Freshman Playlists: Class of 2027
We asked some of our freshmen to create playlists that encapsulated the summer going into their first year of college. Join them as they reflect on this pivotal point in their lives!
Mae Carlsten
“Mourn” by Hell: Lying in a field and staring at all the stars I could never see from my home near New York City, listening to Mourn through my speaker. A coworker I hadn’t really talked to much before came up to me and invited me to talk with him. If he hadn’t seen me and started talking, my summer would have been much more depressing and lonely.
“Aria Math” by C418: Driving down a deserted road in the mountains as rain poured down and lightning struck every few seconds. Aria Math played through the car’s speakers, muting the silence of the passengers.
“Shadowww” by Louke Man: Walking through the forest and peering into the early morning fog covering the lake, I listened to “Shadowww” through my headphones off a playlist my boyfriend had made for me.
“Codeine” by Fennesz: Taking a shower at 11:00 in the shower house while blasting “Codeine” from my speaker over the sound of falling water. Learning how to play the song on guitar while sitting in the shade next to the tennis courts.
“Unconditional Love” by LTJ Bukem: Walking from one side of camp to the other while playing “Unconditional Love” from the speaker hanging off the back of my bag on a hot and dry sunny day.
“Recat” by Ricardo Villalobos and Max Loderbauer: Getting destroyed at Magic the Gathering, playing Commander for the first time with two of my friends at a green-painted wooden picnic table in the camp’s empty dining hall while rotating between songs. We all agreed: we liked “Recat.”
“data.superhelix” by Ryoji Ikeda: Absorbing data.superhelix while lying on a too-hard wooden cot in the infirmary, recovering from the worst stomach bug I’ve ever had.
“I LOVE YOUR GIRLFRIEND (LONG MIX)” by Omar S, AF13, and John FM: Picking up trash to the sound of “I LOVE YOUR GIRLFRIEND (LONG MIX)” on the hill in front of the dining hall before the next wave of kids arrived.
“Septic Fucker” by Research Reactor Corp.: Heading to a movie in a car full of my friends, the driver put on “Septic Fucker,” instantly enchanting me.
“Head South” by Modest Mouse: Sitting at a table in the dining hall, learning every single lyric to Head South, ignoring the world around me.
“25-8-18” by mauze: Lying half-awake in my new bed with my eyes open to the dark room, listening to “25-8-18” for the first time, and double checking the title on my phone as I attempted to commit it to memory.
“bunnybunnybunny” by Mietze Conte: Reciting the vocal sample accompanying the drop in “bunnybunnybunny” every time I saw a rabbit on campus: “ohhh, bunny bunny bunny bunny bunny.”
“a wasp appears” by They Are Gutting a Body of Water: Bonding with my roommate over shoegaze and showing him “a wasp appears.”
“Installation” by Pangaea: Walking down Massachusetts Ave. on a cool, cloudy fall day, right at the time of the day when afternoon seems ready to slip into evening, listening to “Installation” and staring at the bleak sky hanging over the buildings of Lesley University.
Megan Chung
Welcome to my little home of songs! You, dear reader, should treat this as the architectural digest of my Spotify account.
“Back to Mars (Live in London)” by Beabadoobee: This playlist starts out with my all-time favorite artist, Beabadoobee. I’ve seen her play this track in concert a whopping four times, and it has ALWAYS been better on stage than in its studio version so I was psyched when she released Live in London. The album version just doesn’t do the song justice. I mean, the dimensions of “Back to Mars” are INSANE. Listen to the recorded version when you are sad/sentimental and the live version when you are lifting at the gym.
“Wet Dream” by Wet Leg: This song is so fun and boppy. I literally cannot get it out of my head, ever. If I were to have a coming of age movie, I would want this to be in the intro.
“Cinema” by Kero Kero Bonito: I listen to this song while putting on lip gloss and tying ribbon in my hair. I love being a girl!
“Super Stars” by Yves Tumor: TALK ABOUT SEXXXYYYYY. Everything about this song is sexy, like “I want to melt into the crevices of a wooden floor” levels of sexy.
“je t’aime ★ je t’aime” by Tommy february6: Cutest song ever. It gives FRUiTS magazine. I also listen to this while getting ready and/or skipping around my room.
“Talk Down” by Dijon: If you like Steve Lacy, you will like Dijon. This song makes me feel so cool. If I could, I would drive through NYC in a convertible, wearing my favorite pair of sunnies, blasting this.
“Cool With You” by NewJeans: NewJeans is the epitome of the cool, untouchable, IT girl. This song just emulates all of that energy, plus the vocals are so smooth and dreamy. PS: If you think you are too cool for K-pop, respectfully, get over yourself and put on some NewJeans.
“L’amour n’est rien…” by Mylène Farmer: This song is like wine. It’s elegant and classy—liquid silk. If I hosted a pasta and wine night with my girls, this is the first song I’d play.
“WINE” by SURAN and CHANGMO: Speaking of wine…this one is just so good and vibey. A late night drive staple.
“10%” by KAYTRANADA and Kali Uchis: It’s a hot girl song. It makes you wanna whip your hair in some dude’s face. It’s a you-want-me-but-can’t-have-me type beat.
“Heart” by msftz/“I Think I” by BYUL: I listen to these songs a lot. Moving into college, I’ve found myself falling in love with everyone and everything. Maybe that’s because it’s all so new and exciting? Or maybe I’ve been gaslighting myself into thinking that everyone studying in Tisch at night has a mysterious dark academia lure, when in reality, I just don’t know them. I’ve probably had a dozen crushes in the past two months…
“Old Habits” by hongjoin and Marian Carmel: This is a comfort song of mine. I listen to it when I start getting homesick, and it makes me miss the streets and people I grew up with.
“Rock Your Body” by Justin Timberlake: A shameless listen. It is such a bop and I think it should be a requirement at every function. I mean hearing this song and dancing with friends to it would make those musty, soggy, basements 10x better…
“Miniskirt” by AOA: I think everyone needs some 2.5 gen kpop in their lives, and this is a great bridge to it. This song is SUCH a girl band bop.
“Gloom” by Djo: “So goodbye. Farewell. Go F your mother. Go F yourself.” Lyrical genius!! This song is so real and pessimistic I love it.
“Kiwi” by Harry Styles: Scream and shout with all your lungs, get on your knees with an electric guitar in grip, SHRED. Personally, I listened to this song on my way to tennis practice last year to help wake me up from my after school nap. It’s like drinking Celsius, but “Kiwi” won’t give you heart problems!
“Écoute Chérie” by Vendredi sur Mer: Last but not least. The perfect exit song. Now imagine yourself listening to this with headphones on, strutting out of a room in heels.
Thanks for tuning in! I hope you found a new song for your playlist :)
- Meg
Kay Glimcher
Feels Like Summer - Childish Gambino: I can appreciate the irony of this song being the first on my playlist, but Feels Like Summer is in fact arguably one of THE songs of the summer for me. Probably because I have started every summer listening to this song since 2021.
Popular - The Weeknd, Playboi Carti, & Madonna: I did in fact find this song on TikTok in June of 2023, and was obsessively listening to it. Embarrassingly, I originally listened to this song solely on TikTok — but it got to a point where I had to move my listening habit to Spotify — but it is SUCH a vibe.
DOGTOOTH - Tyler, The Creator: This song hit so hard while on hot girl walks — like WOW… This song feels so peak summer to me. A vivid summer memory that I have while listening to this song is taking the subway to my sister’s house in Brooklyn to visit my infant nephew. I very luckily ended up in air conditioned AND empty train cars. Truly peak NYC luck.
Rush - Troye Sivan: This song is addictive. That’s all I have to say.
Night Fever - Bee Gees: Before all of my best friends back home left for college, we had a dinner party and I cooked for everyone, as a last supper (if you will). I had this song on repeat while cooking, and it fueled the preparations.
Colder in June - Cari: This was my in-my-feels bop of the summer.
Charm - Rema: This is also such an addictive song — it was on REPEAT, especially when I was cleaning now that I think about it.
Green Eyes - Erykah Badu: This was on repeat consistently throughout the summer and generally always, I will take any excuse to listen to it.
FEAR. - Kendrick Lamar: Another classic banger. It fits so well with summer. This past summer, I listened to this a lot when I was packing for college.
The Lamp Is Low - Laurindo Almeida: This also was on when I was packing... When I needed more motivation to pack, I couldn't listen to songs with lyrics, and instrumental pieces came in clutch.
Bruise - BETWEEN FRIENDS: I listened to this song a lot in July when I was still hanging out with friends. Sometimes I would have to listen to it on my way to work to hype myself up and feel more joy before my shift.
Nas Morales - Metro Boomin & Nas: I'm going to be real, the entire Across the Spider Verse album was a top listen throughout the whole summer. But this song was definitely one of my favorites, and I would listen to this when playing Spiderman on my brother’s PlayStation (it was motivating, I swear).
Hummingbird - Metro Boomin & James Blake: I was obsessed with this song, I still listen to it. Now it reminds me of home just because of the sheer amount of times I listened to it.
untitled 06 | 06.30.2014. - Kendrick Lamar: Same as above, I adore this song. That’s all.
AMERICA HAS A PROBLEM - Beyoncé ft. Kendrick Lamar: This is just so hype, Kendrick’s feature just makes me smile — it’s so sick and awesome. I listened to Renaissance obsessively last winter so it’s always a nice call back.
What You Know - Two Door Cinema Club: Halfway through the summer I felt like I had no truly summer songs in rotation so I went searching for some and found this… I was not disappointed.
You Wish - Flyana Boss: Again, found on TikTok. Flyana Boss’s PR for this song was my entire FYP, so obviously I had it pre-saved and listened to it at the gym, walking my dog, walking anywhere honestly.
Crew - Goldlink, Brent Faiyaz, & Shy Glizzy: This song just hits so hard, for some reason all I can think about is sitting in the living room reading at my dad’s house when I hear this.
Cocaine From Cancun - Beaux & Bubba: Another chill instrumental I used to motivate me to pack for college.
When I’m in Your Arms - Cleo Sol: Cleo Sol is one of my favorite artists. This song in particular carried me through the end of summer and beginning of college. A true staple of my Spotify.
Bri Hernandez
Let’s start in May of my senior year of high school. I was exempt from classes during this last month of school to work on a Senior Project where I explored the relationship between music and memory. Along with my research, I made three paintings of memories I have that I relate to very specific songs. As I sat in the art room, painting my canvas, I had Alvvays’ “Easy on Your Own” on repeat for a whole week, instantly boosting it to my most-played song of 2023. Now, whenever I think of this memory, “Easy on Your Own” plays in my mind.
The next song in my playlist is “By and By” by Caamp. It is tradition in my high school for the senior class to travel to the Hamptons in New York after prom, often referred to as “post-prom.” My closest friends and I found an Airbnb for a few days, spending this time with trips to the beach, board games, and movie nights. One night after dinner, we gathered the graham crackers, marshmallows, and Hershey bars we bought at the nearby Stop-and-Shop earlier that day and brought them over to the campfire. We all sat there together as we played music on the speaker. “By and By” played and I began to tear up– it was such a beautiful song that fit perfectly with this moment. The lyric “I wish that I had more time” resonated as I looked at my friends sitting together for the last time before we all split to different colleges.
After I graduated, my favorite teacher sent me a playlist he curated for me called “Music for College and Living.” We spent a lot of time in Photo bonding over our passion for music and introducing each other to new songs and artists. Music has always been something so important to me, so I very much appreciated these moments we shared. One song I especially loved was “If Looks Could Kill” by Camera Obscura, which is the third song on my playlist.
Two of my friends and I went to the Boygenius concert together in Brooklyn this summer. We each chose a member of the trio to dress up as, all agreeing to wear oversized graphic tees that looked like suits, imitating the Boys’ Rolling Stones photoshoot. I was assigned Phoebe Bridgers so I pulled up with an itchy blonde wig. As soon as Lucy Dacus began my favorite song on The Record, “We’re In Love,” I began to sob. Like ugly sob. My best friend held me and recorded a video so I had a good one without me crying in the background.
I am a massive Swiftie and my absolute favorite song in Taylor Swift’s expansive discography is “Haunted” from her 2010 album, Speak Now. When Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) was announced, I was beyond pumped. I spent the release week at my best friend’s house; we set the lights to purple, wore purple clothes, and listened to the rerecording together. While I am attached to the original, “Haunted (Taylor’s Version)” had to be a part of my playlist.
Another artist I was introduced to at the post-prom campfire was Noah Kahan. I instantly fell in love with his work and was excited to listen to the extended version of Stick Season when it was announced. Immediately after it released, I listened to all the new songs added to the album. They were all so beautiful, but “Paul Revere” was the one that really stuck with me. I told my mom about the album and played it for her as we took a drive on the highway, just the two of us. Noah’s style paired perfectly with our surroundings.
One time while I was scrolling through TikTok, I was introduced to a small artist named Susannah Jaffe, specifically her single, “Your Mother’s Name.” To say I fell in love with this song is an understatement–I listened to it on repeat for days on end until I found it among my most played songs.
After an eventful summer and many emotional goodbyes, I tucked myself into my bed for my last night before college. My room is a physical manifestation of myself, full of trinkets, photos, posters, etc that are important to me. That night, I turned on my flashlight to take another look around my room, taking it in, and looking at how I had packed my life into boxes. The lyric “Anyways, don’t be a stranger” from Phoebe Bridgers’ “Scott Street” rang through my mind as I drifted off to sleep.
After a week of pre-orientation and meeting a ton of new people with the same excitement as we all started settling into college. After the illumination ceremony, some of my new friends and I walked over to Tisch roof. We got there to find the most perfect view of the blue moon. I could only think one thing: “‘This is so “Moon Song.’” However, my special moment was cut short by a group of guys circling around something on the ground which turned out to be a dead bird. They were paying their respects to the deceased bird by placing flowers on top of it and circling it with their lit candles. Strangely enough, this actually made it even more “Moon Song,” recalling the imagery of a “dead little bird” in the lyrics.
Pre-orientation and orientation week felt just like summer camp. It hadn’t truly hit me yet that this was college. Like, the actual college I’ve heard about all my life. I was spending time exploring Boston and Medford and meeting as many people as possible. On the first day of classes, my best friend texted me that she could sneak me into a concert being held at Northeastern, since one of my favorite bands, Beach Bunny, was performing there for free. Before Beach Bunny went on, the band Boyish opened. I went in not knowing anything about their music, but I felt like I was floating when they performed. Their vocals and stage presence were absolutely amazing– I left a fan. One song I’ve had on repeat since I saw them is “Superstar.”
Once Beach Bunny went on, I was crazy excited. I was one of the only people in the crowd who knew the words to every song and I made sure everyone around me knew. The first time I saw them in concert was at the Brooklyn Steel and the lights behind them flashed in every direction with every color. Even though they were playing outside on Northeastern’s campus, I felt the same excitement I had the first time. At the end of the show, I ran up to the barricade and asked the bassist if I could get the setlist. He threw it into the crowd and the skills from third grade baseball came over me and I jumped and managed to catch it before anyone else could. It is now up on my wall. Best FDOC ever.
As I’m still trying to settle in here, I’ve already had many ups and downs. One especially stressful weekend, my friend and I impulsively signed up to spend the night at the Mountain Club Loj. The atmosphere was a physical representation of Noah Kahan’s folk sound. One song we played multiple times throughout the day was “Stick Season” and it became the anthem of the weekend. After a campfire, we all laid together on the porch, stargazing and chatting. Even though I had just met those people that morning, we all clicked. Whenever a silence began, someone would start singing “I love Vermont but it’s the season of the sticks” and the rest would join, breaking off into giggles.
As much fun as I’m having here, I’m still trying to manage keeping in touch with my loved ones at home during my busy schedule. Making sure to text, call, and Facetime my family in New York and my friends all over the country gets difficult when I have classes, tests, homework, and socializing all the time. That’s why the last track on my playlist is Dayglow’s “Can I Call You Tonight.” A question that is frequently asked between my loved ones and me lately.
Fin Jones
Like the morning sun, my future was on the eastern horizon. And also like the morning sun, it really hurt to look directly at it.
I grew up in Southern California my entire life, but I knew that come summer’s end, I would be on my own in a foreign land: one that experiences real seasons and has public transportation. So, I had to make the most of my time before college. In doing so, I had composed a soundtrack to my summer before school.
The day-long road trip to my sister’s farm; sweet and sweaty punk shows; desert concerts with overpriced food trucks; warm jam sessions huddled in friends’ cars, walking down Pacific Coast Highway, and sitting atop parking structures. Music was everywhere over the summer.
I found myself associating the indie sounds of Indigo De Souza and BENEE with strolls down Doheny Beach. Lazy mornings were filled with Yaeji’s relaxed voice and the hypnagogic production of Animal Collective. Dog walks were often accompanied by the electronic art pop of Gorillaz and Grimes. One of my most memorable days was spent driving down to San Diego to see Clairo and boygenius with my friend Chloe; “Satanist” is still one of our favorites from the record, and it was heavenly to see live.
The latter half of summer was melodically melancholic. Late night In-N-Out dashes went by too quickly, and moonlit parties never seemed to last long enough. Lying on the floor of my friend’s room, we listened to the psychedelic lullabies of Okay Kaya. We sulked in car rides from Laguna Beach in the soft ambiance of “The Louvre” and “Summer Glass.” When people started to actually leave for college, the reality of summer’s end had entered.
However, I felt strangely optimistic. Even when my friend Monica pried at me with questions like, “Aren’t you sad that you’re going away and that nothing will ever be the same? And that you’ll only see me and Michelle over breaks?” I still felt hopeful for my time ahead at Tufts. On the flight to Boston I found myself listening to “Call Me Home” by SASAMI on loop; it was comforting to remember that home never leaves even when you leave it:
“But I want you to know
I want you to know you're not alone
I want you to know you can always call me
Home”
I do still miss In-N-Out, though.
Allison Kinzer
I started the summer by spending every second of free time with my friends. My June anthem was “Telephone” by Lady Gaga; I listened to it getting ready for prom and graduation, driving to work, in the shower - basically everywhere at all times. I discovered the song while watching season 14 of RuPaul’s Drag Race and I was hooked from the first few bars.
In July I diversified my listening while on a family trip to Italy. We spent the 4th of July listening to Kenny Chesney and Martina McBride while clad in red, white, and blue. We were doing our best to fit the image of obnoxious Americans abroad. One song that stood out to me was “American Kids” by Kenny Chesney which is about being young and making mistakes and just having fun because you have no responsibilities or worries. That was how summer felt before college began to loom in the future.
The later half of my summer was spent mourning my childhood. It sounds dramatic but I was sad! College has always been a distant milestone in my mind, so it was daunting to suddenly find myself on the brink of going. I’ve always loathed change. Once change occurs I adapt but the anticipation drives me crazy. I returned to my favorite sad song “First Love/Late Spring” by Mitski to cope. To me this song sounds like hugging someone you love while knowing it’s the last time you’ll see them.
My first week of school I met a guy who I fell hopelessly in love with. After class I was joking about how I had met my future husband and that I was retiring from dating. I slowly grew closer to him and realized that maybe it wasn’t as much of a joke as I first thought. My anthem became “From the Start” by Laufey. Her lyrics about unrequited love, paired with the song’s light happy tune spoke to me and my blossoming romance.
“Metamodernity” by Vansire was my September song. It was the first song I put on when I started homework, when I left to walk between classes, and when I woke up in the morning. It was also one of the first songs I played on the radio when I was doing my WMFO training. I find it a fun boppy song and it just makes me happy when I listen to it!
My next song is “Foolish One” by Taylor Swift. I’ve never been a massive Swiftie but I would be lying if I said I didn’t like her music. When Speak Now(Taylor’s Version), dropped, I was instantly drawn to this song. It took on a new meaning when I learned that the guy I liked had a girlfriend.
In early October I took my first trip to the Loj! I loved every second of it. We spent hours working on a puzzle and celebrated by jumping in a freezing river. That night we sat around the campfire crying to “Stick Season” by Noah Kahan. Later on when we were laying out under the stars, everyone would get quiet and I would whisper “I love Vermont, but it’s the season of the sticks” and everyone would join in and then the song would break off into peals of laughter.
Entering into midterm season, I found comfort in “I’m Fine” by Dadi Freyr. The stresses of balancing 18 credit hours, 8 clubs, friendships, and my own mental health were starting to pile up. The song was a reminder it’s okay to not know what you’re doing or how you’re managing it all.
Amid all this drama I was still sorting through the pains of unrequited love, which suddenly seemed like it might not be so one-sided when he abruptly became single. I turned to “New Light” by John Mayer for comfort. It’s a song about wanting to become more than friends and taking chances on love.
Perhaps my favorite song of all time is “Sometimes” by Gerry Cinnamon. If my life was a movie, this song would play during the opening sequence in the style of a mid-2000’s rom-com. I’m putting this song last because it’s harmonic, it’s random, and it sounds how life often feels. It’s about letting life happen and enjoying the little things that come and go.
Sebastian Moreno-Comstock
With this playlist, I tried to capture my mental transition from high school to college through the music I’ve been listening to over the past few months. Last summer was simultaneously one of the most hectic and fun times of my life; I managed to squeeze seven different trips of varying lengths into two months off of school. Most of the music in this playlist came from what I listened to during that time period.
This transition started several months before I was even out of high school. I remember playing “Souvenir” by OMD in the car with two of my friends every Tuesday morning. Listening to this song, I wondered if I would miss sitting in the car with my sleep-deprived friends when I was living on the other side of the country in a year. I remember also playing “Is This It” by The Strokes while I drove to the Oregon coast with my classmates on senior skip day, feeling our first taste of summer freedom.
The first highlight of my summer was a road trip that a few of my friends and I took to Wyoming days after we graduated. We took my dad’s minivan because it was the only vehicle that would fit all four of us plus all our camping gear. Its only source of music was a CD player and the radio, so I burned four mixtapes onto blank CDs for our trip. The very first song we played in the van was “Freak Scene” by Dinosaur Jr, a song I had been listening to a lot in the painfully slow final moments of senior year.
As we drove through all of southern Idaho via I-84, a 2-disc Bruce Springsteen live album was the only thing keeping us sane and awake as we drove through endless miles of potato fields and flat horizons. I particularly remember us chanting the chorus of “Born to Run,” feeling like true Americans. We were blessed with good weather on the way to Wyoming, but as soon as we got there, it started pouring. I remember playing “Undíu” off a disc by Joao Gilberto as we sat in our damp clothes, driving along the wet and poorly maintained roads of Yellowstone National park.
I had very little time at home over the summer, but the few moments I had were still memorable. The song “Welcome My Son” by Professor Creepshow somehow became the theme song of those moments after I heard my friend play it as we sat on his front porch. My friends and I also developed an obsession with Steely Dan, cycling through several of their songs throughout the summer. “Deacon Blues” was one of the final songs we went through during this era.
The final highlight of my summer was two concerts I saw: Bon Iver and a double set with Fleet Foxes and My Morning Jacket. This was one of the final memories I shared with some of my closest friends before we parted ways at the end of the summer. I had always wanted to see Bon Iver live, and I was blown away by his performance of “Blood Bank” that took an originally soft song and built it up to a climax of blaring drums and crying out “And IIIIIIII know it well.”
I wasn’t the biggest fan of MMJ before I saw them live–I was there for Fleet Foxes, while my friend was there for MMJ. After hearing an ultra-extended version of “The Way That He Sings,” my opinion totally changed. I was waiting for Fleet Foxes to play “Blue Ridge Mountains” the whole concert, but I never could have been ready for when they did. Those singing harmonies really hit.
I ended up listening to a ton of the music from both these concerts on the plane to Boston and in my first few weeks of college as I tried to hold on to those moments. Another song I listened to in those weeks was a version of “Thoughts of Mary Jane” by Nick Drake that I heard for the first time while sitting on the same porch that I spent much of my summer on.
On the day I arrived in Boston, I remember listening to The Soft Bulletin by The Flaming Lips in its entirety while I rode in a Lyft from the airport to my grandma’s house in Andover. I was very jet-lagged, so I fell asleep while the album played. However, I can vividly remember being half-awake when “Feeling Yourself Disintegrate” came on, not sure if it was just part of my dreams.
In the first month of my senior year, about a year ago now, my friends and I became obsessed with Sixto Rodriguez after watching Searching for Sugar Man, a really cool documentary that investigates his mysterious persona. After watching it, we would play “Can’t Get Away” at least once every time we hung out. Recently, I’ve been listening to that song again and remembering just how cool and funny it was to us at the time.
Ally Wolfe
Is it summertime without DJ Sabrina the Teenage DJ? I don’t think so, so this summer I begged my friends to put on songs from her new album Destiny whenever I felt like the mood befit the warm, groovy, 4 hour long odyssey. Along with that album, most of my listening came from my monthly playlist while I drove to and from work, Orioles games, and my friends’ houses. I blasted Fiona Apple’s “Sleep to Dream” while driving home late at night from my movie theater job, tracking the smell of popcorn into the car. Other staples were moody songs from Alex G’s Race and house-influenced pop jams by Charles.
However, a lot of my summer and early college music taste was an attempt to connect with a home I’ve now left behind. Reflecting on moving away led me to listen to more of my parents’ favorite music than ever before. After years of stubborn resistance, I finally gave in to my mom’s undying love for Wilco, and spent a lot of time listening to Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. Meanwhile, the night before driving to Tufts, I rewatched The Band’s concert film, The Last Waltz, with my dad. We used to watch it all the time when I was little, but now I have a new appreciation for scenes like Joni Mitchell’s performance of “Coyote” and the Band’s classic rendition of “The Weight”. It’s one of the best concert films out there, and whenever I miss home, I relisten to the soundtrack.
And there was a lot of missing home initially—the start of college is especially challenging when you immediately catch COVID—so I spent the beginning of the year with Carissa’s Wierd’s “They’ll Only Miss You When You Leave” and Car Seat Headrest’s “Times to Die” on repeat. However, I started to find my place, and returned, as always, to my monthly playlist. Back to Fiona Apple.