I’m supposed to be done with this by now! Oops!
Day 11 – A song you never get tired of
Anderson .Paak – Off the Ground
When they make a movie about my life, I want this song to play over the final sequence, which includes someone running through the airport to catch the love of their life, who is literally seconds away from boarding their one-way flight to a far away country. Who is who? I don’t know, but I’m going to find a way to slot it into my movie.
Honorable mentions: BØRNS – Holy Ghost (For the second time this series, I need to point out – Dopamine never got its due!)
Day 12 – A song from your preteen years
My Chemical Romance – Helena
When I was a preteen (just like the prompt told me to say), My Chemical Romance started their meteoric ascent into emo/pop-punk/rock/whatever-they-are stardom. I paid special attention to them because the Way brothers grew up in the same town in New Jersey that I did (Belleville! It’s us and Frankie Valli!). Barring the personal connection, I still think I would have been obsessed with this song no matter what. Try to listen to this without singing along to that chorus! and crying!
Honorable mentions: Anything by Fall Out Boy (but linking the obvious), Say Anything – Alive with the Glory of Love (One of my favorite memories of middle school is singing this song at the top of my lungs with friends to keep ourselves sane while frantically searching for the exit of a night time corn maze! I won’t let them take you!)
Day 13 – A song you like from the 70s
Hall & Oates – She’s Gone
I originally found out about this song through articles about its music video, but I stuck around for the moodiness, a notable departure from the duo’s more popular hits like “You Make My Dreams,” and the immersive, multilayered production. Listen to this with headphones and you’ll melt away, just like I do every time I hear this song!
Honorable mentions: Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons – December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night) (I questioned whether this song came out in the 70s or earlier, but the timing made sense…)
Day 14 – A song you’d love to be played at your wedding
The Beatles – Something
Potentially controversial opinion ahead: this is my favorite Beatles song! I’m not normally a George girl (I’m more of a John, and yes, I know how that sounds), but there’s an understated sincerity to this song that strikes me every time I hear it. I also spent a lot of time learning how to play this on the piano, and I loved how easy it was to convey the strong emotions of the song as I played it. Such flourish! Such damper pedal!
Honorable mentions: Donna Summer – Last Dance (as the last dance, as it should be at a proper Filipino wedding), Taylor Swift – Lover (This album came out right before we went to the wedding of two of our friends! It’s already a mood!)
Day 15 – A song you like that’s a cover by another artist
Dashboard Confessional – Sex (The 1975 cover)
This is one of the few cover versions that I think is legitimately better than the original. While the original feels like a typical 1975-esque britpop midtempo ride that underlines the youthful fun of its lyrics, this cover is slow, acoustic, and romantic in a way that really compliments the intimacy of its lyrics, however sinister that intimacy is.
Additionally – any song that Chris Carrabba sings is automatically the sexiest possible version of that song. Sorry, Matty!
Honorable mentions: Anything from the first New Found Glory cover album, which was the only one that I listened to (King of Wishful Thinking comes to mind first, for some reason), this cover of the Smokey Robinson song “Cruisin'” by Gallant and Andra Day (I also haven’t gotten tired of this one either)
Trisha Serquina 