“If the World was Ending” in a storm of fire and ice, what would you do? Would you grab your favorite “Photograph” of your friends or call a special someone to “Say You Won’t Let Go,” no matter what happened?
When you’re driving with the windows down in the blistering summer heat, do you ever feel like you’re living the “Classic” life of a teenager from “1999?” How about when you pull up to the party and can’t do anything but “Shut up and Dance” on the floor?
Do you ever “Lose Yourself” in your work? Right before that big test, that big game, that big competition, do you reassure yourself that you are, in fact, the “Greatest” in the world?
Welcome to my Spotify account.
While the geniuses over in Spotify’s creative department spend their days formulating mass-appeal playlists—from RapCaviar to Disney Hits to Teen Pop—that anybody with an account can listen to, my Spotify sidebar is filled with an array of homemade creations: playlists that I’ve curated myself over the years, fine-tuned perfectly (pun intended) to my personal preference.
Like the Constitution of the United States should be, my playlists are living documents—out of the 36 songs in my Alternate playlist, 29 of them were swapped and replaced in the last year alone, and only two songs remain from the original iteration of the playlist from June 2016. What I listen to on Spotify offers a glimpse into my life and the world around me: my mental state, my hopes, and my fears.
So if you’ve ever wanted to learn a little bit more about what makes me tick (if you don’t, I completely understand), let’s dive in and explore some of my favorite creations.
The Main Rotation
My daily Spotify listening tends to revolve around five playlists: The Trifecta Plus a Few, Alternate, Slow, Hype, and Movie, each with 36 songs apiece (a nice, square number that clocks in at around two hours per playlist).
The Trifecta Plus a Few
I know, I know. What kind of a name is The Trifecta… Plus a Few? Well, when I first dreamt up the idea in eighth grade, the playlist was only going to contain songs from a select “trifecta” of artists—namely Justin Bieber, Bruno Mars, and One Direction.
It was all fine and dandy until I realized that not all good music in this world happened to be by barely-adult male heartthrobs. So in came songs from Lukas Graham and Train, Taylor Swift and Lorde. As the music evolved, I quickly began to realize that my original name of The Trifecta just didn’t fit.
As my original playlist creation, The Trifecta Plus a Few stands out because it’s, well, actually pretty happy. I mean, my eighth grade self hadn’t been introduced to integrals, aggregate demand, or a Donald Trump presidency! Throughout the years, The Trifecta Plus a Few has remained my go-to playlist for a car sing-along—something you might have caught at the beginning of this post.
Alternate
Eighth-grade Brian soon realized that he had discovered too many cool songs to fit into one 36-song playlist.
Alternate was originally intended as a reserve playlist, where all the benchwarmer-equivalent songs would go and hangout while the starters duked it out in The Trifecta. Of course, over time, that definition was lost, and now, it’s basically my playlist of pop that pretends to have a deeper meaning, which I listen to when I’m too tired to dance (basically always) but not tired enough to go to sleep—meaning that it’s basically my number one choice nowadays.
Slow
Ironically, Slow actually came into existence last summer, a time when The Trifecta should have been ruling with Movie in the wings. Instead of dancing away my teenage worries with One Direction, I sat back and gave in to my melancholy by listening to the slowest pop I could find—and it worked! Listening to sad music was surprisingly sweet, and it led to the creation of what is now my winter staple in the midst of an ever-changing, almost-ending world.
Hype
This one doesn’t have any deeper meaning. It’s straight up hip-hop (mumble-rap excluded). I’m talking Kendrick, Eminem, and Wayne—the MCs that’ll get you amped before the big game or tournament.
Movie
Continuing with the pattern of questionable naming decisions, Movie came into existence after I watched the hit musical Hamilton. Yeah. I decided to bundle the verses of Lin-Manuel Miranda and Christopher Jackson with the lines of Emma Watson and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, creating a playlist that should really be named Movie/Musical/TV Show/Whatever I Want.
Whenever I need some inspiration (or just want to lose myself in the magic of a world that isn’t mine), I’ll put on my headphones and close my eyes.
The Regulars
There are three playlists here that aren’t in my super heavy rotation (I’m probably not listening to these extensively), but occupy pretty regular places in my eardrums: Piano Covers, Vocal Harmony, and Classy. Piano Covers are my collection of pop/cinema music on the ivory keys, while Vocal Harmony is an amalgam of college acapella groups. Niche, but pretty fun to create and listen to. Classy is basically Piano Covers with string instruments.
That leaves me with Películas, a playlist that means “movies” in Spanish and is basically filled with Spanish Disney songs. As you can imagine, it barely gets the time of day. ¡Lo siento, Bella y Gastón!
It’s the first time I’ve ever shown most of these playlists to anybody else—maybe you found something you liked, more likely you didn’t. But considering our taste in music can give insight into our personalities, I think it’s worth it for everybody to take a look at their Spotify, Apple Music, or (hopefully not) Tidal accounts and take a deeper look. You might learn something about yourself.
Then again, I’m just a teenager with nine Spotify playlists. “What Do I Know?”
This was very well written and a great choice of topic! I make playlists a lot, whenever I’m stressed or have a particular thought or feeling on my mind. I will say I’m more of an Apple Music person than Spotify, and I’m very bad about updating past playlists, I normally just create more. That article you linked at the end was so interesting, it definitely made me examine what category I would fall under. I couldn’t decide since I listen to many different genres, and some of the descriptions were overlapping. What would you fall under? I have to wonder if it’s not the social perceptions about the different kinds of music that draws people to it, therefore creating the categories, rather than just our taste. For example, outgoing people may want to be more able to connect with others and therefore may listen to pop music since it’s what the majority of people are listening to. Great job on the article and I hope you keep up the playlists!
I completely understand your decision to just keep creating new playlists. To be honest, having nine seems like a lot, but there are a ton of songs that used to be in one of my playlists that I had to reluctantly cut–I’m pretty sure I could make four or five playlists filled only with songs that used to be in my current playlists! As far as my personality goes, I’m probably more of a pop person, but I do have a soft spot for jazz (I’m just not well-versed in it enough to curate my own playlist); I wish they also included a personality trait for movie music!
Wow, and I thought my taste in music was diverse. I’m so glad you shared about your playlists, you’re extremely organized when it comes to organizing your songs. I, on the other hand, have one playlist on Apple Music called “Random”, featuring 249 songs that could range anywhere from Taylor Swift to AC/DC to Broadway, thus the title. I also liked how you created your playlists based off of mood; I am definitely going to try creating one just to get me in a motivated/inspired mood. Thanks so much for sharing!