Driving late at night can be extremely therapeutic. Whether you’re coming home late from work, studying, or even just taking some time for yourself, the overall calm of the dark sky and street lights is an experience we often take for granted. In this article, I will be providing eight songs that I heavily recommend for any late-night drive, or even studying session. Enjoy!
A Little While by Yellow Days
This song features an extremely catchy but calming vibe that makes it easy to enjoy. Though, I believe the true prize of this song is the vocals. The deep, raspy voice of the artist provides the true emotion to the song and is the reason I find myself often playing this song on repeat.
Apocalypse by Cigarettes After Sex
This song has a very melancholic feel to it whenever I listen to this song, which is sometimes fitting for a late-night drive. Even if you aren’t feeling particularly sad on a certain night, this song is also incredibly gentle and soothing and deserves a fair chance the next time you find yourself studying or driving late at night.
Cherry by Harry Styles
No playlist is complete without a song by the beloved Harry Styles. While the artist does have an array of extremely cheerful songs, his talent both lyrically and artistically particularly stands out for me in this song. This song can either keep me calm or put me in a perpetual state of sobbing. The duality this song provides is a big reason why this is in my playlist.
Cherry Flavoured by The Neighbourhood
This song provides the same level of calm that Apocalypse provides, with a more upbeat tone in the song. While the lyrics may still hit home at times, just driving to this song is incredibly therapeutic and I highly recommend remembering to add this to the queue next time you grab your car keys at night.
Coma Culture by Coma Culture
The absolute chokehold this song has on me is ridiculous. This song is so mesmerizing to me and it is constantly on repeat for me. This particular piece of music is a great choice if you are looking for something calm and won’t send you into an episode of extreme sadness. I would argue that this song has the intense versatility that makes it great for day or night.
Fireworks by Mitski
This song makes me want to speed and sob at the same time. This song definitely is quite different from the other songs in this playlist in the sense that it doesn’t exactly provide a tranquil feeling. While I love this song and listen to it a lot, when I take the time to listen to the lyrics I realize how emotional this song really is. At points in the song, the volume gets louder and louder as the lyrics paint a picture of someone recognizing the things that used to trigger intense emotions for them before they became numb to the pain and sadness. No playlist is complete without my girl Mitski.
Sugar for the Pill by Slowdive
I recently discovered this song and I haven’t gotten sick of it yet, despite constantly playing it on repeat. While I haven’t taken the time to read the lyrics myself, I can confidently say you don’t need to know or understand the lyrics in order to feel the power this song has. This particular piece of music feels like a gloomy, rainy day where you take time to yourself, which I have found provides a moment of reflection.
The Gold by Manchester Orchestra and Phoebe Bridgers
This version sung by Phoebe Bridgers is personally my favorite, compared to the original. The reason I find Phoebe’s version to be better is that it contains softer guitar notes in the background compared to an intense electric guitar from the original. Along with that, Phoebe’s voice is extremely calming and definitely soothing. If you want a song for intense emotions, you may like the original. For something more calming, however, Phoebe’s version is the way to go.
I hope somewhere in this list of songs you find an artist or specific piece of music that you’ll love! Remember to drive safely and take care of yourself.