Love or hate the holiday, it (and a sweet playlist) is here
Just like the cute, heart-shaped candies passed around this time of year, Valentine’s Day seems to leave a sweet or sour taste in everyone’s mouth. Whether you celebrate or despise the holiday, I present to you two appropriate playlists.
Anti-Valentine’s Day
Being alone is empowering. Recognizing the sad parts about love is necessary.
- ”I Could Have Been Your Girl” — She & Him
This coo from the ever-so-adorkable Zooey Deschanel is a reminder that being alone is okay and serves as the cure for the holiday blues. She & Him is not complicated; the songs are simple and the lyrics are clear, and sometimes that’s what one needs on Valentine’s Day. Yeah, “the pillow I cry on” is sad, but “we are free and never meant to be” is telling — sometimes it’s too little too late and things don’t work as expected. Deschanel’s low notes acknowledge the sadness of a breakup, yet the smooth, old-fashioned and romanticized sound promises that there is always another lover to come.
- “Solo” — Frank Ocean
Being alone is scary, and, to Ocean, that fear is empowering. Ocean also thinks drugs help. With or without a mind-altering substance, the song’s minimal instruments and the isolation felt in Ocean’s wails might provoke that much-needed pent-up cry. But always after pain, “there’s heaven.”
3.“You Won’t Be Missing That Part of Me” — Melody’s Echo Chamber
If you’re simply trying to escape the day in itself, a hallucinogenic 1960s sound is a trustworthy remedy. Melody’s Echo Chamber, produced by Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker, brings a similar out-of-this world sound, yet with a much softer feel than the latter band. The groovy way Melody dismisses her ex-lover as she “lied with all her heart” exerts her newfound and celebrated independence. Maybe it’s okay, then, that “it won’t be that hard to forget me.”
Valentine’s Day
Rejoice in the simplicity and innocence of love itself, and the idiosyncratic differences of the person you care about.
- “Talk is Cheap” — Nick Murphy
Who wouldn’t want to be serenaded by that luscious beard and chilling voice? Murphy, formerly known as Chet Faker, says directly to his lover that the different nuances in how they communicate are “cheap” — they are insignificant in comparison to the love he has for her. He would rather “make her move with confidence” and reach a deeper romance than focus on the details. Irresponsible or hopelessly romantic, Murphy hits a fundamental point of love — it makes minute details appear more and more insignificant.
- “Someday” — The Growlers
The Growlers are the epitome of indie-folk beach-rat music, and similar to Melody’s Echo Chamber, their sound is reminiscent of groovier times. Along with a quirky sound, the romantic lyrics are direct and simple — there is no room for analysis in “one day I’ll make you my wife.” Songs like this capture the simplicity of love in, well, a simple way.
- “Jackie and Wilson” — Hozier
Hozier is a basic, borderline-cheesy choice when it comes to love music, but this song depicts the daydreaming innocence of love — making plans for the future together, like having two kids named Jackie and Wilson and “raising them on rhythm and blues.” These plans may or may not ultimately come true but, at the time, they mean the world.
4.“Sweet Child O’ Mine” — Guns and Roses.
I have to throw a classic in: love rocks.
Written by: Caroline Rutten — arts@theaggie.org
