Music is a powerful tool that can be essential to remaining grounded as we navigate life. It is wondrous the impact it can have on our mindset and perception of the world. The music we listen to holds significant weight in shaping how we manage issues and celebrate our successes. Music can be transporting, an escape for many to another world.
It can also work as a time machine, sending listeners back to a particular era of their life. I am a sucker for nostalgia, whether it is bittersweet or not. I know it is not ideal to dwell on the past, but I guess my guilty pleasure is reminiscing. I love getting lost in ideations of what used to be and what could have been. Music is my way to process things and escape them. I have developed a routine of documenting the songs I’m loving into monthly playlists. I think you should, too.
Firstly, monthly playlists are a convenient place to store music you are currently jamming to without having to designate it to a specific genre or playlist. I often struggle with maintaining playlists that pertain to a particular feeling. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE assigning songs to a moody playlist. Yet, sometimes I just want to catalog a song without needing it to fulfill requirements to qualify a spot on the playlist. A monthly playlist has no rules, it’s simply a place to put songs that you are vibing with. It’s the playlist you can put on in the background, knowing all the songs you are drawn to this month will play.
Music is congruent with phases. I’m the type of person who overplays a song until it’s worn out. Sometimes I’ll hear a song, and will be transported to the time of my life where it was on REPEAT. Upkeeping a playlist each month essentially allows me to document this, and store the phase in a tangible playlist.
One playlist I always find myself circling back to is my “september 2019” one. It is a time capsule of my first month at college. As I walked to class and explored the expansive campus of UMass, I expanded my music taste. There is a particular mix of pre-game songs, mellow beats, and throwback classics. If you are so inclined to listen, here it is (shameless self-promo).
And while I don’t necessarily adore listening to the playlist I curated during the month of my breakup, it is still an archive of a time wherein I persevered and grew despite it all. The playlist I made during March 2020 captures the descent into quarantine through music ranging from quintessential college bops to existential ballads. Documenting my evolution through music has proved to be therapeutic, and offers me a new perspective on how to interpret the world around me.
You may find creating a playlist every month to be tedious. Yet, it allows for a fresh start as we enter a new month. It offers a chance to break free from last month’s musical routine and dive into a new chronicle of songs. Curating a playlist every month offers a new method of documenting time and all the memories that coincide.
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