For the past two years, I have been creating a playlist as I move throughout the year. These playlists become musical journals of my year. Songs added to these playlists share no theme and are simply arranged by the date they were added to the playlist.
Some are songs that meant something to me throughout the year, and not always something profound. For example, “I Wanna Be Sedated” by The Ramones just happened to be the first song I heard on the radio in 2020. I happen to like that song, so it made the playlist.
Some songs are simply new-to-me songs I found during the year and I really liked, songs like “Shh!” by Stand Atlantic, “Degenerates” by I The Mighty, and “All Too Well” by Dan Campbell.
Other songs were ones I found, that again I truly enjoyed, but also reflected the shitty mood I was in for most of the year. A lot of these songs also made it into a separate playlist I called, “Waving the White Flag.” It is a playlist that more accurately matches the state of my mind during the pandemic. Hell, two of the songs are called “Misery.”
Highlights
Stand Atlantic and Yours Truly appear several times in my 2020 playlist. These are both new-to-me bands I found in 2020 and are both fronted by women. I really dig both bands’ entire discographies and highly recommend them.
I think my favorite new-to-me band I found in 2020 was Spanish Love Songs. I can’t get enough of this band’s music. I listened to their two most recent albums on repeat throughout the year. I love their music and it fits how I felt for most of the year, and still feel.
If you are interested, here are the links to both playlists, found in Spotify.