Mixtapemotions

  • “Anyone Who’s Anyone” by Fleet Foxes, Friday, February 18, 2022
























    Before they recorded their breakthrough EP, Sun Giant or their self-titled album that was so loved by Rolling Stone that it was included in their book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, the folk-rock band Fleet Foxes released their debut eponymous EP in 2006. The Seattle-based band appeared on the music scene around the time when mellow music started flooding Alternative music, which had been dominated by hard rock-leaning acts since Nirvana crashed onto the scene. But along with British folk-rockers Mumford & Sons changing the focus from power chords on electric guitars to acoustic guitars and folk instruments, the template was set for a very different, post-rock scene.

    Fleet Foxes used Flemish painter Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s Netherlandish Proverbs for their self-titled album cover.

    I’M JUST A LITTLE MIRAGE. The YouTube channel Polyphonic released a video in September 2021 called “A Love Letter to Pop Punk.” The video reminded me of all of the colliding styles in the early ’00s, especially the different flavors of rock. The argument of the video is that indie rock seems to be most remembered fondly by the critics, whereas the pop punk is often overlooked. Of course, most of my blog is about pop punk nostalgia, so today we’re going to dive into the pretentious indie side. I certainly blasted my share of The White Stripes‘ “Seven Nation Army.” I loved Franz Ferdinand‘s first album, and could tolerate Modest Mouse‘s lead singer for a couple of songs. I loved The Shins for a couple of albums. But then there was Fleet Foxes, a band that sounded unlike anything in the indie rock roster. First of all, their artwork of their first album, a painting by Flemish Renaissance painter Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Netherlandish Proverbs, the scene depicting a medieval fiefdom occupied by the townspeople acting out proverbs. The sounds of the guitars and the harmonies of the Fleet Fox singers reminded me of Renaissance troubadours. The music is beautiful and complex, but much too mellow to listen to on the drive home from college. 

    IT’S SO MUCH BETTER IN THE SUNLIGHT. “Anyone Who’s Anyone” sounds more like The Shins than Fleet Foxes, with the upbeat guitar and driving beat. It also reminds of Franz Ferdinand’s “Jaqueline,” the opening track on their debut album. It makes sense that the band was formed after frontman Robin Pecknold and guitarist/mandolinist Skyler Skjelset discovered their mutual love of Bob Dylan and Neil Young. Although the direction the band took with tracks like “Mykonos,” “White Winter Hymnal,” and “Blue Ridge Mountains,” sounds different from “Anyone Who’s Anyone,” though it does sound similar to “He Doesn’t Know Why.” Lyrically, too, “Anyone Who’s Anyone” sounds like a hipster pop song, mentioning the names of several people, making Fleet Foxes sound oddly–dare I say refreshingly— contemporary. In the middle of a hectic Friday, it was nice to be reminded of Fleet Foxes. While “Anyone Who’s Anyone” wasn’t one of the songs I listened to much back in college, revisiting the other songs in the band’s box set of their first album, first two EPs, and rarities/b-sides was just the calming walk down memory lane I needed. And who knows, when I might also want to explore the 1000 other albums that I’m supposed to listen to before I die. Maybe I’ll blog about it if I ever get a death wish.


  • “Touch” by Shura, Thursday, February 17, 2022

    Two years before her debut album was released, Shura‘s debut single, “Touch,” began generating acclaim across the Internet. Working with guitarist and vocalist of the indie rock band Athlete, Joel Pott, Shura began co-producing her album, Nothing’s Real. Shura played the keyboards and synthesizers on the record and co-directed the music video for “Touch,” which features her twin brother, Nicholas. The single was re-released along with a remix of the track in 2016 before the release of Nothing’s Real. Today, “Touch” is Shura’s most streamed song on Spotify.

    I ONLY NEED YOU TO BE FRENCH WITH ME. Born to an English father and a Russian mother Aleksandra Lilah Yakunina-Denton and her brother Nicholas were raised in Manchester, UK. Aleksandra, better known by her stage name, Shura, started playing guitar at the age of 13. By 26, she was gaining popularity in the UK. The video for “Touch,” which features lots of kissing between people of different genders and sexualities, prompted a Manchester journalist to ask the singer to define her sexuality. The singer told Vice, although the headline read “Shura comes out before Manchester” [concert], she says, “I didn’t come out! [The journalist] just asked me if I was gay and I said yes.” While Shura identifies as a lesbian, she told Mancunian Matters that there is a “massive spectrum for everyone” and that “there are many kinds of love.” She goes on to say that the video “didn’t feel like a political statement at the time” because she was simply filming the sexuality as she experienced from being part of the LGBTQ+ community. On a small budget with only some actors and a video camera, Shura’s music video tells the complication of love and break ups as a human experience. And that human experience helped to spread the video around the Internet, especially among the LGBTQ+ community.


    THERE’S A LOVE BETWEEN US STILL. While Nothing’s Real holds a high Meta-critic score of 79 percent, Joe Levy’s Rolling Stone  review knocks the album for the ambiguity of gender in the songs, calling it “a map to a treasure that’s never there.” It seems that homophobia was a big factor in this album not fully becoming the “Madonna for millennials” that Vice praised her as, as far as her success in America. Shura’s UK popularity didn’t spread to the US other than the Dance chart. Her UK fame, though, sparked the attention of Mumford & Sons, who covered Shura’s track “2Shy.” “Touch” appears in the second season of Sex Education in a make-out scene between Otis and Ola. Just as the song’s music video shows how fluid sexuality is, the Netflix original series explores the complex sexualities of British teenagers. Sex, attraction, and relationships can be as complicated as this song’s subject–trying to be friends with an ex. Shura’s music reflects that complication, mostly avoiding pronouns–with the exception of “Indecision,” talking about a boy. All we need is for her to come out with a catchy third album. She’s due at any time to follow up her 2019 forevher.

     

  • "I Know a Place" by MUNA, Wednesday, February 16, 2022

    In 2015 when marriage equality was signed into law across the nation, Americans reacted in several ways. There was overt homophobia and blatant hatred often disguised as religion. One of the last Adventist sermons I listened to was Dwight Nelson arguing that just because a nation can say something is legal doesn’t make it moral. There were examples of civil disobedience in the courtrooms by the likes of Kim Davis refusing to perform same-sex weddings. There were businesses that refused service to same-sex couples getting married. Many took the law as a win for human rights. Statistics showed in 2015 that support for marriage equality was largely bi-partisan, meaning that people of all backgrounds, liberal or conservative, supported the right to marry.

    support for the victims following the 
    Pulse shooting in Orlando

    YOU TRIED TO SHRUG IT OFF WHEN I ASKED WHY SOMEBODY HURT YOU. Then came June 12, 2016. When I heard the news, it was my 29th birthday-Korean Standard Time June 13th. There had been many mass shootings before Pulse, and many since, targeting schools, churches, concerts, shopping centers, and other places where unsuspecting people go on the last day of their lives. But something felt different about this attack. In the middle of a hellish election cycle in which Republican candidates had been lambasting the Supreme Court ruling on marriage equality, Donald Trump had just become the Republican nominee. While the most conservative former candidates were mostly silent about this attack, future president Donald Trump hoped to use this tragedy as an opportunity to spread Islamophobia, calling for more stringent immigration policies which would later be implemented in his “Muslim ban.” He pledged to: “do everything in [his] power to protect our LGBT citizens from the violence and oppression of a hateful foreign ideology.” Like with most of Trump’s campaign promises, though, he did not protect the LGBTQ+ community. Instead he pushed policies that targeted the Trans community and appointed conservative Supreme Court justices who are making it easier and easier to erode LGBTQ+ protections under the law. 


    DON’T BE AFRAID OF LOVE AND AFFECTION. Inspired by the tragedy of the Orlando Pulse night club shooting, MUNA released “I Know a Place” on their debut LP, About U. You can hear MUNA performing “I Know a Place” in the 2018 Netflix original film, Alex Strangelove, a coming-of-age comedy about a high school senior realizing his sexuality. Sounding like a forgotten ’90s female-fronted rock anthem, “I Know a Place” is a message of hope for all people, particularly the disenfranchised. In concerts, lead singer Katie Gavin sings additional lyrics in the bridge:

           Even if our skin or our gods look different,
            I believe all human life is significant.
            I throw my arms open wide in resistance,
            He’s not my leader even if he’s my president. No!

    MUNA performed this song with the alternate lyrics and “Crying on the Bathroom Floor” on Jimmy Kimmel as a statement against how the former president fueled homophobia. “I Know a Place” is still a staple LGBTQ+ anthem of acceptance, though the band continues to release inclusive anthems. 

    Music Video:


    Live at the Honda Center:



    Scene from Alex Strangelove:

  • "Two Hearts" by Paper Route, Tuesday, February 15, 2022

    Industrialization has come at a major cost. Kentucky-born-and-raised author, poet, activist, and farmer Wendell Berry critiques modern life as being disconnected with nature and thus a root cause of the climate change we see today. One of Berry’s most beloved poems, “The Peace of Wild Things,” shows how nature can free the speaker from existential anxiety. With modern life unrelenting and with the anxiety of financing an indie band after their record label folded, with the passing of loved one and a divorce, Paper Route dug into raw emotion lyrically, and yet something held the band together. Taking the title of the album from Berry’s poem, Paper Route’s The Peace of Wild Things is a romantic album with a few dark undertones.

    EVERY CIRCLE WAS A LINE JUST CONNECTED BY DESIGN. The second track on The Peace of Wild Things,  “Two Hearts” builds the themes of love and marriage from the first track, “Love Letters.” The songs are convincing love songs, though, lead singer JT Daly had gone through a divorce prior to recording the album. Later tracks on the album, such as the following track “Better Life,” “Glass Heart Hymn,” and “Tamed,” seem to address these hard times. “Two Hearts” is about a romantic connection “by design.” This, of course, is uttered by many romantics and even spouted in wedding vows. “God Gave Me You” and whatnots. And all that sentiment is forgotten in the ugly divorce process. Cynicism aside, love is real even if it fails, and who can judge if it wasn’t supposed to end because people change. And because you don’t find love on the first trial, it’s not fair to say it doesn’t exist.  

    I NEED YOU TO KNOW. I listened to a speech Wendell Berry gave in 1981 titled “People, Land, and Community,” in which the author talks about the need for sustainable farming communities as opposed to the industrial farming. In the speech, though, he had some profound words about marriage being a commitment much like all commitments people make to build a community. He says: 
            We can commit ourselves fully to anything: a place, a discipline, a life’s work, a
            child, a family, a community, a faith, a friend, only in the same poverty of
            knowledge, the same ignorance and result, the same self subordination, the same
            final forsaking of other possibilities. Marriage is an institution and requires vows
            because it can be made only in the eclipse of what we call information, and in the
            impossibility of what we call informed decisions. All our commitments are like
            this. We do not know enough to make them and whether or not we have made
            them publicly with vows, we know that they cannot be unmade without 
            penalties.
    Marriage always requires a leap of faith, as do most human commitments. We can devote our lives to something and end up realizing that it was a dead end. Berry’s ideals of a farm-based economy center around families sounds unrealistic in our current technology-driven world. Learning to work with nature rather than against it, yields better results in the environmental crisis we face. But just like it would be great to live off the land and eat only organic, it doesn’t always work. And marriage doesn’t  always work. Maybe it should work a lot more than it’s failing, but wistfully longing for the ideal isn’t going to make it last.  

  • “This Is Heaven” by Nick Jonas, Monday, February 14, 2022

    In 2018 Nick Jonas and Priyanka Chopra Jonas married in two ceremonies. The ceremonies took place in India and represented the religious backgrounds of both the Bollywood-turned-Hollywood actress and the singer/actor. The first ceremony was Christian, taking place on December 1, and the second was Hindu on December 2. In 2019, Nick and the two other Jonas Brothers released their first album in ten years. Nick’s solo career had heated up after the Jonas hiatus, but a reunited Jonas Brothers was even more commercially exciting. In 2021, Nick Jonas was back with a solo record, this time dealing with the themes of isolation due to the pandemic, but mostly about his love for his bride.

    I’M ON MY KNEES AND I CAN’T STOP NOW. From the moment I heard Nick Jonas’s second single from Spaceman, “This Is Heaven,” on his Saturday Night Live performance, I started making connections to what I knew about the Jonas Brothers’ religious upbringing, particularly the story told by the 2019 documentary film Chasing Happiness. The film discusses the hard years in between the Jonas fame and Kevin Jonas, Sr. losing his job as the pastor of a church in Wyckoff, New Jersey. Reflecting on that moment, Nick, Joe, and Kevin’s own faith was shaped by that disappointment in the church. Still, as teenagers, the Jonas Brothers were squeaky-clean Disney Channel role models to evangelical teens. They were even played on Christian radio stations and once shared the stage with Michael W. Smith singing “Place in This World.” But little by little, the evangelical Jonas Brother image unravelled. I certainly can’t speak to what the Brothers believe now, but it’s interesting how the brand has changed. Nick embraced his role as a gay icon to the point that some in the LGBTQ+ community accused him of “queer bating.” There are many other aspects that the morality police of my past  (the Christian music industry, etc.) could say about the Jonas Brothers/Nick Jonas career arch, but they would just rather forget that they were a part of it, albeit a very small part. 

    YOUR BODY, MY MOTIVATION.  I was thinking about something Dan Reynolds said in the episode of Song Exploder about “Follow You.” He said, “I worship [my wife]. This is my religion because religion hasn’t worked for me.” Similarly to “Follow You,” “This Is Heaven” speaks of Nick Jonas essentially worshiping his wife. One thing I remember when I went to church was the talk about why men stopped going to church. The solution was usually about “butching up the church”; however, it seems that the actuality of the need for this solution may not be the truth of the matter, at least from the two singers mentioned before. I think about my own Sabbath school Bible studies that persistently warned us not to be “unequally yoked.” This meant for Seventh-day Adventists to marry other Seventh-day Adventists. Then I think about when I threw all of that out the window in frustration when I realized I couldn’t fit into who the church said I was supposed to be. At one point, though, I did try to do the “gay version” of my upbringing, trying to find a Christian way to be gay, trying to date only gay Christians. But having been in a longterm relationship with someone who wasn’t raised Christian, I’m always interested to see how differently he sees the world. “This Is Heaven” doesn’t send him back to Bible studies past, and I think that’s a good thing. 

    Happy Valentine’s Day! Check out my Valentine’s Day playlists on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Music if you need a soundtrack for this special day. Also be sure to check out my NoiseTrade 25 Love Songs playlist.

    Also, check out the original post from last year.

    Lyric Video:

    Saturday Night Live Performance:

    Chill version:

  • "The Day I Lost My Voice" (The Suitcase Song) by Copeland ft. Cassidy Klagstad, Sunday, February 13, 2022

    The sweet melancholy of You Are My Sunshine is always more uplifting than depressing. I’ve talked about this record so much because it fully encapsulated the winter of 2009 for me. At least the crueler part of winter, January to March or whenever the colder-than-expected winds wind down in Eastern Tennessee, giving way to an at-first temperate early spring to a melting mid-to-late spring, oozing in a concoction of sweat and humidity. Somewhere in the season changes I got the flu and missed a couple of days of school. My roommate and I had a cough that lasted until the end of the winter. And we listened to this album on the boring days. It was the soundtrack to Easy Mac and instant coffee–two things I don’t miss at all.


    AND THE MAN IN THE MOON NEVER MAKES HIS REPLIES UNDERSTOOD. “The Day I Lost My Voice,” is the kind of song about a period in your life that you just can’t seem to catch a break. Even the most careful singers often experience laryngitis on tour. This illness, though, can have devastating financial ramifications on the band and can shatter the confidence of the singer. But the situation was even worse for Copeland. After being lost in the shuffle of corporate restructuring at Columbia Records and the closure of their indie label The Militia Group, the band released a B-sides project and quietly sold their van, and the end looked inevitable for Copeland fans. But not long after, the band announced signing to Tooth & Nail Records and a new album to be recorded with Aaron Sprinkle. Both Sprinkle and Marsh have talked about the creative process of creating You Are My Sunshine. For Sprinkle, he recalls just allowing Marsh to take over most of the production. Marsh worked on much of the record late at night, after the band and Sprinkle went home. The band came into the studio the next day and heard what Marsh had recorded and added to it.

    WHAT COULD BE AN ANCHOR HERE, WITH A STORM ON THE RISE. Unfortunately, the break-up did come. According to guitarist Bryan Laurenson, in an interview on The Local Wave Podcast, after touring on You Are My Sunshine, Copeland failed to secure big tours that would take them to the next level in the indie rock scene. Aaron Marsh didn’t like touring very much and wanted to work on music in the studio without touring to support it.  “The Day I Lost My Voice” (The Suitcase Song) recalls the hard times, of trying to make it on tour. But the song is also universal. It’s a “cold and broken hallelujah” for everyone down and out on their luck. It’s a song about transitions. It’s about being too sick to do the things that you want to do or have to do. It’s about that torn feeling you have when you are being divided in two places, maybe because of a move, changing jobs, or a long-distance relationship. When you’ve got your life in a suitcase, you can’t live comfortably. 

  • "Around the Corner" by Mike Mains & the Branches, Saturday, February 12, 2022 [trigger warning depression/ suicide]

    When We Were in Love covers a wide range of topics. Most of the songs are love songs in which Mike Mains reminisces about falling in love with his wife and bandmate Shannon Mains. A few of the songs mention God and religion, but mostly in the way that a country song would. However, the most notable tracks on the album deal with Mike Mains’ battles with depression and his marital problems. The songs most explicitly dealing with those topics are “Breathing Underwater” and “Swamp.” Today’s song, “Around the Corner”thematically matches with “Breathing Underwater” and “Swamp,” though it doesn’t seem to be an “in the moment account” of a depressive episode. Instead, Mains is reflecting on his experience, and hoping to give hope to his listeners. 

    WITH HEAVEN’S MANSION OUT OF REACH.  There are two sides to this song. Though I believe that ultimate message is one of hope, Mains doesn’t belittle the depressed experience. So often the clichés of acquaintances who just want us to stop bringing them down, only send us spiraling further. I often think of the quote from August: Osage County: “ Thank God we can’t tell the future. We’d never get out of be able to get out of bed.” There’s so many times I’ve been paralyzed by the fear of what might happen, that fear caused me to miss opportunities to make my life better. Very rarely the worst case scenario happens. And when something bad does happen, it’s totally unexpected. I try to cling to a mantra my friend told me his therapist told him, “Don’t worry about things until they happen.” That stolen therapy session works, most of the time. We never really know what’s around the corner, and it’s actually a good thing. Would 2019 me live any differently knowing that a global pandemic was just around the corner? Other than investing in Zoom or home-delivery app stock, it’s probably better not knowing what’s next and just dealing with it as it happens.


    EVERYBODY NEEDS A LITTLE BIT OF SUNSHINE.Taking a break from the theme of love, today I recommend a song that is unadulterated hope. Sure, the verses are all dark and gloomy, but the uplifting chorus reminds us that we’re not in control of the future, which means that our worst-case-scenario predictions may not come true. And who knows, maybe something much better than expected will happen. Maybe even something, dare I say, good? Sometimes I think of a scene from the 2007 movie Charlie Bartlett, in which the titular character is trying to convince a classmate who attempted suicide that living is worth it, by telling him that he’s “missing the bigger picture,” namely that it’s a great time to be alive, especially given that it’s far more likely to have been born as a single-cell organism on one of the billions of other planets in the universe. Of course this doesn’t make the classmate feel better. I also think about a quote from Ned Vizzini’s Young Adult novel, It’s Kind of a Funny Story: “Life can’t be cured, but it can be managed.” The novel and the movie encouraged me during dark times in a similar way that When We Were in Love encouraged me in 2019 and 2020. But it’s important to remember that we have to keep managing life. Sadly, Ned Vizzini lost the battle to depression, which was puzzling to me at the time. I thought, didn’t he just read his own words from his book about a teen who checks into a mental institution and learns tips for managing life? Or are his words just bullshit and depression is impossible to manage? But that’s not how writing works. Vizzini, Mains, or the writer of Charlie Bartlett failing to live by the inspired words they penned doesn’t make the words less true. We have to manage life. It will never be perfect. 
     

  • "Follow You" by Imagine Dragons, Friday, February 11, 2022

    I’m a music snob. I’ll admit it. That snobbery can make it take a long time for me to come around on some bands or artists who I dismiss as phonies. Sometimes I never come around to an artist. Sometimes that group becomes one of my favorites. Then there’s Imagine Dragons, a band I have one of the most complicated relationships with. I could write a pros and cons list that would fill a blog post or twenty about this band. But instead of talking about how sickeningly synthetic most of their albums taste, how much I want to exit the conversation when someone says something like “I really like indie bands like Coldplay and Imagine Dragons,” or the good points about how the band deals with faith deconstruction or champions LGBTQ+ rights, I’d like to talk about how one mediocre got stuck in my head today.


    Imagine Dragons’ lead singer 
    Dan Reynolds performing live

    I WANNA PUT YOU IN THE SPOTLIGHT. I watched the music video for “Follow You” last year shortly after its release. The video stars It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia actors Kaitlyn Olsen and Rob McElhenney as a presumably married couple. The wife surprises her husband with a private concert with whom she thought was his favorite band, Imagine Dragons. The husband thinks he’s about to watch a private show with fellow Las Vegas band, The Killers. It was a surprisingly self-aware move on behalf of Imagine Dragons to include the dialogue between the couple. The video was partially inspired by the thousands of shirtless concert pictures of lead singer Dan Reynolds circulating on social media. “Follow You,” simultaneously satisfies thirsty fans and meme-ifies the band. Beyond the thirst trap and the humor, I thought the song was just about average, and I wouldn’t be revisiting it. But then there was Song Exploder. 



    IF THE WORLD ONLY KNEW WHAT YOU WERE HOLDING BACK. Musician and music-lover Hrishikesh Hirway talks about why he started his podcast, Song Exploder when giving his TED Talk last year. He wanted to explore the stories behind why his favorite artists chose to write their songs a certain way. He says that since he started his podcast, his musical tastes have expanded. I have to say that listening to any artist talk about their craft gives me a new respect for it, even if I don’t like it on the initial listen. Last year, Dan Reynolds broke down “Follow You.” Rather than recalling the episode point-by-point, I would recommend listening to this episode and the 200+ episodes in the series. Reynolds talks about how the song is about rebuilding his relationship when he was on the brink of divorce. He also talks about how the band recorded it in two different ways. The band took influence from The Beach Boys, and one version sounded much less Imagine Dragons-like. In preparation for today’s post, I also listened to “Follow You” in the context of its critically mixed album Mercury –Act 1. This may be the second time I’ve listened to a (mostly) complete Imagine Dragons album. It was almost as if each song was a different genre, and each genre was begging to be developed more. “Follow You” is sandwiched between two hard-rock tracks. And this makes me sad. Song Exploder shows me that Imagine Dragons has potential. Rick Rubin is one of the biggest rock producers in the music business. That’s what makes Imagine Dragons an enigma. They could be awesome, but instead, we’re left with something blasé. 

    Song Exploder Episode:

    Lyric Video:

    On Ellen:

    Summer 2021 Remix:

    Cover by a South African boys choir:

  • "The Meaning of You" (너의 의미) by IU (아이유) ft. Kim Chang Wan (김창완), Thursday, February 10, 2022 + 2022 Romantic Mix: Apple Music Edition

    Hearing IU always reminds me that spring is on the way. Commonly called South “Korea’s Sweetheart,” the 30-year-old singer-songwriter and former teen singer, born Lee Ji-eun (이지은), explains the meaning of her stage name as “You and I become one through music.” Today’s song comes from her 2014 EP of covers of folk/rock ballads made popular in the ’80s and ’90s, A Flower Bookmark. The song was written by Kim Chang Wan and originally recorded with his punk-rock band Sanulrim (산울림, meaning Mountain Echo), which was a hit in 1984. Kim also is featured on the IU cover version. Although the IU version was not released as a single, it was featured in an SK Telecom commercial and was often played in cafes, grocery stores, and everywhere in Korea in 2014 and still today. The original version was used in the zeitgeist drama Reply 1988 (음담하러 1988)
     

    SADNESS BLOOMS AS COSMO FLOWERS AT THE TRAIN STATION. Today I’ll present my final Romantic Mix version, this time for Apple Music. I’ll change some of the songs if there’s another song to fit. Here’s the playlist:

    1. “The Meaning of You” by IU is the song of the day to start the playlist.
    2. “Chasing Cars” by Snow Patrol
    3. “Lost It All” by Leagues is a song about being down on your luck, but still having the one you love by your side.
    4. “Crashing” by ILLENIUM ft. Bahari is a catchy love song about being too in love to drive home at night, so you have to spend the night with your loved one.
    6.  “Sugar” by Paper Route is the finest love song the band wrote on an album full of love songs, despite the hard times the band faced.
    7.”Yosemite*” by Lana Del Rey is one of her less toxic love songs.
    8. “Music Box” by Ian Mahan. Now down to 70 monthly listeners. Come on people, support!
    9. “Have I Always Loved You?” by Copeland* is the song I chose for the YouTube edition.

    10. “Silk Chiffon” by MUNA ft. Phoebe Bridgers reminds me of the ’90s Lilith Fair-era ballads.
    11. “Lucky Strike*” by Troye Sivan
    12. “My Universe” by Coldplay ft. BTS may not be the best love song by Coldplay, but it’s pretty catchy.
    13. “Clear” by NEEDTOBREATHE

    14. “Untouchable” (Taylor’s Version)* by Taylor Swift. This cover of a Luna Halo song sounds much more romantic sung by a young girl, dreaming about the seemingly unattainable. 
    15.     “This Is Heaven” by Nick Jonas

    16. “Forever Yours” by Key ft. Soyou. This love song is a mix 2010s and 1990s creating a vibey mix.




    17.  “Without You” by Tyler Ward ft. Alyson Stoner is a beautiful acoustic ballad. Stoner’s harmonies are quite nice.

    18. “Photograph” by Ed Sheeran is a sad or a happy song commemorating the past. 
    19. “There’s Nothing Holdin’ Me Back” by Shawn Mendes is maybe not the most healthy relationship song, but there’s a kind of recklessness that happens even in the most vanilla of romances. 
    20. “All of Me” by Watashi Wa is either sweet or pathetic. 


    21. “The Best” by Tina Turner, no Tina, you’re simply the best!
    22. “Run Away with Me” by Carly Rae Jepsen is one of many love songs from Emotion.
    23. “Play” by Jax Jones ft. Years & Years is a fun, kind of childish song that makes love seem like playtime. 
    24. “Death of Me” by Pvris is a dark pop song about someone who you love, but that person isn’t good for you.
    25. “Take My Breath” by The Weeknd. Is it a love song? Is it more dubious? I’m still waiting for the right time to delve into Dawn FM

    25. “I’m on Fire” by Bruce Springsteen. If you can get past the creepy first line, it’s a pretty sexy song.

    26. “Closer” by Tegan and Sara after the three problematic songs on the list, Tegan and Sara rock with their synth-pop retro tune.
    28. “Bike” by Adoy, a summertime love song.
    *notes a differing song from the YouTube edition or Spotify Edition. 



    About “The Meaning of You”:

    Studio performance:

  • “Chasing Cars” by Snow Patrol, Wednesday, February 9, 2022 + Romantic Mix 2022 Spotify Edition

    The second single from the 2006 album Eyes Open after the album opener and rocker, “You’re All I Have,” “Chasing Cars” is the most recognized song by Snow Patrol. The band’s frontman and songwriter Gary Lightbody said that he wrote the song after sobering up after a white wine binge in the garden of producer Jacknife Lee‘s cottage. Lightbody told Rolling Stone that “Chasing Cars” is “the purest love song I’ve ever written. There’s no knife-in-the-back twist.” He stated that “all the other songs I’ve written have a dark edge.” While the song and video for “Chasing Cars” don’t have a dark side, the connotation the song has with dramas like Grey’s Anatomy and One Tree Hill certainly wields the knife so carefully left out by the songwriter. 


    LET’S WASTE TIME CHASING CARS. As tempting as it is to make a Bad Romance playlist or Sad Romance playlist, I’ve decided to make my Spotify alternate take on yesterday’s Romantic Mix 2022. I’ll select 28 tracks for the Spotify version, opting for alternate tracks that I use yesterday. So here is the playlist:
     

    Tracklist:

    1. “Chasing Cars” by Snow Patrol, the song of the day

    2. “Spotlight*” by Leagues, the alternate song of the day yesterday.
    3. “Crashing” by ILLENIUM ft. Bahari is a catchy love song about being too in love to drive home at night, so you have to spend the night with your loved one.
    5. “Sugar” by Paper Route is the finest love song the band wrote on an album full of love songs, despite the hard times the band faced.


    6. “Yosemite*” by Lana Del Rey is one of her less toxic love songs.
    7. “Music Box” by Ian Mahan. Now down to 70 monthly listeners. Come on people, support!

    8. “Coffee*” by Copeland is a beautiful song about young love.

    9. “Silk Chiffon” by MUNA ft. Phoebe Bridgers reminds me of the ’90s Lilith Fair-era ballads.
    10. “Touch” by Troye Sivan
    11. “My Universe” by Coldplay ft. BTS may not be the best love song by Coldplay, but it’s pretty catchy.
    12. “Clear” by NEEDTOBREATHE
    13. “Style” by Taylor Swift
    14. “This Is Heaven” by Nick Jonas
    15. “Forever Yours” by Key ft. Soyou. This love song is a mix 2010s and 1990s creating a vibey mix.


    16. “Without You” by Tyler Ward ft. Alyson Stoner is a beautiful acoustic ballad. Stoner’s harmonies are quite nice.
    17. “Photograph” by Ed Sheeran is a sad or a happy song commemorating the past. 
    18. “There’s Nothing Holdin’ Me Back” by Shawn Mendes is maybe not the most healthy relationship song, but there’s a kind of recklessness that happens even in the most vanilla of romances. 
    19. “All of Me” by Watashi Wa is either sweet or pathetic. 


    20. “The Best” by Tina Turner, no Tina, you’re simply the best!

    21. “Run Away with Me” by Carly Rae Jepsen is one of many love songs from Emotion.
    22. “Play” by Jax Jones ft. Years & Years is a fun, kind of childish song that makes love seem like playtime. 
    23. “Death of Me” by Pvris is a dark pop song about someone who you love, but that person isn’t good for you.
    24. “Take My Breath” by The Weeknd. Is it a love song? Is it more dubious? I’m still waiting for the right time to delve into Dawn FM. 

    25. “I’m on Fire” by Bruce Springsteen. If you can get past the stranger-danger opening line, it’s pretty romantic.

    26. “Closer” by Tegan and Sara after the three problematic songs on the list, Tegan and Sara rock with their synth-pop retro tune.
    27. “Bike” by Adoy is a song about summertime romance.
    28. “Diamonds” by Josef Salvat

    *notes a differing song from the YouTube edition. 
    Today’s song:
    Grey’s Anatomy Season 2 finale featuring “Chasing Cars”: