The Wrecks: an indie rock band that’s still pretty new within the last few years, their vibe is really great for working out or if you’re in need of a little confidence boost to get you through that presentation in your least favorite class.
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They only have two EP’s out with a total of eight songs so far, one called We Are The Wrecks in 2017, and another called Panic Vertigo just in the last couple months. Their most popular song, and one that really hit it off in Colorado because of the lyric “I remember waking up in Colorado,” is “Favorite Liar,” but my personal favorite and the one I think shows their vibe as a band the best is “James Dean” from their second EP.
The Pretty Reckless: headed by lead singer Taylor Momsen (that’s right, Cindy Lou Who from the live action How the Grinch Stole Christmas and Jenny from Gossip Girl is the lead singer of a rock band), they’ve been around since 2009 and are probably the most well established from this list. They bring something different to the playlist because their sound is a lot less indie/alternative but still fits in to the general vibes of the season.
- You probably know them from their biggest hits including “Make Me Wanna Die” and “Heaven Knows,” but there are a lot of great songs throughout their almost decade-long discography that fit a lot better for fall in my opinion.
- The ones I would recommend most strongly are “Just Tonight” and “My Medicine” from their first album Light Me Up, “Burn,” “Blame Me,” and “House on a Hill” from their second album Going to Hell, and “Who You Selling For” and “Prisoner” from their most recent album Who You Selling For.
- Honorable mention for “The Walls are Closing In/Hangman” and “The Devil’s Back” from Who You Selling For, which are both about seven minutes long.
Perfume Genius: this is an artist that’s been around since around 2010 that I’m actually still in the process of discovering and exploring, but from what I’ve listened to so far, he has songs across the spectrum from indie pop to indie rock with some alternative in there and a lot of sub-genres in between. No matter the genre I think that most of his discography has a vibe that’s really perfect for this hectic time of year to help with anxiety and general decompression when you get a moment to yourself, but it’s also great in general for cloudy days or a fall semester homework playlist.
- From his 2014 album Too Bright I’ve really been loving “Queen” and “Fool” for the last few weeks, and I also really love “Take Me Home,” “Dark Parts,” and “Hood” from his 2012 album Put Your Back N 2 It.
- From his first album Learning I’d definitely recommend “No Problem” and “Your Drum,” and from his most recent album No Shape I think that “Run Me Through,” “Valley,” and “Otherside” are the standouts.
- His music as a whole is really interesting and could fit a lot of different preferences and situations, so with this artist I’d recommend going through and picking out the songs that speak to you the most for your fall playlist.
King Princess: a brand-new artist, she just released her first EP, Make My Bed this year. I decided to include her in this list because I think all five of her songs are a really great addition to any fall playlist and she has a sound that’s a unique take on the alternative pop genre, but also because once she gets an album released she’ll probably be joining the ranks of Hayley Kiyoko and Tegan & Sara as something of a lesbian music icon which is pretty cool and important since LGBTQ representation in pop culture can be pretty lacking.
- Her most popular song is “1950,” which has close to 150 million hits on Spotify (probably because a lot of people have no idea she wrote it with queer women of that time period in mind), but I also really enjoy “Talia,” which is more of a breakup song, and “Holy,” which is slightly more NSFW with the lyrics but still has a cool sound to it.
- Even if you don’t personally identify as LGBTQ and can’t fully relate to the content of the lyrics, I still think the overall sound and vibe of King Princess is really perfect for the season and I’d still recommend adding a couple of her songs to your playlist.
Billie Eilish: another artist fairly new to the scene with only a few singles released per year from 2016-18, she’s perfect for more gloomy fall days when the sun doesn’t bother to come out.
- From 2016, I highly recommend “ocean eyes.” This one is pretty soft and slow, but it has a really nice alternative beat to it that makes it a pretty good addition to a fall homework playlist. It also did well enough to get remixed by four different artists, but the best one in my opinion is the Blackbear remix because the rap he wrote for it really goes right into the alternative vibe and doesn’t sound forced into the original music at all.
- From 2017, “my boy” and “bellyache” are probably my favorites because they’re pretty versatile and fit well in any setting for me, but she released an entire album called don’t smile at me that I’d recommend putting on shuffle whenever you’re in that kind of mood.
- From 2018, “you should see me in a crown” is the best of the three singles she released this year for me because it has a different sound to it than a lot of her other stuff and takes the general attitude from the rest of her music and takes it to the next level, and I think it’s perfect for Halloween time vibes.