a week’s worth of stress in a matter of minutes. Maxence Cyrin is a young woman from France who’s making a very unique name for herself by creating piano covers of popular songs. The video looks to be straight from the cutting room floor of a 1940’s film studio, heavy with romance and dramatic black and white shots. Turn this on and tune out, and don’t be surprised if it has you regretting the day you quit your piano lessons in 5th grade.
No matter your mood, turn up “In The Colors”, sit back, and let Ben Harper’s smooth voice and light accompaniment lull you into a temporary coma. This song was made for lazy days, strolls in the sun, and those moments when ‘me time’ becomes less of a fun idea and more of an absolute necessity. A favorite headliner of the annual Bonnaroo music festival in Tennessee, Ben Harper is the perfect accent to the kind of relaxing moment every frazzled collegiette™ needs in her life.
If you’re on an acoustic kick and want to pay tribute to the early 2000’s at the same time, this is your song. Obadiah Parker, whose real name is Mat Weddle, took Outkast’s earworm hit “Hey Ya!” and mellowed it way down, adding acoustic guitar, piano, and his own expressive vocals to make it new. Without the kitsch of André 3000, the lyrics stand out like never before, making it an ideal choice for the recently brokenhearted. As Obadiah Parker croons, “separate’s always better when there’s feelings involved.” You may not agree, but you can at least bob your head along with this relaxing tune.
Go out anything but quietly
It’s the usual Friday night routine. You and your closest girlfriends are crowded around a cramped apartment vanity, putting finishing touches on your going out looks. Make sure to shut off the curling iron before you leave and watch out, you almost got a mascara wand in the eye. While it’s easy to fall into the same old pattern of playing the brash songs of a certain dollar-signed pop star, think beyond “Tik Tok” and “Blah Blah Blah” (how exciting can that be?) for at least a night and check out these going out tunes.
So maybe you can’t afford a summer trip to Miami and despite that unforgettable semester in Europe, you’re not really sure how to find Ibiza on a map. At the very least you can afford to give this song a spot on your night-out playlist. With a fresh house beat and dubstep-style sound it earns its place on the list, complete with a video that is the essence of hip-hop. Add champagne, a limo, a power boat, a private jet, huge crowds and a DJ and you’ve got yourself the party of any collegiette’s™ dreams — even if your budget barely covers food for the week.
Travel from Ibiza (an island off the coast of Spain, if you’re still wondering) to Belgium in a matter of minutes with this impossibly cool song from Paul Van Haver, the man behind Stromae. Chances are you have heard this song somewhere along the way of your nighttime outings, but this time Gilberte Forte and Kanye West have teamed up to add a fresh spin. Good luck getting “Alors On Danse” out of your head anytime soon, though.
By now almost every living, breathing college student has heard “S & M” by Rihanna and at least half of us have posted a line or two from the song as our Facebook status. There’s no denying that this song, guilty pleasure as it may be, urges you to pick up your feet and be perfectly good at being bad. What you may not have heard yet is the Dave Aude remix version, which is even more trance and dance-inducing than the original.
[pagebreak]
Hear it for yourself!
By now I hope you feel musically inspired and ready to put together unforgettable playlists of your own. But what if you’re a self-starter? You don’t need anyone’s advice on what music to listen to, and you’d like to find your own way to musical enlightenment. The sites below were made for you, collegiette™!
If you haven’t heard of Pandora Radio, I have no idea how you’ve managed to get all that studying and essay writing done up to this point in your college career. Sign up for a free account with Pandora, enter in a few of your favorite artists or movie soundtracks and you’re in business. Pandora will select songs by that artist and similar artists, tailoring the tracks they play to your personal taste.
“For homework, I love listening to Pandora’s film score station or my own classical music station,” says Sarah Ramirez, Fordham HC campus correspondent. “It creates enough white noise for me to not feel suffocated by silence but there’s no lyrics to distract me. When I’m just hanging out or cleaning, I like the 60’s Oldies station or Rockabilly.”
Even better than Pandora itself is Pandora Jam for Mac users. It’s free to download the demo version of Pandora Jam, which works similarly to Pandora radio except that with a simple click of the record button, it sends any songs you like to your iTunes library. These songs are yours to keep free of charge and can be transferred straight to your iPod!
You know you want to listen to music that will match your mood, but you have no idea where to begin. The radio is playing the same old songs and you’re tired of the overplayed YouTube hits. Look no further than Stereo Mood, easily one of the most creative music sites to be found on the World Wide Web. Are you feeling elegant or nostalgic, bohemian or lost in thought? Click the word or phrase that best describes your current state of mood and you’ll be taken to a playlist of songs geared toward that feeling. The site’s tagline reads, “tuning my emotions”, a fitting way to describe exactly what Stereo Mood does.
Run by a recent CU-Boulder grad, Thissongissick.com features free downloads of remixes, hip-hop and electronica singles and more. Nick Guarino is the brains behind the operation and wants to “broaden everyone’s musical taste beyond the radio.”
“I check thissongissick.com pretty frequently for new remixes and mix tapes to download,” said Alaine Perconti, Miami University Ohio collegiette™.
New songs are posted daily, with everything from the latest Swedish House Mafia track to funky mix tapes created by Nick for everyone’s enjoyment.
Perhaps you’re a bit pickier, or you just want to hear one artist but you don’t have any of their music downloaded. Head straight over to Grooveshark and type in the artist of your choice. In seconds (depending on your internet connection, of course) a full playlist of your chosen artist’s songs will pop up. You have the option to play all of them, skip a few here and there, or repeat, as desired.
“Grooveshark is the best for free online music-listening!” said Cassidy Quinn Brettler, Emerson College student and HC writer. “You can choose what songs you want to listen to (instead of Pandora where it chooses for you), and you can just type in the name of an artist or a song and listen to all of it!”
Now what’s left to do but get listening?
Sources