If the growing line at Starbucks, pumpkins down Newbury St., and ominous sicknesses in Little Building haven’t already clued you in, let me be the first: we’re officially in our fall 2023 era. Fall is the official marking that summer is now in our rearview mirror, and personally, I am stoked. For the other Scream and pumpkin chai fans, I have five songs to add to your fall playlist for those main-character-mysterious-girl-walks through the Boston Common.
“ballad of a homeschooled girl” ~ Olivia Rodrigo
Since the other songs on this list are gonna be lowkey depressing (pharbs, I see you), I needed to start off with a fun one. I’m biased since I was homeschooled, but this is one of my favorites off of Olivia’s latest album GUTS. Playing this song through my Sony headphones while running late for my 8 a.m. not only wakes me up but makes me feel like a 2023 Kat Stratford … if she didn’t have a smoking hot boyfriend. This song is good for all of my theater girls who lived their own Ladybird plotline and fell for a gay boy or are simply painfully awkward. As an Olivia girl, I cannot recommend this song enough – I even incorporated it into my first-ever college essay.
“All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (Taylor’s Version) (From The Vault)” ~ Taylor Swift
One second, cracking my knuckles after typing that title. OK, would this even be a fall playlist without ATW10MVTVFTV? The beginning of this song is fall. Every single time I hear it I am transported back to chai cookies, red lipstick, Sadie Sink, and Dylan O’Brien. I almost didn’t add it because of the assumption that everybody already has it in their Spotify queue, but I had to in case someone needed their life changed today. The song is sad, but it is more upbeat than Taylor’s other tearjerkers, and Red is a no-skip album, especially for fall. Of course, any Folklore song is very fall to me (except maybe “August”…) but some might be too depressing to listen to in public.
“I Know The End” ~ Phoebe Bridgers
Phoebe is my personally elected president of fall music. The skeleton outfits, black lipstick, the boygenius aesthetic … I just love her and her music. Most of her songs are fall-coded, but “I Know The End” really brings it home for me because of the screams (iykyk, and if you don’t know, go listen and find out please). An honorable mention is of course “Halloween” from Punisher – the same album this song belongs to!
“Zinnias – Recorded At Electric Lady Studios” ~ Clairo
If you were waiting for a Clairo mention in this list, let’s be friends. Clairo grew up in Mass., and I even know people who were in the same graduating class as her in high school! Clairo is one of my current favorites, and this song is a good pick-me-up after the last one. The song is pretty vibey, but the lyrics are very sweet. “Alewife” is of course an honorable mention since Emerson is sort of near there! Side note: any of Clairo’s songs recorded at Electric Lady are 10/10. All credit to my sister Eileen (a HerCampus icon) for putting me on to this song!
“Poison Poison” ~ Reneé Rapp
Reneé has taken the world by storm this past year after her iconic role as Leighton on The Sex Lives of College Girls along with her amazing new music. My sister introduced me to Reneé years ago, and while I wanted to gatekeep her for theater kid purposes, she’s too talented. You were probably expecting Reneé’s “I Hate Boston” anthem for this list, but this song is even better, and I take no Boston slander. The song is also funny, and a good anthem for girls who try to stay feminist 24/7 but are high-key impatient AF.
Whether you hate all of these songs (don’t tell me if you do) or will now obsess over all five, I hope you enjoyed reading these recs. These are all no-skip for me, and I am a particularly picky player on Spotify. If you have any recs for me or additional playlist ideas, let me know!