I MADE YOU A PLAYLIST, Vol. 23: I Am Right On Time 🕛
2024 in review
“I am right on time,” she types confidently in the subject line, as she prepares to send her one (1) single measly dispatch of the entire past year — a day late and, as of this morning when January rent was due, many dollars short. (Kidding. Sort of.)
The line is from the lead track on the latest Bleachers album, which I blasted through my AirPods in March while scoping out Brooklyn neighborhoods and again back in Nashville while packing up my apartment and again, most memorably, the day I moved to the city as I walked to get pizza from the place on Atlantic my friend Katie took me to last fall.
It’s ironic on multiple levels (let’s just say I’m not usually the first one at the dinner res) but despite the twice-edited ETAs, the subway delays, all of my optimistic under- and overestimations… I promise you this year I felt completely, totally, 100% exactly right on time.
We were sitting on a bench on the Brooklyn Heights Promenade. It was Memorial Day weekend, I had just moved to New York two weeks prior, and my parents took the train to visit me for the day. We were eating sandwiches and staring across the river at all of Manhattan when my mom said out of nowhere, “I can’t believe you did this.”
Girl. Join the club. It’s been seven-ish months now (a nanosecond, I know, but feels significant nonetheless) and I still can’t believe it. It’s funny to feel so wildly sure about something while simultaneously having zero idea about anything I’m doing and having daily out-of-body experiences during the most mundane tasks, like laundry, because it’s not just laundry anymore it’s Laundry in New York at the Laundromat Down The Block and god is my life a movie?! My life is a movie.
Anyway, the move sort of took over the year, and along with it my entire personality, but if you’ve ever moved to New York or known someone who has moved to New York you understand that complete surrender is kind of the only option.
All this to say — I am officially a living, breathing, fast-walking Girl Moves To New York City And Romanticizes Every Single Thing cliché, and thank GOODNESS, because it’s actually the best?
Here are some favorite film shots from December. (The first one is the view from my living room, can you believe!)
I love it here.
Favorite Albums
Okay let’s get to the TUNES! These are the albums that kept me company in the car and on the subway and on so, so many walks this year, presented in loose chronological order:
Faith Crisis Pt 1 — Middle Kids
Spotify | Apple
📍 Nashville, February, scrolling StreetEasy and Craigslist for cheap NYC apartments
🎧 “Bootleg Firecracker,” “The Highlands,” “Your Side, Forever,” “All In My Head”
Eternal Sunshine — Ariana Grande
Spotify | Apple
📍 NYC, March, walking around in the late winter sun giving myself a crash course in Brooklyn neighborhoods
🎧 “supernatural,” “the boy is mine,” “we can’t be friends (wait for your love)”
The Tortured Poets Department — Taylor Swift
Spotify | Apple
📍 Nashville, 2 am CT on release night / The 11 hour drive from TN to PA a month later
🎧 “Clara Bow,” “Fresh Out The Slammer,” “So High School,” “Guilty As Sin?”
Bleachers — Bleachers
Spotify | Apple
📍 NYC, moving day, walking around my new neighborhood with “I Am Right On Time” on loop
🎧 “I Am Right On Time,” “Call Me After Midnight,” “Ordinary Heaven”
Garden State Vampire — Joe P
Spotify | Apple
📍 Brooklyn Bridge Park, Pier 3, August, 8:30 pm
🎧 “Off My Mind,” “Everybody’s Different,” “She’s So Good”
Late Start — Carol Ades
Spotify | Apple
📍 Manhattan-bound F Train, September, trench coat season
🎧 “Everything Else is Just Noise,” “A Place You Can Meet Me,” “Late Start,”
Smiling Through The Pain — Swimming Paul
Spotify | Apple
📍 Manhattan-bound Q train, October
🎧 “Vhs,” “Trust Again,” “Say Something”
Talker — Wilderado
Spotify | Apple
📍 Prospect Park, October, orange trees and wearing one layer too few
🎧 “What Were You Waiting For,” “In Between,” “Bad Luck”
Things Were Never Good If They’re Not Good Now — Donovan Woods
Spotify | Apple
📍 Amtrak, NYC to Philly, gray November
🎧 “Well Read,” “116 West Main, Durham NC,” “Living Well,” “Trompsingel (Another Life)”
Honorable Mentions: Lola Young This Wasn’t Meant For You Anyway, Sabrina Carpenter Short n’ Sweet, Charlie xcx brat, Vince Staples Dark Times, Dora Jar No Way To Relax When You Are On Fire, Oasis What’s The Story Morning Glory, Lily Kershaw Pain & More, Caity Krone Nose Job, Remi Wolf Big Ideas, Kendrick Lamar GNX
Favorite Things I Overheard When I Wasn’t Listening To Music
“Should we walk to our spot?”
“I didn’t think you’d recognize me!” - “Of course.”
“So what should we start with, Home Alone?”
“Stewart’s a good name for a dog.”
“Are you kidding me, you didn’t grow up on Drake?”
“I would have a baby with him. Unfortunately. You and I would have to take care of it, though.”
Favorite Park Bench Inscription
“To understand and therefore take it lightly.”
Favorite Reads, Movies, Shows, Etc.
The God Of The Woods by Liz Moore (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
“Heart Museum” by Durga Chew-Bose (from Too Much And Not The Mood)
Twisters (for the theater experience)
Anora (an actually good film)
The Idea Of You
Industry (Season 3)
’s Maybe Baby /“Dear Danny” Podcast EpsAnything Amelia Dimoldenberg Did This Year
Joe P live at Bowery Ballroom
Moody Joody live at Brooklyn Paramount
Sunset Blvd. on Broadway
Oh, Mary! on Broadway
Favorite Songs
24 on repeat for 2024!
I Am Right On Time - Bleachers
Everything Else Is Just Noise - Carol Ades
Call Me After Midnight - Bleachers
Good Luck, Babe! - Chappell Roan
Sympathy is a knife - Charli xcx
Dance Hall Days - Wang Chung
End Of Time - Morgan Saint
Look After You - The Fray
Right Back To It - Waxahatchee feat. MJ Lenderman
Bootleg Firecracker - Middle Kids
BIRDS OF A FEATHER - Billie Eilish
So High School - Taylor Swift
Let Love Flow On - Sonya Spence
Slug - Matt Champion
Off My Mind - Joe P
Finest Worksong - R.E.M.
So Far Gone - Role Model feat. Lizzy McAlpine
Wimbledon White - slimdan
El Camino High - Moody Joody
Guilty As Sin? - Taylor Swift
Soup - Remi Wolf
Hotspot - NIGHT TRAVELER
A Tree Falls - Annika Bennett
Please Forgive Me - David Gray
Listen on Spotify | Listen on Apple
Thanks for sticking around. We’re so back, etc. etc.
Happy 2025!
Natalie
P.S. I’m literally sending this from the subway because I took too long editing and now I’m very late for brunch. But I Am Right On Time, I swear!
Just found this at what feels like the perfect time. Thanks for your thoughts!