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I MADE YOU A PLAYLIST, Vol. 5: "The Great Escape" — 2020 Favorites

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I MADE YOU A PLAYLIST, Vol. 5: "The Great Escape" — 2020 Favorites

A thank you note to the songs that saved my year. 🏝

Natalie Schumann
Dec 24, 2020
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I MADE YOU A PLAYLIST, Vol. 5: "The Great Escape" — 2020 Favorites

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Music is simply the best, and that’s really all there is to it… but of course it would mean nothing without the experiences it colors in or the people we sing along with, right?

I love poring over year-end lists from esteemed music publications and perusing worldwide streaming stats, and of course I live for the fascinating personal data (ahem, @ Spotify) that quantifies my listening and makes music discovery tangible in a way nothing else really can.

BUT…

How could Spotify ever know that the first time I streamed Patrick Droney’s “The Wire” (my #3-streamed song of 2020, according to their records) was when I forced a car full of my best friends to listen to it at 12:01 on the night it was released, as we drove down a North Carolina highway en route to a pre-COVID bachelorette adventure in Asheville? No data could convey that.

Just like Pitchfork (or the NY Times, or NPR, etc.) wouldn’t understand how Harry Styles’ Fine Line rescued me from many an afternoon slump as I adjusted to WFH life in March, and just like there’s no way to count how many calories I burned or endorphins my body produced while jumping around my apartment to Thunder Jackson’s “Find Yourself” or Dua Lipa’s “Physical” on late-spring days when I’d otherwise barely left my kitchen table office.

Mentally, I am here. (Hawaii, 2015)

What I’m really saying is something I’ve said many times before: MUSIC IS MAGIC. And this year, more than ever, it was my great escape—my perfect palm-tree-dotted tropical island where storms last less than five minutes and every time the clouds part the sun shines 10x brighter than before.

So here it is—my thank you note to the songs that saved my year. It’s a silly, celebratory, imperfect-but-joyful cannonball jump into the ocean of songs and artists that filled in the gaps on countless lonely lockdown walks around the neighborhood or, in some cases, brought me closer to friends old and new, even during a pandemic. (Side note: I maintain that music friends are one-of-a-kind and should be cherished like the last edge-piece brownie in the pan.)

I invite you to grab a mojito or piña colada (LOL jk, grab the tea you forgot you made 2 hours ago) and please join me in my imaginary musical paradise for a quick playlist party.


ALBUMS

If I *must* choose… Here are my top ten full-length albums of the year (in no particular order):

  1. folklore + evermore — Taylor Swift (combining these because I love Taylor and this is my list and I make the rules)

    • MVPs: peace, august, ivy

  2. Thunder Jackson — Thunder Jackson

    • MVPs: Find Yourself, Colours, Love Sick Doctor

  3. Shape & Destroy — Ruston Kelly

    • MVPs: Alive, Changes, Closest Thing

  4. Punisher — Phoebe Bridgers

    • MVPs: Moon Song, Chinese Satellite, I Know The End

  5. Give Me A Minute — Lizzy McAlpine

    • MVPs: Nothing/Sad N Stuff, Same Boat, Apple Pie

  6. The Baby — Samia

    • MVPs: Big Wheel, Is There Something in the Movies?, Minnesota

  7. positions — Ariana Grande

    • MVPs: safety net, obvious, pov

  8. LP5 — John Moreland

    • MVPs: East October, Harder Dreams, When My Fever Breaks

  9. Fine Line — Harry Styles

    • MVPs: Golden, Sunflower Vol. 6, Canyon Moon

  10. Supernova — Caitlyn Smith

    • MVPs: Fly Away, Rare Bird, Lonely Together

***Honorable Mentions: Giver Taker by Anjimile, Blue Eyes, The Harlot, The Queer, The Pusher, & Me by Waylon Payne, Shoot for the Stars Aim for the Moon by Pop Smoke


MOMENTS

“Wait for the best part!” - Me, every time I play a song for someone. Here’s a quick list of my most memorable musical moments:

When the drums come in on Glass Animals’ “Heat Wave”

When Lennon Stella switches into “I Love You Always Forever” at the end of “Save Us”

The way Kacey says the word “darling” on Troye Sivan’s “Easy” remix

The sparkling chaos of the last 40 seconds of The 1975’s “What Should I Say”

The second verse (chorus?) of Taylor’s “gold rush,” when it literally sounds like you’re walking fast brushing past someone and I have to catch my breath every time

The little electric guitar lick at the end of “august (long pond sessions),” when you just know Aaron Dessner is truly LIVING

“WILL YOU KISS ME ON THE PORCH IN FRONT OF ALL YOUR STUPID FRIENDS?” from Taylor’s “betty”

The absolutely electric jolt of energy that comes during the second verse of Patrick Droney’s “Right With You”

The sneaky, gentle saxophone solo in “Good Plates” by Michael Bernard Fitzgerald

“And then it was bought by ME…” in Taylor’s “the last great american dynasty”—When I tell you I almost screamed when I first heard that…


LYRICS

I’m not a tattoo gal.... but if I were, these would make the shortlist of ideas:

the devil’s in the details, but you got a friend in me (Taylor Swift, “peace”)

when you walk in the room, it's like a neon angel / wearing blue jeans and a thousand halos (Caitlyn Smith, “Fly Away”)

bury me in flowers, when I go I want to bloom / and come back as the color of a lovely afternoon (Ruston Kelly, “Hallelujah Anyway”)

quick pause in conversation, she plays songs I've never heard / an old lover's hippie music, pretends not to know the words (Harry Styles, “Canyon Moon”)

call it faith, the moon it disappears don’t mean it’s gone away (Patrick Droney, “Right With You”)

i’ve been thinking about my storyline / and how your past becomes your present if it’s always on your mind (The Japanese House, “Dionne” feat. Justin Vernon)

thank god women learn to whisper, but i crave a megaphone (Jensen McRae, “The Wolves”)

oh can we just get a pause? to be certain we’ll be tall again (Taylor Swift, “evermore” feat. Bon Iver)


SONGS

Perhaps the greatest sequencing challenge I’ve ever encountered, this playlist contains 100 of the songs I loved most this year. There’s Taylor and Pop Smoke and Ariana and Diana Gordon, mixed right in with Donovan Woods and Christine and the Queens. These tracks have been ~*quite artfully*~ cobbled together to create some sort of flowing, satisfying listening experience, should you wish to consume it in order. (Just keep in mind that a song’s playlist slot # does not necessarily correspond to my level of appreciation for it.) I hope out of all these songs you might find a fun little souvenir to take with you into 2021! 😊

*untangles headphones*

Bon voyage!

Great Escape: 2020 Favorites

  1. peace - Taylor Swift

  2. Comeback - Carly Rae Jepsen, Bleachers

  3. Linnea - LAYNE

  4. circle the drain - Soccer Mommy

  5. cover girl - joan

  6. Love Sick Doctor - Thunder Jackson

  7. Good Plates - Michael Bernard Fitzgerald

  8. King Kong - Aron Blom

  9. Mara - Jack Garratt

  10. Over Yet - Hayley Williams

  11. XS - Rina Sawayama

  12. Baby No More - Anjimile

  13. Pretty Girl Lie - Baby Queen

  14. Heartbreak Weather - Niall Horan

  15. august (long pond sessions) - Taylor Swift

  16. Save Us - Lennon Stella

  17. Meet Me in the City - Adam Doleac

  18. Fly Away - Caitlyn Smith

  19. Clean Slate - Donovan Woods

  20. With You - Keith Urban

  21. Find Yourself - Thunder Jackson

  22. How Will I Know - Whitney Houston

  23. Heat Waves - Glass Animals

  24. Heavenly Father (feat. Noah Kahan) - Gryffin

  25. When the Dreams Run Dry - The Killers

  26. gold rush - Taylor Swift

  27. out in the wild - REUNION

  28. Felt This Way - Carly Rae Jepsen

  29. Faded - Izzy Bizu

  30. Talking to Myself - Gatlin

  31. Another Try - HAIM

  32. If I Told - Courtney Marie Andrews

  33. On the Floor - Perfume Genius

  34. It Might Take A Woman - Girlhood

  35. Ode to a Conversation Stuck in Your Head - Del Water Gap

  36. Put Me Back Together - Caitlyn Smith

  37. East October - John Moreland

  38. Changes - Ruston Kelly

  39. You Were - Field Guide

  40. The Fortune Teller - C.A. Jones

  41. invisible string - Taylor Swift

  42. Big Wheel - Samia

  43. Set It Free (MUNA Remix) - Now, Now, MUNA

  44. On the Lookout (feat. Raffaella) - NEIL FRANCES

  45. Hello Hello Hello - Remi Wolf

  46. Aim For The Moon (feat. Quavo) - Pop Smoke

  47. Vampire - Dominic Fike

  48. safety net (feat. Ty Dolla $ign) - Ariana Grande

  49. I Know Alone - HAIM

  50. Golden - Harry Styles

  51. Physical - Dua Lipa

  52. CRUSH - Sebastian Paul

  53. The Heat - Moody Joody

  54. The Wire - Patrick Droney

  55. smoke - Joy Oladokun

  56. Moon Song - Phoebe Bridgers

  57. Overkill - Holly Humberstone

  58. Fields of Knowing - Skyline Motel

  59. The Shining But Tropical - Wild Pink

  60. Somebody - Dagny

  61. Right With You - Patrick Droney

  62. In Too Deep (feat. Kiana Lede) - Jacob Collier

  63. Apple Pie - Lizzy McAlpine

  64. Nomads - John Craigie

  65. Can I Fall in Love with a Broken Heart - Joshua Speers

  66. the last great american dynasty - Taylor Swift

  67. Canyon Moon - Harry Styles

  68. Summer Feelings (feat. Charlie Puth) - Lennon Stella

  69. Rollin - Diana Gordon

  70. obvious - Ariana Grande

  71. Andrew - Ryann

  72. La vita nuova - Christine and the Queens, Caroline Polachek

  73. Dionne (feat. Justin Vernon) - The Japanese House

  74. Haven’t Even Kissed Me Yet - Aubrie Sellers

  75. Same Boat - Lizzy McAlpine

  76. Care - beabadoobee

  77. Deck of Cards - Georgia Greene

  78. Falling Asleep At The Wheel - Holly Humberstone

  79. Devils In The Canyon - The Strike

  80. What Should I Say - The 1975

  81. Easy (with Kacey Musgraves and Mark Ronson) - Troye Sivan

  82. ivy - Taylor Swift

  83. The Eye - Waxahatchee

  84. Santa Ana Winds - Waylon Payne

  85. Bleed to Love Her (Live at Warner Brothers Studios) - Fleetwood Mac

  86. Everything, Maybe - Temme Scott

  87. Wolves - Jensen McRae

  88. AUATC - Bon Iver

  89. Running - Shamir

  90. Cool for A Second - Yumi Zouma

  91. Vulnerable - Selena Gomez

  92. Fall For Me - Brett Eldredge

  93. Strange Girl - Laura Marling

  94. Crazy For You Tonight - Kip Moore

  95. Take Some Time - Wilderado

  96. Other People - Joshua Speers

  97. Take Me Where Your Heart Is - Q

  98. Is There Something in the Movies? - Samia

  99. evermore (feat. Bon Iver) - Taylor Swift

  100. Hallelujah Anyway - Ruston Kelly

Listen to the whole thing HERE:

Or find it right here if you use Apple Music.


Happy holidays, happy listening, and GUESS WHAT: We get to do this whole New Music thing all over again in 2021! I can’t wait.

Thank you for reading/caring/pressing play on a playlist, even just once :)

Natalie

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