Calling all Spotify users; the best new way to listen to music has arrived, and it is life-changing. I happened upon the daylist feature while aimlessly scrolling through the “made for you” section, frustrated with my inability to find anything I wanted to listen to. After discovering the daylist, I’ve been using it incessantly for the past couple of weeks, and it is now my favourite way to find new music and artists that align with the genres I already like, as well as a way to listen to a very specific mood of music that’s been carefully curated based on my preferences.
The daylist is a playlist that updates frequently throughout the day, shifting the mood and genre of the songs each time depending on what you typically listen to during certain times of the day, whether on your morning commute, studying in the library, or just chilling in your room. Each playlist is extremely specific and is labeled after each update with a unique title that encapsulates the mood on each list. You are also able to save every daylist to your library, so you have the opportunity to listen to it at any given time.
It feels as though Spotify has an FBI agent in my phone, as it always crafts playlists that correlate to exactly what I’m feeling or what’s going on in my life. For instance, on rainy St Andrews days (which are frequent,) I often get titles like “Mellow Rainy Day,” or “Yearning Rain,” which always includes an elite selection of my favourite gloomy day tunes. This could include anything from All Too Well (10-minute version) by Taylor Swift, to any song on Adele’s discography, to the Twilight playlist. Often when I’m writing, whether it’s a Her Campus article or for one of my classes, I get playlists entitled, “Fearful Writer,” or “Writer Folklore,” which always put me in a productive and peaceful headspace. I often get a combination of Taylor Swift, Lana Del Ray, and Olivia Rodrigo on these playlists, as well as folksy music, including songs from The Lumineers, Hozier, Noah Kahan, and Caamp. If I’m feeling homesick for the U.S. and fall into an endless loop of Zach Bryan, I’ll get titles like, “Cowboy Punchy Afternoon” or “Texas Country Roots.” On the sporadic occasions when I channel my middle school theater kid roots and listen to some show tunes, I’ll get a whole playlist of Broadway numbers called “Theater Geek Afternoon,” or “Theater Musicals Morning.”
While the daylist is a deeply individualised feature, my favourite part about it is how it keeps my friends and me connected. Upon discovering and becoming obsessed with our daylists, my friends and I now religiously send each other our titles back and forth throughout the day. It’s a great way to keep us connected throughout our separate days, while also providing insight into how we are all all feeling depending on the title of the lists. I’ll always know my flatmate is struggling with her maths modules when she sends a simple, “Rage Angry Monday Evening,” in the group chat, or if the other is working out at the gym when she sends something like, “Powerful Viral Monday Evening.” We often cycle through each other’s daylists when listening to music together on the flat speaker, which is another great way for us to discover each other’s specific music tastes, while also finding new music we could potentially enjoy.
Some of my favorite songs I’ve encountered that have been on repeat since I discovered this feature are “Lady by the Sea” by Steven Sanchez, “Casual” by Chappell Roan, and “I’ll Get the Coffee,” by Kathryn Gallagher, just to name a few. I would recommend checking those out, as well as using the daylist as a way to find new music that fits with the genres you love.
Some of the daylist titles can get pretty abstract, and another fun activity I enjoy doing with my friends is to predict what kind of music is going to be on the playlist solely after reading the title. For instance, it took us a while to decipher what we thought “Masterpiece Cat Monday Evening,” entailed, which ended up being almost entirely made up of Taylor Swift songs (which I am not complaining about).
Ultimately, the daylist feature is a creative, enjoyable, and immersive new way to listen and discover new music based on your specific preferences and moods. Whether it’s an “Alone Breakdown Morning,” “Hazy Floaty Afternoon,” or “Relaxing Vampire Night,” this platform allows you to channel all of the emotions and mood shifts you experience throughout the day set to your favourite kind of music. It is both an individual and social listening experience that will brighten your days and enhance your already fabulous playlists. Happy listening!