I MADE YOU A PLAYLIST, Vol. 8: "Day Dreaming" ☀
(And I'm Thinking of You)
Temps are rising! Vaccines are happening! Flowers are blooming! And…
Isn’t that the loveliest thought? Spring has a funny way of making me look around and take extra notice of all the best people, places, and things in my life. And obviously there’s nothing quite like riding out the annual 72-and-sunny-April-in-Alabama high—which this year, to be fair, probably has way more to do with the fresh Pfizer in my veins and the Aretha Franklin bender I’ve been on for the past several weeks than it has to do with the weather. Either way, I’m here for it.
(BTW, it’s scientifically impossible to listen to Aretha and feel gloomy. In case you kinda-sorta only know “Respect” or “Natural Woman,” start here with some of her other classics and then spin the entirety of Aretha in Paris, which I’m convinced is one of the best live concert recordings to ever exist.)
Anyway, welcome to the unofficial spring edition of I MADE YOU A PLAYLIST. I hope you took your allergy meds this morning. 🌸
***Unrelated but important: This newsletter was crafted between repeated (and now countless) viewings of Justin Bieber’s positively flawless NPR Tiny Desk Concert. “Peaches” just hits different on the keys.
LISTEN
“Sorry I Am” by Del Water Gap
Sure, this is a breakup song, but it’s also a bona fide bop that just so happens to contain some of the most heart-burstingly NICE lyrics I’ve ever come across:
you’re drop-dead kind / you’re easy to talk to / and you’re generous with time
I mean… are there better compliments to give and/or receive?!
The song is mostly about words left unsaid after the end of a relationship, so naturally Del Water Gap—a.k.a. Holden Jaffe—created a corresponding Instagram account where listeners can send in their own anonymous “I wish I could tell you” messages. (Brb, crying.)
Bottom line: I can’t stop listening to it, as was the case with his 2020 jam “Ode to a Conversation Stuck in Your Head.” Should’ve seen this one coming, I guess.
WAIT, one more! Cool Dry Place, the debut album from Katy Kirby, is pretty much spring perfection. “Juniper” and “Peppermint” are my early favorites, but the whole thing is great. (Shoutout to Men’s Health magazine for this rec.)
READ
“These Precious Days” by Ann Patchett (Harper’s)
I shared this on Instagram when I read it a few weeks ago, so apologies if you’ve already read it and/or endured the spiel. It’s a beautiful (and very true!) story about friendship and kindness and serendipity and unexpected goodness and going above and beyond just because it’s right. Also Tom Hanks is sort of involved. I pinky promise you won’t regret reading it.
“Remaking R&B in Serpentwithfeet’s Image” by Briana Younger (Vulture)
Serpentwithfeet is a Black queer artist whose new album DEACON is quickly becoming one of my favorites of the year. This profile focuses on his religious upbringing, and how he’s shaken off his church’s constraints and limitations while salvaging the parts of his faith background that still resonate and infusing them into his music. I really loved it. (“Same Size Shoe” and “Old & Fine” are the must-listens, if you’re asking me.)
FOLLOW
Hehe—surprise! MORE MUSIC! So many newsletters, so many songs, so little time, I know, I know. BUT—if you have any inbox space to spare, here are three (free!) Substack publications you should dig into ASAP:
This is literally exactly what its title suggests: a carefully-selected song, plus a few paragraphs (sometimes more) about why the song is, in fact, very good. Honestly, every time I read a new installment I get a little angry I didn’t think of the concept first. And his picks are always 💯🏆 top-notch.
Late Greats Music Club by Spencer Dukoff
Never have I ever known more than, like, two songs on any one of these playlists… which, for me personally, is really saying something. We love to find friends who expand our musical horizons!!! Subscribe if you want some well-articulated feelings to go along with your listening sessions.
A musical grab bag that usually features a few things I love already and a few things I’ve never heard of—an ideal mix, in my opinion. Adam is also an excellent aggregator of other cool music people/playlists/sites, so I always come away with a few new accounts on my radar and plenty of listening homework saved to my library.
PLAY
*checks watch* Ooh, it’s time! ☀ Go crack a window or find a sunny spot outside if you can. This collection was inspired by two albums: SZA’s Ctrl and Arlo Parks’ Collapsed in Sunbeams. The former was my favorite album of 2017 and remains a frequent flyer on my turntable; the latter is a 2021 favorite that will likely frequent every year-end list on the internet.
To me, both of these records sound like gentle, gradual, necessary growth. They’re soundtracks for the smaller life changes that coax you along rather than jolting you forward—much like the single tree I can see from my window whose leaves I get to watch come in one by one, each green burst a tiny antidote to the always-shocking realization that the whole planet somehow bloomed overnight and I almost missed it.
Consider these songs a brief sun-soaked reintroduction to warmth, light, human connection… all the good things. I particularly like to listen on lunch breaks, when I emerge from my bedroom office to eat a Trader Joe’s salad kit on the porch and leave a faint butt-print in the swirls of pollen (a peculiar little “hello” to the outside world) while daydreaming about what life might look like in 3 months, 6 months, a year.
These days, the lunch breaks feel less mandatory and more celebratory… like maybe the daydreams might come true. 😇
“Day Dreaming”
Good Days - SZA (will i ever get enough of this song? no.)
Summer Girl - Hush Forte feat. Q
Eugene - Arlo Parks
Runnin’ - UMI feat. Yeek
Song to Make You Fall in Love With Me - Tōth
Valentine - Hope Tala
Simple Things - Minnie Riperton (i recently bought this vinyl for the cover art alone—turns out the songs are really good, too)
SUNRISE - MICHELLE feat. Arlo Parks
Love Child - Raveena
20 Something - SZA
Take Me Where Your Heart Is - Q (*natalie add this to every playlist you ever make challenge*)
Caroline - Arlo Parks
Day Dreaming - Aretha Franklin (powerhouse Aretha is obviously show-stopping, but chill Aretha is really something special, too)
Stay Tru - Mereba
Yours - Maye (the dreamiest song i’ve heard in a WHILE)
Summer Girl - HAIM
Bunk Beds - Dori Valentine
Tell Him - Ms. Lauryn Hill (this slice of sweetness at the end of her iconic Miseducation album is so satisfying after all the badassery elsewhere on the record)
Warm - Dre’es feat. Mia
Grateful - Mahalia (if her 2019 album LOVE AND COMPROMISE is not in your library, plz fix that immediately—it’s so fun!)
Listen to the whole thing here.
Or right here if you use Apple Music.
Happy spring, happy listening! ☀️ Wherever you are, I hope the weather is nicer today than it was yesterday and even nicer tomorrow than it is today.
Natalie