Pandemic Playlist: badbadgood
Jack Stauber, holding a CD for his 2018 album “HiLo”
In this week’s pandemic playlist, we look for light in the darkness.
After three, four, five months in quarantine—I really could not tell you how long it has been—it’s starting to feel like time does not exist. Luckily for my sanity, I’ve somehow managed to keep busy between work and internships and art projects that I never had the time for before the world closed in on itself. As summer draws to a close and I reach 21 years of being (the last milestone of adolescence, mind you), I can’t help but reflect on this trainwreck of a year and the hidden gems I’ve salvaged from the rubble.
When I sat down to gather songs for this playlist, I was surprised to learn that my “s/s” playlist, which contains an amalgamation of songs I’ve discovered since the spring, was mostly filled with upbeat, happy-go-lucky songs. I realized that, in spite of all the horrors that plague the world, this is the happiest I’ve been in a long time. I don’t say this to erase the very real, very upsetting hardships that people have endured; rather, I recognize the privilege of being left unscathed by a burning house.
“Buttercup” by Jack Stauber kicks off the playlist with funky synth lines and a bubbly melody. The song has become a TikTok sensation, providing a feel-good soundtrack for a variety of at-home projects. I’m a bit ashamed—but also, a bit proud—to admit that I have learned a lot from the social media app this summer. Thanks to TikTok, I have adopted five houseplants, bought watercolors, started composting, learned to propagate plant cuttings, and started dancing again. A part of me feels too old to be learning TikTok dances with my housemates in my living room, but it feels good to let my inner child take over sometimes. After all, I haven’t got anything better to do.
The lighthearted energy of the opening track flows throughout the rest of the playlist, with “Mariposa” by Peach Tree Rascals and “Good Old Days” by Blue Rain Boots easily following its lead. These two songs have been on loop, both on Spotify and in my head, for several weeks now, and even the torrential rain and gloom of hurricane season can’t put a damper on their effervescence.
As our days of stay-at-home orders trail on, “Meet Me at Our Spot” by THE ANXIETY gives me hope that I will someday be able to enjoy public spaces again. A collaborative project between Willow Smith and Tyler Cole, the track is reminiscent of my teenage years in California, spent driving around with friends searching for something to do: “When we take a drive / Maybe we can hit the 405 / Hypnotized by the lights / Man, this must be the life.” Although the boredom of adolescence has shifted to become something slightly more existential, it’s a comforting reminder to myself that not everything has to be something greater. It can simply be.
After Phoebe Bridgers’ “Kyoto,” the playlist diverges towards a more raucous path beginning with “Blue Again” by Weakened Friends. This female-fronted band reckons with “mid-20s malaise” and “the feeling of being young, stuck, and settling for less,” according to their Spotify biography. The fuzz rock track acts as a brilliant anthem for young adulthood, and singer Stonia Sturino speaks directly to my soul as they mutter, “Anyway I liked me better / When I wasn't so insecure.”
As the playlist comes to a close, the momentum only grows. The chaos feeds itself as tempos increase and cymbals crash. In my few years of faux adulthood, I’ve learned that it is oftentimes much more efficient to embrace the entropy, rather than trying to put it to rest. In such a big and crazy world, maybe insignificant isn’t the worst thing to be.
