playlists & my music taste evolution

lucy was so kind when talking about my playlists so i thought id make a blog post about my playlists. heres a quick timeline of the 268 playlists i have created in my time on spotify. 

 My first playlist is now called "This playlist old as fuck," a title i added when i was very insecure about my music taste in 2020. I forget the original name. its a typical 2017 thirteen year old playlist, lots of dodie, lorde, billie eilish, but some fiona apple made its way in there. based since day one, they say. 

 

 

skipping a few,  now in 2018. this playlist is called "Falling & falling" and shows when i discovered the beauty of bedroom pop as well as music by people who want to kill themselves. Lots of beabadoobee, clairo, mabel ye (an artist i still love), but also dandelion hands, flatsound, starry cat, whatever dad, angele. There are many artists on this playlist i stand behind, like Shura, Mabel Ye, Yumi zouma, Emily Yacina,  free cake for every creature, and many more. it also has lots of kim petras, because it was 2018 and i had just seen her open for troye sivan on his bloom tour. 

July of 2019 was when i created a playlist called "July of 2019," which is where i discovered my lofe for Sophie. This playlist is much more upbeat, with lots of sophie, more mabel ye, frankie cosmos, some car seat headrest, and too much girl in red. its ok, it happens. we all have shame within. Then i started listening to harry styles and the world became infinitely worse

2020 started fairly typical, i was in a riot grrl phase, so i listened to a llot of bratmobile and dazey and the scouts, hole, bikini kill, le tigre. you know the vibe. the playlist was called "men make me angry." lots happened in 2020, though, so it must be split up into parts.

I started listening to harry styles, the 1975, conan gray, billie eilish, waterparks, 2020 slop like that. this was, however, when i first listened to kimya dawson, and i fell in love with their music. remember that i love you is one of my favorite albums of all time. i also started listening to snail mail (awesome), hozier (kinda slop kinda awesome) 100 gecs (awesome) and the luucy dacus phoebe bridgers boygenuis crowd (awesome tbh). This was very much a transitionary period for music, i had a lot of tiktok music but i was also trying to branch out and build upon what i already liked.

 

 

i also kept listening to the kill yourself music because it felt good to know someone else was as miserable  as i was! this is the era where playlist names started becoming meaningless and named after whatever was in my line of vision duirng the creation. (see oxford american dictionary)

its still 2020 and im discovering electronic music. Parking lots was my favorite band, and i was addicted to the sound of sophie.

 Uh Oh! tiktok rotted my brain. i started adding top 50 tiktok trending songs to my good playlist making them bad. Arctic monkeys, mother mother, and the orion experience flooded my carseat headrest, raincoats, L7, and front bottoms. 

but its okay because my love for phoebe bridgers became a full obsession when she released Punisher.  My favorite playlist was her entire discography, plus half of fiona apples discography, plus mitskis entire discography, plus half of beabadoobees discography, plus snail mails discography, plus a few other heaters. this playlist is still very good because i added the entiretey of several full albums. this is also when i began listening to more than just Oom sha lala by haley heynderickx and listened to the album like i should have to begin with. big theif and kimya dawson had a big role in this playlist as well.

i must leave 2020 but not without another frankie cosmos phase, this time intertwined with a lorde phase. the prettiots had a moment as well, and i am so glad they did. i dmmed them on instagram begging them to get back together so i could havemore music. it did not work. 

just before the end of the year i had a megan thee stallion phase which led me to a rico nasty moment which led me to city girls. i have lucy to thank for the megan. it was a good way to close out 2020. 

 

2021 began with elliott smith, LOTS of fiona apple, lots of phoebe bridgers, lots of sza, lots of mitski. i also began to love fka twigs in this time, crowning madgalene as one of my favorite albums.

 this year still had tiktok influences, but i discovered how to make a playlist actually good, and not just tiktok exclusive. i started loving folk punk, and lots of alternative rock. i was kind of angry this year, i think. Radiohead was big for me, as was mother mother, the mountain goats, the front bottoms, and car seat headrest. also pavement.

I discovered the most incredible album i had listened to, deathconsiousness by have a nice life. it changed the game for me and made me discover so much about what i like in a song.it was also awesome because i was depressed. i did the rounds, too, i listened to lots of giles corey and adjacent groups and projects.

Then i had another riot grrrl renaissaisance, then a 90s punk renaissance, then an evil radiohead elliott smith phase. still listenint to lots of sza, semler, sophie, lauryn hill, as well as lots of amy winehouse, willow smith (for some reason) and adrianne lenker.

 2021 is when i began really focussing in on what i like in music. indigo de souza, weyes blood, sophie, faye webster, more lucy dacus, so much ctrl by sza, so much fiona apple. i realized i will always have a female dominant music taste, and there was nothing i could do to stop that.

i found the song boy for sale, which is an awesome song. it helped me stop taking music so seriously. if i like a song, i need to listen to it, even if its kinda dogwater. thats the point.

 2022 started with fugazi for whatever reason. i had a strange post hardcore phase, with grouper, duster, teethe, and some random assortment of junk along those lines. i was painting all the time and listening to music in the background, so i discovered lots of new artists during this time. 

 

 2022 was when i started listening to ag cooks solo music, and found out i love electronic more than i ever thought i could. i had a miniscule charli xcx phase, lots of arca, sophie, himera, zora jones. i also had a nicki minaj phase somewhere within this.

i return to female indie like i always do, our on again off again relationship was the one consistency in my music discovery process. lots of black belt eagle scout, lowertown, rachel chiniouriri, julia jacklin, alvvays.  i liked sufjan stevens and i did not want to graduate high school!

then i got depressed because i was graduating high school. so i listened to car seat headrest, elliot smith, radiohead, and excessive amounts of mount eerie. i read hanya yanagiahra and cried. 

 soon came nirvana, deftones, soundgarden, the smiths. unfortuantely deftones stuck.

i graduated high school to have a nice life and elliot smith and phoebe bridgers and fiona apple and xiu xiu.

I came to UVM and tried to be unique, but failed deeply. beabadoobee was my weapon of choice, as we had quite the history. phoebe and fiona felt too basic. i listened to wolf alice, pretty sick, robinaugust, kate bush, nussy andrews, odie leigh. i tried to stick with some of my basics as well, still integrating mabel ye and whatever dad and elliot smith into my rotation. 

kimya dawson came back in full force, their music helping me out of a freshman year depressive rut. remember that i love you helped me remember that i love you.

 uh oh! i watched tick tick boom again and my musical phase reopened. i dont care, i listened to next to normal life my life depended on it, rent like my rent was due, spring awakening like i needed an abortion. it was nostalgic, largely because i missed having so many built in friends in high school.

still depressed, i fell further into car seat headrest (as one does). it was so good for me tbh.

still depressed, missing home, i listened to a lot of bruce springsteen. 

I went home and remembered that it was time to leave, and that was good for me. i listened to a lot of ichiko aoba, ethel cain, soccer mommy, adrianne lenker, whatever i felt was reflective. 2023 began okay. i listened to lots of lauryn hill, amy winehouse, and sidney gish in the beginning, music that everyone agreed was good. i listened to pinkpanthress, boygenuis, outkast, faye webster, and strangely, lots of math rock. 

it was fun

i took a blast to the past and returned to tapestry by carole king, lots of joni mitchell, aretha franklin, cocteau twins, david bowie, old shit that i missed. thanks teddy, your old soul healed me.  

i was twee as fuck, listening to angel olsen, frances quinlan, beabadoobee, florence and the machine. i made a new playlist every few days.

big time skip, and im into my indie girls again. this time with an emphasis on sidney gish, grlpool,  haley heynderickx, fiona apple, kimya dawson. i liked deftones but i hated that i liked deftones so i didnt tell anyone. i listened to some bon iver, lots of carseat headrest again, and found the beauty in bjork. my playlists were pretty good, kept a hold of my old reliables. 

over the summer i listneed to alex g for some reason. i kept with fiona apple, lucy dacus, big theif. sophomore year started, and i had friends and a big room this time. i listened to slowdive, kendrick, souxsie and the banshees, and yes, king gizzard and the lizzard wizzerdddd. 

i had a phase with the female blues on a playlist i called Greens, listened to a lot of bessie smith, big maybelle, ruth brown, victoria spivey. i listened to some men, but i kept falling back into my girls. 

i had another electronic phase, with sophie, rina sawayama, and charli, but that was just the precursor to the japanese ambient phase i was about to enter. Lamp, ichiko aoba, lily chou-chou. it was awesome. 

i went back to my girls, but for whatever reason i added a different wayne song to every new playlist i created. like literally every one, i dont know why i did that. 

2024 started with more ethel cain, more lauryn hill, more car seat headrest, more kendrick. i tried to like contemporary rock but i failed. i listned to lots of muna, better oblivion, david bowie, mazzy star. i listened to whatever i wanted to, i stopped trying to curate my music taste so other poeple would like it and started making playlists i knew i would enjoy. who cares if pretty girl by clairo is next to youth by glass animals which is next to what once was by hers which is nex tto 3peat by lil wayne. i dont!

It gets boring from here on, as i still listen to most of what is there. I have a wider net of music taste, though, i dont make playlists based on genre anymore, i make them based off of me. i love my spotify playlists and the baggage that comes with them. there was a point in my life where i was going to delete all of my old playlists but i couldnt bring myself to do it. so much went into even my first playlist, and there are remnants of it all in my current music taste. i am proud of every playlist, 1 through 268.