Mixtapemotions

Every month, I will post a new playlist on the first day of the month. Sometimes, I change the songs on the playlist as the days go by, but my goal is to have a core list conveying a core mood or atmosphere for the month. As the year goes on, I will update my playlists with songs that turned out to be hits or songs that came out that year that I wish I had included. 

There are several moods that I try to convey with this January’s playlist. Most of my January playlists begin with U2’s “New Year’s Day,” their 1983 early hit that mixed a love song with Bono’s poetic attempts at diplomacy—in this case, an outcry of support for a democratic Poland. The song’s lyrics remind us that the big events don’t usually happen on “quiet” New Year’s Days. This year, the foreboding of Trump 2.0 and the political drama in South Korea make U2’s love song to democracy all the more relevant. 

The playlist is a mixture of hope and despair as the two emotions sit close together in the face of the uncertainty of the future. Hopefulness fills songs like Jimmy Eat World’s “Sweetness.” The melody of the song reminds me of a Christmas carol. Wilson Phillips’ “Hold On,” beabadoobee’s “Talk,” Flyleaf’s “Arise,” and Jaurim’s “Twenty-five twenty-one” are a few examples of hope permeating in the bleak month of January.

On the other hand, songs like Linkin Park’s “In the End,” Glass Age’s “Separateness,” and Anberlin’s “Never Take Friendship Personal” contribute to the darkness in the playlist. This darkness peaks with A Perfect Circle’s “Hourglass,” a song based on the breakdown of the 5 forms of government (the song adds a fifth form: “Republicat,” in a nudge to the broken American political system) as outlined in Plato’s Republic. The political turbulence in 2025 certainly influenced the making of this playlist. 

The genres included on this playlist are also related to the themes of hope and despair. I start the playlist off with hope. The anthemic rock songs of U2 and Jimmy Eat World’s upbeat pop-punk at the beginning match with later tracks like Paper Route’s hopeful stomp-clap “Better Life” and Falling Up’s nostalgic “Arafax Deep” draw a through line in the playlist. The rap-rock “In the End,” on the other hand, introduces bleakness into the playlist. Every January playlist I’ve curated has this element, but this year feels more ominous. The Bangles’ “Hazy Shade of Winter,” MUTEMATH’s “Backfire,” and System of a Down’s “B.Y.O.B.” contribute to this dark atmosphere. 

While January’s playlist is a return to rock for me, often more akin to my college and high school listening habits—pop still plays a role in the playlist. Classic pop is often sugary and cheesy, but there’s something comforting about Wilson Phillips’ “Hold On” and Steve Winwood’s “Higher Love.” New Pop is the rarest genre on this playlist.

Ariana Grande’s “we can’t be friends” (wait for your love) and Shakira’s “Copa Vacía” are the only pop songs currently on this list. Female pop stars had an incredible year in 2024 and will undoubtedly continue in 2025 with Lady Gaga kicking off the year sometime soon. But in this fallow period of new music and political uncertainty, rock music began to speak to me more than pop music. Grande’s melancholy tune from eternal sunshine speaks to the disconnect we may feel as a society, severed of connections. Shakira and Manuel Turizo’s “Copa Vacía” (Empty Cup in English) compares an ex-lover to a cold January day, so naturally, this song had to wait for January.

Korean rock last year made a comeback with K-pop groups incorporating rock elements, K-pop bands gaining popularity, and a renewed interest in older acts. This month I included Jaurim’s hopeful song “Twenty-Five, Twenty-One.” I saw the band in concert at the end of the year—the crowd fueled by a pent-up frustration at an ineffective, self-interested government, something Americans could also relate to. The band played “Twenty-Five, Twenty-One” as part of their three-song encore. 

The playlist also includes rock-leaning boy band DAY6 and their massive hit “Happy” and new-wave-influenced The Volunteers, a Korean band that sings mostly in English, with their song “Tell ‘em boys.” Both of these were songs played frequently at my gym. 

I’m excited to find out what I will do with my blog in the coming months. 

1. “New Year’s Day” by U2

2. “Sweetness” by Jimmy Eat World

3. “In the End” by Linkin Park

4. “Separateness” by Glass Age

5. “Hazy Shade of Winter” by The Bangles

6. “Hold On” by Wilson Phillips

7. “Talk” by beabadoobee

8. “Never Take Friendship Personal” by Anberlin

9. “Arise” by Flyleaf

10. “Twenty-five twenty-one” by Jaurim

11. “Higher Love” by Steve Winwood

12. “Better Life” by Paper Route

13. “Go!” by M83 ft. MAI LAN

14. “Backfire” by MUTEMATH

15. “We’re Not Gonna Take It” by Twisted Sister

16. “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” by Rolling Stones

17. “California Dreamin’” by The Mamas and the Papas

18. “we can’t be friends” (wait for your love) by Ariana Grande

19. “Copa Vacía” by Shakira ft. Manuel Turizo

20. “Freedom” by Beyoncé ft. Kendrick Lamar

21. “Don’t Dream It’s Over” by Sixpence None the Richer

22. “Tell ’em boys” by The Volunteers

23. “Happy” by DAY6

24. “41th” by 김성규 (Kim Sung Kyu)

25. “Lights Out” by P.O.D.

26. “B.Y.O.B.” (Bring Your Own Bombs) by System of a Down

27. “Hourglass” by A Perfect Circle

28. “Even Snakes Have Hearts” by Kids in the Way

29. “When I Remember” by Blindside

30. “Time Is a One Way Mirror” by Tyson Motsenbocker

31. “Arafax Deep” by Falling Up

Hello everyone! My name is Tyler, and I’m excited to share my new project with you.

Four years ago, I started a blog called NewYearsDayProject. It was a song-a-day thing, where I’d write about my thoughts on a song or share some interesting facts I learned about it. I really enjoyed it at first, but over time, I started to feel a bit overwhelmed. I wondered if what I was doing was really worth the time.

When I first started, the blog was like a little quarantine project. There wasn’t much else going on in my life, so I had all the time in the world to write, listen, and research. But as the years went by, life started to get busier and busier. And last fall, I just couldn’t keep up with the blog. I lost all my motivation until a couple of posts pulled me back in. But by December, I was burnt out again and started thinking about what I could do this year.

So, here’s the new project: a monthly playlist that I’ll update with more relevant songs. I’m calling it mixtapEmotion. With NewYearsDayProject, I felt like I was just repeating information that was already out there on the web. What could I really add to the conversation? With my new project, I’m not going to feel the pressure to post every day. Instead, I’m going to take some time to figure out what this project is really about and what I want to achieve with it.

I’ve got a few ideas for mixtapeEmotions. First, I’m thinking about playlists. We can explore how songs and artists connect across different genres. One project an older friend of mine asked about was understanding how music has changed in the 2000s. With so much music out there and 20 years of musical history, it’s not cool to make generalizations about “music these days.” Then, there’s the matter of musical influence. In my four years of blogging, I’ve been fascinated by how music influences different generations and genres. For example, it was interesting to find a post-punk connection between ‘80s bands like The Cure and New Order and 2000s rock bands like The Killers and Anberlin, and even contemporary pop acts like some songs by The Weeknd or Lady Gaga. This might seem controversial because some people are really into certain fandoms, but music is all about connections, even if you don’t like the artist. And if we can get past our prejudices about artists, maybe we can get past our prejudices towards people too.

Whatever this project turns out to be, I’m excited to start working on it! I hope you’re all excited about this new project! Let me know what you think.