Songs to pull you through winter

Mar 29

Mar 29 Songs to pull you through winter

I actually have a good excuse for not posting in ages this time.

Life update: since I last posted, I’ve taken on a second job, on top of my 40-hour a week internship at Edelman. I’m making football news and listicle video content for a new Youtube channel, which on paper is a dream job. In reality, it’s a lot of extra work, but hey, when those paychecks start coming in simultaneously, I’ll be making … a livable wage!

This is all in addition to my regular freelance writing gig for Nextseed, and I also applied and got accepted to a plant internship I'll be taking on Sundays at my favorite store in Seattle — which conveniently happens to be right down the street — so I can learn more about how to take care of Lia and I's 30-something plant babes. Hey, at least I can't complain about feeling lethargic!

I didn’t want to go more than a month without posting a playlist though, as I’ve been keeping up with creating them, if not sharing them in a timely fashion. I’ll share my March one soon, but what follows is a breakdown of my February playlist, creatively titled “Feb”.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/playlist/feb/pl.u-WabZ16ATdEkBL08

First and foremost, the Black Panther soundtrack was released in full in February, and that record is magnificent. Running with the success Marvel found with the Guardians of the Galaxy music, they commissioned the most musically talented and culturally relevant star, Kendrick Lamar, to gather some of the generation’s best black artists and make some brilliant songs. Some of my highlights included The Ways, by Khalid, Bloody Waters featuring Anderson .Paak and James Blake, and Redemption, featuring Zacari.
I used to love the Wombats growing up, and even got to see them live in concert for free a few years ago, so was excited to hear new music from them. “Lemon to a Knife Fight” is a weird metaphor, but it’s a mighty catchy chorus.
Childish Gambino’s Terrified makes the playlist because his Grammy’s performance was one of the highlights of the show, considering how many amazing artists were snubbed.
Speaking of Grammys performances, Bruno Mars may have unjustly won far too many awards, but his songs are undeniably fun, and a remix of Finesse with Cardi B is such a jam. Everyone’s entitled to a guilty pleasure.
I got into Dua Lipa last month, and her epic choruses. “Hotter than Hell” and her feature on “Scared to be Lonely” are two excellent examples, and also bangers.
It turns out that Bobby McFerrin’s daughter, Madison McFerrin also makes awesome music, and fuses her powerful pipes and songwriting skills with her Dad’s sense of harmony and whimsy. I couldn’t get enough of her single, “Insane” or similarly Olivia Nelson’s belter, Smother Me.
Hearing T-Pain’s spot on 6lack’s “One Way” was strangely awesome, and made me remember his song “Therapy” with Kanye West from years ago. Dude makes a good song, and has such an underrated voice. The OG autotune pioneer.
And finally: Moon River, by Frank Ocean. I wasn’t blown away the first time I heard this song. A few more cursory listens later, and it was enough to make me listen to it about 20 times in a row in the shower one night. I was hooked. Frank did it again.

March’s playlist will be coming soon, as well as some recent adventures!