5 Good Things: A Playlist for Your Moods
Compilations suited for lovers of soundtracks, David Byrne, Blackpink’s solo acts to Nina Simone
SUMMER FOR 1
Don’t be fooled by the button in the photo, the summer is actually about you. This summer marks my first time as a solo traveler. I’ve traveled for work alone, but never alone on holiday. I’ve picked a foreign city that I’ve been before, but not for many years. The last time I visited, I denied myself to be fully engaged with the culture and the language that I am around 80% fluent in simply because I had put my then-boyfriend’s interests ahead of my own. The time has come for me. I’m going to walk as leisurely as I want through neighborhoods without having to ask “are you tired” every few minutes. I will eat at quaint cafes for a quick meal and light reading. I’m going to take my time vintage shopping, sit at the bar for an early nightcap, eat delicious pastries without sharing.
But I also named this playlist “Summer for 1” as a reminder for discovery. Find something new about yourself. The summer months are for fun and pleasure, but it could also be the best time to heal from something. Play it safe. Surround yourself with those who enjoy your presence. And if you need to be alone, that’s okay too.
MUSIC WHILE READING
The point of having a good playlist to listen to while you’re reading is to help with the imagination. When you’re glued to a plot in the book, or even when you’re just getting to understand the main characters more closely, the right background music helps ignite emotions. I also think that music can help you engage faster to the story buildup than if you were reading silently. These handpicked songs relax you, but not put you to sleep, don’t worry it’s not the kind they play at the dentist office. Hopefully it allows your mind to escape to wherever the book takes you.
*reading mug is available to purchase here.
on my summer tbr list:
Good Material by Dolly Alderton - story revolves around Andy and Jen and their heartbreak and friendship
Girl, Woman, Other. by Bernadine Evaresto - about Black British families focusing mainly on the women and non-binary member of the family. I’ve heard the author’s writing style is sharp and quick-witted.
AESTHETICALLY PLEASING
The right amount of lo-fi to let people assume you were born with a good eye. What they forget is that you went through a Godard phase in college, but everyone assumed you were trying to copy Zooey Deschanel. And that still irks you. What you find aesthetically pleasing is all built on perspective. If you’re one who’s known to throw the aesthetic word around like a buzzword, you might enjoy it less than the person who can easily spend half a day at the art museum or rummage the shelves for photography books at a specialty bookstore.
Visual representation matters as much as your morning coffee. Maybe not as in the same jolt, but when you see something you love the look and feel of, it awakens something in you. Sometimes you find it in a Reel or a TikTok, and that’s totally fine, it counts. But a content video is so fleeting. Let this playlist make you crave something beautiful to look at, wherever that takes you.
MUSIC FOR CREATIVE PEOPLE
11 hours long and with a growing following, we’re glad so many creatives take a liking to this playlist. Music, coffee, tea, beer and other accoutrements are essential to many creative processes. This will always have a longer play time, because once you start a project, or reach a lightbulb stage, this playlist caters to that wondrous feeling of working for 3 hours or an entire day or night making something you love doing.
JAZZ FOR MODERN WOMEN
This playlist is only a day old. I wanted a jazz compilation that suited me, a little bit feminine, moody, mysterious and cozy. I wanted something that gave an illustrious old era feel, like the way Grace Kelly enters the apartment in Rear Window, but effortlessly poetic and chic like a beatnik girl from the 1950’s in Greenwich Village to early riser mornings with a Nespresso. A non-boring jazz playlist that travels through time. The stories it could tell.
The playlists are updated weekly or every other week, so give a follow and I do take requests from time to time.
Here’s to a good week ahead of you!
your dj,
DNAMAG
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