Something about the cold makes us nostalgic. Bundling in sweats, hats, coats, and scarves forces us to dream of days when we could wear a t-shirt and needed sunglasses. This yearning for summer often leads to nostalgia for other things, as well: whether it’s nostalgia for home, sun, a movie, or a bowl of soup and a steaming hot chocolate.
I’ve found that the best cure for this winter phenomenon is to lean into it, to feed your nostalgia. More specifically, listening to songs that transport me to another time. Play these 10 throwback songs that you probably forgot existed, but that will take you back, whether it’s to playing Sing It on your Wii, bar-mitzvah season, sitting in the back middle seat of your parents’ car, or your middle school dance.
1. This banger just went through a revival on TikTok, but the truth is, Eenie Meenie by Justin Beiber is the perfect mosh-pit-pump-up song
2. Use Valentine’s Day as an excuse to belt Without You, by David Guetta to your lover or best friend. Or even to your bed or your beloved jar of Nutella. Whatever you can’t live without.
3. Set your alarm to play Chris Brown’s Don’t Wake Me Up for those mornings when the cold just pushes you deeper into your sheets.
4. Play Whatcha Say by Jason Derulo over your zoom classes when your professor’s connection is bad and you can’t understand anything he or she is saying.
5. Dancing alone in your room? No shame. Listen to Flo Rida’s Right Round, and get into it.
6. Let T-Pain sing you the Best Love Song out there. Play it with your friends and you “got the whole stadium in love.”
7. Give Me Everything by Pitbull (with Ne-Yo, Afrojack, and Nayer) should always be the last song of a night out. And you better give it everything.
8. Belt Katy Perry in the car with your best friends and you’ll feel like you’re living a Teenage Dream.
9. When you’re feeling extra nostalgic and down, let the Black Eyed Peas ask the big questions for you with their classic, Where is The Love.
10. Put these songs on Replay and let Iyaz take you way back. Bonus points if you remember all the lyrics.
11. I know I said 10 songs, but What the Hell. Blast Avril Lavigne to let out a bad day in the form of screaming an angsty song like this one.