I MADE YOU A PLAYLIST, Vol. 18: "Should we just keep driving?" — 2022 Favorites

The year in rearview.

Dec 31, 2022

Get in loser, we’re scrolling through my Spotify library!

Confession: I secretly love a traffic jam or flight delay on the return leg of a trip. Sorry, I know, I know—who would EVER wish for that?!?!?! Me, I would. I used to sit in the backseat and cross my fingers for a serious backup on I-95 on our way home from the Outer Banks every summer, while my parents were in the front probably wishing we had teleported home seven hours ago and were already all unpacked. I just wished for anything that would extend the vacation energy and postpone our return to real life.

2022 was a pretty great year. I spent it getting to know a new hometown, welcomed a bunch of visitors who helped me get farther along in that process, attended 42 (forty!!! two!!!) shows, went on a Swiss adventure with my family and a Spanish adventure with friends who’ve become family, and took my first official ~work trip~ in ages. (And yes, in all of these instances I was wholeheartedly hoping for some harmless, minor obstacle to slightly delay my return home. It only happened on my return flight from Spain, when we missed our connection in Madrid and got a surprisingly delicious free bonus meal in the airport. 🤪)

Anyway, the last 365 days have been good to me, and tbh I’m sad to see 2022 end! Of course… Sir Harry Styles said it best: SHOULD WE JUST KEEP DRIVING? Consider this newsletter my brief traffic jam, my minor flight delay, etc. — allow me to revel in 2022 for just a tiny bit longer, okay?

➕ Everyone knows one of the biggest driving pros on the driving-vs.-flying pros and cons list is that you can pack as many pairs of shoes as your heart desires and you don’t have to decide which one single piece of outerwear to bring—that’s what trunks are for, baby! So, in the spirit of overpacking just because I can, here are all the albums, songs, lyrics, movies, books, etc. I’m throwing in the car on my way to 2023.

You coming with? Shotgun is all yours if you want it!!!

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ALBUMS

Ten albums I loved this year, in no particular order except the first two, because my 2022 totally belonged to Gang of Youths and Harry Styles.

angel in realtime. — Gang of Youths
MVPs: the angel of 8th ave., unison, spirit boy, brothers
Harry’s House — Harry Styles
MVPs: Grapejuice, Satellite, Keep Driving
MUNA — MUNA
MVPs: Home By Now, Solid, Shooting Star
five seconds flat — Lizzy McAlpine
MVPs: ceilings, all my ghosts, chemtrails
Being Funny In A Foreign Language — The 1975
MVPs: About You, I’m In Love With You, When We Are Together
emails i can’t send — Sabrina Carpenter
MVPs: Tornado Warnings, skinny dipping, Already Over
Here Goes Nothing! — Adam Melchor
MVPs: I’m Ready, Let Me Know When (feat. Fleet Foxes), Touch and Go
Cub — Wunderhorse
MVPs: Leader of the Pack, Purple, Poppy
The Loneliest Time — Carly Rae Jepsen
MVPs: Western Wind, Surrender My Heart, Bends
SOS — SZA
MVPs: Love Language, Notice Me, Special

+ Ten more honorable mentions:

Beyonce - RENAISSANCE
Maren Morris - Humble Quest
Maggie Rogers - Surrender
Taylor Swift - Midnights
Ethel Cain - Preacher’s Daughter
Hatchie - Giving The World Away
Courtney Marie Andrews - Loose Future
Silvana Estrada - Marchita
Tyler Childers - Can I Take My Hounds to Heaven?
Hermanos Gutiérrez - El Bueno Y El Malo

LYRICS

A handful of excellent lines that got stuck in my head at some point:

It's all good / Hey, you / Should we just keep driving? (Harry Styles, “Keep Driving”)

I still believe magnificent isn’t hard to find (Gang of Youths, “Spirit Boy”)

Do you think I have forgotten about you? (The 1975, “About You”)

This scene / Feels like what I once saw on a screen, I / Searched aurora borealis green / I've never seen someone lit from within / blurring out my periphery (Taylor Swift, “Snow On The Beach”)

You’re gonna say that I’m on a high horse, but I think that my horse is regular-sized (MUNA, “Anything But Me”)

I don't know if I'd been okay with / Holding out hope for your stack of rain checks / If I had been able to grin and bear it / Would we be home by now? (MUNA, “Home By Now”)

Even boulders turn into sand / Wherever you go, that’s where I am (Maggie Rogers, “That’s Where I Am”)

Lovely to sit between comfort and chaos (Lizzy McAlpine, “ceilings”)

Might die if you can't live just to taste it (Maggie Rogers, “Want Want”)

I really thought if you say it out loud and it sounds like a plan, then God would say cool, I got you, man / It’ll come, it’ll come if you wait (slimdan, “Be Somebody”)

And I'll dream each night of some version of you / That I might not have, but I did not lose (Noah Kahan, “Stick Season”)

And I wonder what it's like inside your mind / I would pay any entrance fee (Cece Coakley, “Anything”)

You’re just in time, make your tea and your toast (Harry Styles, “Matilda”)

I searched the party of better bodies just to learn that my dreams aren’t rare (Taylor Swift, “You’re On Your Own Kid”)

Sometimes I feel like everybody is a sexy baby / And I'm a monster on the hill / Too big to hang out, slowly lurching toward your favorite city / Pierced through the heart, but never killed (Taylor Swift, “Anti-Hero”)

You look pretty when you tell the truth (Jack DeMeo, “Coyotes”)

Nothing makes me more aware of the goodness that I’ve seen / Like being absolutely terrified the future can’t compete / But I sense the wind is coming so I’m trying to grow wings / So that when it does, it billows, and gives me a song to sing (Olivia Barton, “White Knuckling”)

OTHER FAVES

Concerts:

Gang of Youths at The Basement East
Lorde at The Grand Ole Opry
MUNA at The Basement East

Books:

Book Lovers by Emily Henry
Here For It by R. Eric Thomas
Everything I Know About Love and Ghosts, both by Dolly Alderton

Internet Things:

“west elm willoughby” by Brandon Taylor
“The Most Famous Girl at the Waffle House” by Joe Coscarelli
@maryoliversdrunkcousin by Lyndsay Rush
@chickenshopdate by Amelia Dimoldenberg

Movies/TV Shows:

Cha Cha Real Smooth
Everything Everywhere All At Once
The White Lotus
The Dropout

Needle Drops:

“Vegas” by Doja Cat — ELVIS
“Bitch” by Meredith Brooks — DO REVENGE
“Smartest Man” by Homeschool — CHA CHA REAL SMOOTH

homeschool.music

A post shared by Tom D’Agustino (@homeschool.music)

SONGS

In addition to all the albums I shouted out earlier, here are 80 tracks I’m toting along into 2023 and beyond. ‘Twas truly another stellar year of music. 😎🎶✨

Keep Driving: 2022 Favorites

Grapejuice - Harry Styles
Be Somebody - slimdan
Paris - Taylor Swift
Home By Now - MUNA
Mad At Me - Samia feat. papa mbye
Western Wind - Carly Rae Jepsen
Be Cool - Maggie Rogers
in the wake of your leave - Gang of Youths
How Will I Know? - The Amazons
American Teenager - Ethel Cain
Breakaway - Avril Lavigne
House On Fire - Mimi Webb
Tornado Warnings - Sabrina Carpenter
PLASTIC OFF THE SOFA - Beyoncé
VIRGO’S GROOVE - Beyoncé
The Smoke - The Smile
London Is Lonely - Holly Humberstone
Coyotes - Jack DeMeo
Stick Season - Noah Kahan
The Outskirts - Zach Bryan
She Had Me At Heads Carolina - Cole Swindell
I GUESS THEY CALL IT FALLIN’ - Kelsea Ballerini
John Mayer Songs - Georgia Webster
Detour - Maren Morris
Waxahachie - Miranda Lambert
Life According to Raechel - Madison Cunningham
all my ghosts - Lizzy McAlpine
Glitch - Taylor Swift
Head on Fire - Griff feat. Sigrid
BLONDE - Rafaella
If I Needed Someone (Live from “Concert for George”) - Eric Clapton & Friends
spirit boy - Gang of Youths
Ready to Go - Noah Cyrus
Background Music - Maren Morris
Sidelines - Phoebe Bridgers
Blonde - Maisie Peters
skinny dipping - Sabrina Carpenter
Anything - Cece Coakley
Crash Course - Sam MacPherson
ceilings - Lizzy McAlpine
Got Weird - dodie
Go In Light - Marcus Mumford feat. Monica Martin
All Loved Out - Patrick Droney
Conversations in Parked Cars - Kayla Hall
Never Gonna Be Alone - Jacob Collier feat. John Mayer and Lizzy McAlpine
Catch Me In The Air - Rina Sawayama
I’m In Love With You - The 1975
Satellite - Harry Styles
Question…? - Taylor Swift
Surrender My Heart - Carly Rae Jepsen
Keep Driving - Harry Styles
Something To Do - Moody Joody
POSE - MICHELLE
Solid - MUNA
Touch And Go - Adam Melchor
I Walked With You A Ways - Plains
These Are The Good Old Days - Courtney Marie Andrews
Poppy - Wunderhorse
Leader of the Pack - Wunderhorse
It’s Alright - Cecilia Castleman
Lights On - Hatchie
Welcome To My Island - Caroline Polachek
Love Language - SZA
Notice Me - SZA
flowers - joan
Baby Pictures - Olivia Barton
Wild Horses II - First Aid Kit
Stereo Driver - Q
Homerun Hitter - Greyson Chance
radiator - Sadurn
Sunny Day - beabadoobee
Take My Hand - Hatchie
Big Shot - flor
Like She Does - Dayglow
Bends - Carly Rae Jepsen
PBR - BEL feat. Girlhouse
I Don’t Think I Love You Anymore - Julia Church
In The Eyes Of Our Love - Yumi Zouma
goal of the century - Gang of Youths
Thoroughfare - Ethel Cain

Thanks for being here. Happy New Year!
Natalie

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