It’s crazy to think that what has felt like two weeks of school has actually been six weeks, with midterms fast approaching and right around the corner. This has led me to reflect on the fact that my sophomore year is drawing to a close and that I haven’t needed to pull any all-nighters this semester (yet). It is still early in the semester, and with the start of midterms, it does bring some anxiety about making sure that, unlike last semester, I better manage my study times by adding appropriate study blocks on my calendar. As easy as it is to stay up all night cramming for an exam or finishing a paper, after last semester, I cannot bring myself to stay up past 11:00 pm, with 12:00 am being the latest I’ll stay up on a weekday. This isn’t due to anything major other than the fact that I’m officially terrified of the consequences of lack of sleep.
This isn’t to say that I won’t pull any all-nighters going forward, because, if I’m being really honest, my test anxiety usually keeps me up. This is just me telling myself that the frequency with which I pull all-nighters has to decrease. So, to welcome healthier habits, I thought it would be comical to share some songs that kept me up during my caffeine-induced all-nighters!
“With You in My Head” – UNKLE (feat. The Black Angels)
I think every semester is worth remembering; however, my fall semester will probably be one that’ll stick with me, as it was when I began to get out of my comfort zone a little more and have many memorable experiences. But, along with the many great memories I made last semester, there were also many emotional surges. This was thanks to the fact that I decided to read the second book in the Twilight series, New Moon. I had no intention to actually start it, as I had decided to finish The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, but my bad habit of dropping one book and opening up another one led me to completely immerse myself in Bella and Jacob’s story. It didn’t help that YouTube hosted a week-long Twilight movie marathon in celebration of the first book’s 20th anniversary. It further influenced me to pick up the book.
No hate, but when Edward came back, it was hard to finish the book, seeing as Bella’s thoughts immediately shifted back to focusing on Edward, dismissing all the growth and self-discovery she had made. To cope with the literal heartache this caused me, I revisited the Twilight soundtracks and found that “With You in My Head” stuck out the most to me. I have always enjoyed the Twilight soundtracks due to their heavy use of various Indie-rock artists. There were some tracks that I skipped when I was younger, this song being one of them. The hypnotic, almost dreamlike sound was what had drawn me in; it wasn’t as much the lyrics that captivated me as the echo and spaciousness of the song, which made me play it on a loop when studying for exams. This song especially helped me to reach a consistent flow state, making mandatory all-nighters much easier to get through.
Plastilina Mosh
Formed in 1997, Plastilina Mosh is a Mexican rock band that, rather than sticking to one sound, experiments with several instruments and electronic sounds. I first heard about the band when watching Y Tu Mamá También, when one of the movie’s main characters mentions the band right before the start of a comedic argument. Other than that, I never had the interest to look into the band until one of their songs came up in my autoplay. Unlike other music that I get intrigued by, whether it be due to its lyrics or instrumentals, this song just caught me by surprise. I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s party music, though some songs may qualify, but it definitely has humorous lyrics and a playful way of presenting songs. Their songs also helped me maintain the energy to continue studying, keeping me up and alert when I seriously needed to lock in. If the vibes were ever low or my coffee/energy drink wasn’t helping, Plastilina Mosh definitely helped wake me up and keep me in a positive mood.
“Monkey Gone To Heaven” – Pixies
At the start of every all-nighter, I have to get myself into a “zone.” A joke I have with myself that I tell my friends is that, when I study, I romanticize to the point of almost becoming delusional (of course, this is an exaggeration). I usually do this by going on YouTube and looking for videos that provide ambient sounds. One of my favorite YouTube channels to go to is TV Ambience, where I usually choose to “Study with Bella” or “Study with Rory.” Some videos provide a Pomodoro timer, which would also be helpful for those who may use this study method.
Of course, there are times when not even these videos help me properly lock in; sometimes it can be due to the fact that I decided to pull an all-nighter, while other times I simply can’t sit still and concentrate. When this method doesn’t work, I go back on Spotify and look up character playlists, like “Lane Kim’s CD collection.” If you’ve watched Gilmore Girls, you know Lane has an extensive collection of CDs, ranging from heavy metal to pop; though the show suggests that rock tends to be the most prominent genre within her collection. This is how I was introduced to The Pixies. I could not tell you what this song was about, other than that, for some reason, it (on loop) helps me get through the initial hour of an all-nighter. Starting something is always the hardest part for me, whether I’m staying up or not, so songs like this, and even Nirvana’s songs, are what help me get through that hesitance to start.
“Cherry-Coloured Funk” – Cocteau Twins
As fun as it was, my junior year of high school was truly one of my most stressful years, which was something I refused to believe the summer prior to entering my third year. The only way I got through the year was by romanticizing the workload, and music truly helped with that. That is why songs like “Cherry-Coloured Funk” and “The Bakery” by Arctic Monkeys give me a sense of almost bittersweet nostalgia. I first heard this song in the spring semester, toward the end of my junior year, just as I began to panic over the fact that I was going into my final summer as a high schooler. Needless to say, it not only helped me get through the last few semesters of high school, but it has also helped me get through the last few lectures I would need to go over before my exams.
Fortunately, lyrics don’t distract me as much as they used to, like my first year, but it’s often recommended to study to music that has little to no lyrics for better memory retention. Cocteau Twins does just that, as the vocalist doesn’t exactly sing using words, instead using what one can assume to be gibberish. This is something I didn’t know when listening to “Heaven or Las Vegas.” There are some cases, like this song, where certain words can be identified, but in most cases, the “lyrics” don’t add much to the song’s meaning, or they are simply there for sound.
For example, the first verse reads:
Beetles and eggs and blues and pour a little everything else
You steam a lens stable eyes and glass
Not get pissed off through my bird lips as good news
“Persiana Americana” and “Cuando Pase el Temblor” – Soda Stereo
Of course, I had to list two of Soda Stereo’s most well-known songs. These two songs did keep me up, but more because I had to stay up. I had these songs and their other top 20 songs playing on loop as I was actually writing a paper about the band for my music class. Outside of listening to the band at home or in the car, I never took the time to listen to their songs. When I played their music to write my paper about them, I felt a sense of nostalgia, as though I were a little girl listening to the song in my mom’s car while she drove. This was when my all-nighters began to feel a little more isolating; I began to realize that, while I was up, everyone in my dorm was most likely asleep, giving me the eerie feeling that I was the only one walking around the building. So, to have music I knew from when I was a kid felt a little more comforting at the time.
The upbeat vibe also gave me more of a sense of urgency to finish and go to sleep, which ended up working.
“Listen Up” – Oasis
In general, I dislike finals. More specifically, fall finals. I’m not sure if it’s the weather or just the holidays, but something about fall finals makes them feel scarier than spring finals. These past fall finals felt like I was not going to make it, and I think that’s partly due to the fact that all my finals last semester were projects. I wouldn’t have minded if at least some of my other finals were exams. I can never truly decide if I would prefer to have a project over an exam. I think a mix of projects and finals is better, but that may just be me; however, most of the time, depending on the class, I would prefer an exam over a project.
All in all, my fall finals had me running on fumes. The only thing that kept me going, aside from coffee and adrenaline, was Oasis on repeat every day of finals. I listened to their music while I worked on my projects, wrote my papers, and walked to and from my classes. The song that I had queued constantly was “Listen Up,” as the chorus and the guitar had caught my attention. I think it perfectly encapsulated how finals week felt, along with the frustrating cold/hot weather Texas was having that last week of the semester.
Conclusion
All-nighters can be easy to pull, especially if you’re already used to not sleeping. There were points during the past semester when I would unintentionally stay up too long, so that, by the time I was ready to sleep, I would just stay up because I was afraid of struggling to wake up for an early class. I do think that, at some point, all college students go through having to force themselves to stay up all night. I think it’s sometimes inevitable due to the heavy workload. To tell someone to improve their time management is easier said than done; however, I think strategies like adding time blocks throughout your day or week and even changing your study method can help. Maybe you can concentrate for two hours and have a break, or you can concentrate for one hour with a 10-minute break in between.
Whichever way you decide to structure your day, just make sure to get your sleep, with seven hours being the daily goal.