The clock strikes midnight. A new age is upon us. A new season. Gather your loved ones, your pets, a weird cashier you had a strange interaction with once. It’s happening. Sad Girl Winter is coming.
As any good director will tell you, a good soundtrack can change everything about a movie. So, it’s only right that once we enter this new season, we are well equipped with beautiful and fitting music to despondently look out a window to. I’m kidding! Not all of them are sad! Just don’t listen too hard to the lyrics. Here are my top six!
“THIS TIME” – TANUKICHAN
This song came on my phone as a Spotify recommendation and then proceeded to ruin my life. “This Time” speaks to the heartbreak about wanting something to work out so badly, that you refuse to listen to your previous mistakes. This song found me at a time when I had fallen for a boy who would not give me the time of day. Begging, hoping, it’ll be different this time. At the very least, this song has a fun beat to fall into the age old curse of doing the same thing and hoping for different results.
“END OF BEGINNING” – DJO
I found this song from a TikTok video exclaiming that “THE HOT GUY FROM STRANGER THINGS MAKES MUSIC?!”. Yes, apparently he does. “End of Beginning” sings about the longing to go back to a place you cannot visit anymore. Something that I’ve been feeling a lot of recently. With the changing of season and my birthday last month, all the growing and celebrating has brought a new, surprising, unfamiliar feeling. Mourning the loss of childhood.
“End of Beginning” has been speaking to my fears. I can’t go back to being a kid, unlearning the things I now know. But, there’s a specific lyric of this song that sticks out to me, “And when I’m back in Chicago, I feel it / Another version of me, I was in it”. Every now and then, something happens and childhood doesn’t seem so far away. Sometimes it’s a phone call with my sister, sometimes it’s hearing Tom Petty’s “Free Fallin” on some shop’s speaker and thinking of my dad. In those moments, I feel it.
“IT’S OUR LOVE” – THEE SACRED SOULS
“Thee Sacred Souls” is probably the biggest gem I’ve stumbled upon. This song feels like all the warm parts of winter. Like sipping hot chocolate, or sitting next to the cackling fire. This song warms up your soul. It feels like being in love in wintertime. Something I am unfamiliar with. Ha ha. Ha. (Not bitter.)
“A COUPLE THINGS” – KATE BOLLIGNER
Kate Bollinger is a gem. Her silky voice catches you in the first ten seconds and you’re hooked. “A Couple Things” is an addicting song with a chorus I catch myself humming throughout the day. This is the kind of winter song that puts a little pep in your step while walking to class in the morning. While the wind is cold enough to make your lungs feel on fire, at least you’ll be bobbing your frozen head to Bollinger’s sweet sounds.
“PHONE CALL” (from the soundtrack of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) – JON BRIOR
This song is a little different from the others on the list. Although it’s only an instrumental, it still says as much as the other songs without using any lyrics whatsoever. I first heard this song while watching a great wintertime movie, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. From its first feature in the background of a scene, it had me hooked and when winter comes around, it’s one of my favorite songs to listen to.
“GUESS WHO” – ALABAMA SHAKES
I first heard the sweet sounds of Alabama Shakes in the last scee of my favorite show, Fleabag. Since that first listen in 2019, the band has not left my regular rotation of music. “Guess Who” is a song that I recently came across. Softer than the other songs Alabama Shakes is known for, the song still packs a punch. I like to listen to this song coming back from my class. It’s easy listening but lead singer and guitarist Brittany Howards’ voice is so rich and cozy that it warms you up. I keep waiting for Alabama Shakes to get the world famous recognition they deserve, but until then, I hope they fill a place in your winter moring routines.