I Made You A Playlist

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I MADE YOU A PLAYLIST, Vol. 17: "Windbreaker" 🌬

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I MADE YOU A PLAYLIST, Vol. 17: "Windbreaker" 🌬

Do you think I have forgotten about you?

Natalie Schumann
Dec 4, 2022
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It’s me, hi. đŸ‘‹đŸŒ I’m so sorry it’s been a CENTURY but really I swear August was just yesterday and it was 94 degrees and I was movin’ and groovin’ to “Hot Honey” like I had all the time in the world before 2023 would be anywhere near in-focus.

And then?!!! Would you believe?!!! I blinked, fall flew (as it always does), and I’m sitting here at 5:46 pm on December 1, utterly shocked by the darkness and coldness and overall grayness that has descended upon us.

Nevertheless, we persist, and I’m thrilled to be back with some tunes and other miscellany to help you muddle through (or totally thrive! who am I to say?) this fall-to-winter transition time.

First, some important outerwear inspo courtesy of George Harrison and Eric Clapton:

It’s giving The Revenant (plus drugs/minus the frostbite and bear attack)

Oh, hold on—I have some quick business to attend to before we get to the main event. This is my favorite song off of Midnights, this has the hardest-hitting lyrics (“I search the party of better bodies, just to learn that my dreams aren’t rare”), this one is the most fun, and this is the most the only sonically surprising song on the whole entire project.

Okay glad we got that taken care of. Now grab your coffee/tea/hot beverage of choice and let’s get into the rest of it.


LISTEN

The 1975 - “About You”

“Do you think I have forgotten about you?” Honestly, how dare Matty Healy write a chorus so heartbreakingly simple and perfect. And this bridge!!! Ugh.

Re: The 1975 in general
 the ones who get it, get it, and the ones who don’t, don’t. Either way, I completely 100% understand. But I, for one, get it, and I’m happy to tell you that their latest album, Being Funny In A Foreign Language, lives up to any and all hype you may have encountered on the ‘tok or the ‘gram (or Twitter, RIP) or anywhere else.

Zach Bryan - “Starved (Live from Detroit)”

I—along with the rest of the world—climbed aboard the Zach Bryan train (bandwagon? rocket ship?) this year. His whole 34-song American Heartbreak album is worth a listen, but the lyricism on his recent single “Starved” low-key blew me away more than any song on the full album. (I mean
 first we’ve got “I love when your grin grows / the corners of your lips lifting lift me when I’m low” and then he really brings it home with “the kindest parts of my mind are you and me.” đŸ„Č Is he kidding?)

Note/disclaimer: I stopped by his set at Bonnaroo in June just for kicks. Like, I didn’t know a single song and I was admittedly super skeptical of his whole schtick and totally rolled my eyes at the absolute chokehold he’s had on every 20-something male I’ve interacted with in the last year
 but I’ve rarely seen a crowd so completely transfixed by and invested in a sweaty dude singing very emo, earnest songs on his acoustic guitar, so I went home and did my homework and now here we are. He made the newsletter. Sorry I’m late to the party, thanks for letting me tag along!

+ more recent faves:

How Will I Know If Heaven Will Find Me? by The Amazons — Spotify | Apple

Earnest arena rock is back, baby! The Amazons’ latest album is cute and wholesome with justttt enough grit to counteract the sweetness. I love “Say It Again,” “Northern Star,” and most of all, “How Will I Know?".

Cub by WUNDERHORSE — Spotify | Apple

I found this on TikTok one random afternoon, pressed play five minutes later, and then couldn’t listen to anything else for the 48-ish hours that followed. “Poppy” is the one.

El Bueno Y El Malo by HERMANOS GUTIÉRREZ — Spotify | Apple

Chill. Hypnotic. Vibey, sexy, complex, transportive... All the good things. 10/10 recommend.

Loose Future by COURTNEY MARIE ANDREWS — Spotify | Apple

My favorite collection from her yet. The title track is so fun, but “On The Line,” “Satellite,” and “These Are The Good Old Days” are where things really get good.

Abbey Road Lonely by JOHN CRAIGIE — Spotify | Apple

A blast and a half! Come for the songs stay for the dad jokes! Although I will say his version of “Here Comes the Sun” made me cry, so be warned of some potential feels.

Here Goes Nothing! by ADAM MELCHOR — Spotify | Apple

Woof. What a perfectly wistful autumn album. “Cry,” “Touch And Go,” “I’m Afraid I Love You,” and “Rest Of My Night” are my must-listens, but the Fleet Foxes feature is also top-notch.

Other notables: “mad at me” by Samia, “Love What You Lose” by Cecilia Glenn, “Life According to Raechel” by Madison Cunningham, “It’s Alright” by Cecilia Castleman, and “flowers” by joan.

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WATCH

Apropos of nothing, here is one of my favorite music videos ever. I rewatch it roughly once a month and it always makes me feel good/better/ready to take on the world.

I recently watched Sheryl Crow’s documentary on a flight back from L.A., and I can’t recommend it enough. I’ve always known her biggest songs but never knew anything about her background/career, and
 ???! Her life story is pretty insane, and the whole Tuesday Night Music Club —> Self-Titled — Globe Sessions —> C’mon C’mon four-album run remains absolutely mind-blowing.

I also devoured the third season of Love Is Blind (extremely mediocre), I’m deep into Sex Lives of College Girls (mostly ridiculous), and just started White Lotus (jury still out, stay tuned).


READ

Big news! I beat my way-too-easy 2022 Goodreads reading challenge. 🏆 (Side note: Let’s be Goodreads friends.) Recent favorites include Emily Henry’s Book Lovers and Emma Straub’s This Time Tomorrow, and a few months ago I finally finished R. Eric Thomas’ supremely funny/heartfelt/important collection of essays, Here For It: Or, How To Save Your Soul In America, after bringing it with me on nearly every trip I’ve taken over the past year or so. (Sorry to all my plane seat neighbors who had to deal with the frequent lols.) Bonus: His free newsletter is fantastic, too.

I’m currently listening to Dana Stevens’ Camera Man: Buster Keaton, the Dawn of Cinema, and the Invention of the Twentieth Century, which is making me miss high school history classes, and I’m slowly tackling Joe Coscarelli’s Rap Capital: An Atlanta Story in very bite-sized chapter-by-chapter chunks. (The rumors are true, she’s a non-fiction girlie these days. đŸ€“)

Up next: Tomorrow, And Tomorrow, And Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin.


PLAY

Drumroll please
 I’m proud to present my Fall 2022 playlist! In December! Oops. Like I said, fall flew right on by with no regard for my personal schedule.

So, the theme. **There isn’t really a theme, she whispers anxiously.** Except maybe there is? I promise I don’t have a hidden meaning or clever sequencing for you to decipher this time around, but somehow, these songs all seem to have the heart/muscle/energy/backbone to help me steel myself against the colder, grayer days ahead. I guess you could say this playlist has big pre-hibernation energy.

The tracks are tender, fun, confident at times but often more reserved and tentative, a little sad, and occasionally the slightest bit ominous. Perfect to stream while you’re switching out your closet or fluffing up last year’s flattened fur hoods before taking a pre-dusk walk, simultaneously hating the damp chill and reveling in the fact that you’re no longer sweating every time you venture outside. This playlist blends some seriously deep feels and quiet contemplation with delicious crispy-crunchy drums, cranked-up guitars, and a few choice throwbacks that remind me of riding the bus to school in my North Face fleece, uniform skirt, and tights with my iPod nano in hand and hair still wet from swim practice the night before.

Anyway, I tried my absolute hardest to overthink this one, but in the end it’s simply a good windy day mix. Hopefully it’s blowing across your path just in time to soundtrack the moodier moments of the last month of the year.

“Windbreaker”

  1. swan song - Victoria Canal

  2. Daydreamer - Adele

  3. Suddenly I See - KT Tunstall

  4. Goalkeeper - Chinese Football

  5. Horsegirl - Overcoats

  6. Overdrive - Maggie Rogers

  7. Fireproof - One Direction

  8. If I Needed Someone - The Beatles

  9. Harvard - Briston Maroney

  10. god damn shame - Harry Strange

  11. Moving - Ethansroom

  12. Limbo Bitch - Samia

  13. The Glass Widow in the Glass Window - Wild Pink

  14. Mulholland Dr. - Bartees Strange

  15. Burning Up Slow - Cautious Clay

  16. Stay Out Of It - Michigander

  17. Loose Future - Courtney Marie Andrews

  18. Like She Does - Dayglow

  19. Part Of The Band - The 1975

  20. Pulling Teeth - Alix Page

  21. End of Beginning - Djo

  22. Grace - Marcus Mumford

  23. Killer Queen (What I Need) - Goldpark feat. Bre Kennedy

  24. Listerine - Cece Coakley

  25. Honey - Maggie Rogers

  26. Blue Sky - Patty Griffin

  27. It’s Too Late - Lucy Dacus

  28. Bottle It Up - Sara Bareilles

  29. knuckle tattoo - girlhouse

  30. Trick Candle - Ryann

  31. Purple - Wunderhorse

  32. Say It Again - The Amazons

  33. Climber - TOLEDO

  34. When We Are Together - The 1975

  35. Honey - The Lone Bellow

  36. Cry - Adam Melchor

  37. How to Save a Life - The Fray

  38. The Future is Dead - Ken Yates

  39. How Close We Came - Dan Croll

  40. About You - The 1975

Follow the full playlist here:

Or here if you use Apple Music!

And if you need more fall-winter tunes, here is last year’s playlist and the year before’s, both of which really hold up if I do say so myself.


Thanks for hanging! Hope you find a song that makes you feel cozy and protected, like the perfect coat + sweater combo. See you very soon for some 2022 favorites
 👀

Natalie

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