Over quarantine, I developed an extreme addiction to making Spotify playlists. You heard that right- I didn’t obsess over Instagram pictures or Pinterest boards. Instead, I spent hours curating the perfect set of music and finding a funny picture for the playlist covers. While it wasn’t the most productive use of my time, it definitely helped me to find new music and broaden my taste into different genres. Plus, it was a LOT of fun.
With over 75 public playlists, I’ve come to make a wide range of genre playlists. I have playlists for each season, crying, crying over BOYS (this one has definitely been one of my most used), and one just for dancing around. I also have some based on my favorite movies and tv shows, like New Girl and Mamma Mia. There are a few though that are a little more niche and curated to be extremely specific. Whether that be a playlist about a specific mood or an entire playlist based on one song, I have created quite a few masterpieces if I do say so myself (and you can check them ALL out on my Spotify *cough* molly mullin and my profile is a picture of me wearing sunglasses and laughing *cough*). So here are five of my favorite niche Spotify playlists!
- Olivia Rodrigo always knows how im feelin huh
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Bio: JOSHUA BASSETT. I’m so disappointed in you.
Drivers License – a cultural reset. When this came out, the timing could not have been more perfect because I was just going through some boy problems earlier that week. I think I listened to that song 9450324 times in a row, and for good reason. We all knew Olivia Rodrigo was a lyrical genius when she released “All I Want,” so I thought why don’t I put both of these songs in one perfect little playlist. I ended up listening to it while I drove around my hometown over Christmas break, and let me say there is nothing like screaming “Red lights, stop signs” going 75 mph on the highway.
- Lightning in a bottle
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Bio: I know these will all be stories someday. but in this moment I swear we are infinite; songs that give me the same feeling as the tunnel scene and have the perfect moment to raise your hands in the air.
If you’ve ever seen the movie The Perks of Being a Wallflower, then you know the most iconic scene. Sam stands on the back of the pickup truck in the tunnel and puts her arms out wide while “Hero” by David Bowie plays full blast. It is one of the best movie scenes of all time, and you can just see the feeling of pure bliss and freedom on her face. My friends and I wanted to recreate that moment for ourselves, so while I drove down an empty back road she put her head out the sunroof and screamed the lyrics to “Electric Love” by Borns. It is such a fun memory of mine and it really let us live out one of our movie fantasies. I wanted to create an entire playlist of songs that have that special moment in it, where the beat hits or it gets loud and it’s just the perfect timing to spread your arms out wide and feel the wind, so that’s what this is!
- Time under the canyon moon
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Bio: songs you might hear in the background of a toyota commercial when they’re driving the car in the woods (road trip montage!)
Like any girl in her late teens and 20s, I have come to love Harry Styles. His music is nothing short of impeccable and is such a good range from happy to sad and everything in between. One of his best songs, in my opinion, is “Canyon Moon.” It gives me what I can only describe as “road trip vibes.” It’s something that would definitely be in the background of that part in a movie where the main characters leave for their epic adventure or drive off to go cross country. It reminds me so much of a song I’d listen to while staring out the window driving through the woods on a rainy day. That fantasy inspired this playlist! These are all songs that somehow give me woodsy, indie-folk vibes. There are also songs I think would play in a car commercial where a family is going camping or something.
- But words can wait until some other day
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Bio: some tunes I want to slow dance to with my future husband in our kitchen on a sunny Sunday morning
Another fun fact about me is that I am (and have always been) a bit of a nerd. It might come as a bit of a shocker, I know, but I have gone through quite a few phases in my life, including the Harry Potter and Divergent series phase. More recently, though, my brother, dad, and I all decided to binge-watch the Marvel movies, and although I had apprehension about it at first, I ended up loving them. Spoiler Alert for Avengers: Endgame. At the end of that movie, the very last scene is Steve and Peggy dancing to an old song in the living room of a house, finally happy with each other. I instantly fell in love with that song while sitting at the movie theater, and afterward, I found out it was “It’s Been A Long, Long Time” by Harry James. This song’s very essence is happiness and peace with a person you love, and it made me nostalgic for that old kind of love from the 50s (which I know is totally romanticized, but I’m a hopeless romantic!) I found an entire list of songs that remind me of that kind of love – dancing in the kitchen, on a bright Sunday morning, not a care in the world. I have also found that it is the perfect playlist to put on when you lay out in the sun on a blanket, just relaxing.
- Iced matcha latte with coconut milk
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Bio: my 2 personality traits at CUA: this Starbucks order and that “its 2 am and I have a 4-page paper to write because I do my best work last minute” grind.
Although the title is misleading, this is my study playlist! At college, I really am known for the two things I listed in the bio. Last semester, I got everyone hooked on my classic Starbucks order: a grande iced matcha latte with coconut milk (Note: an iced matcha latte with sweet cream cold foam is ALMOST as good). Among my friends, I have the wackiest homework schedule, because I almost always start homework at 9 or 10 pm and will be up until the wee hours of the morning finishing assignments. For some reason, my brain works better at night and I can whip up the best essays last minute, so it works for me! Anyways, this playlist is very much my perfect late at night, by myself, in my room, background music as I grind out a paper due the next day.