In My Room
A week ago, I asked what music made you Sentimental. I’ll admit it was a selfish ask and a chance to improve my own musical expertise. Nonetheless, I have enjoyed listening to the music that makes you cry or dance or feel something, anything, and compiling it into one playlist. I’m calling this playlist ‘In My Room’ because I think the concept of being sentimental and displaying one’s emotions is so commonly kept private. This music can be your bedroom playlist, but if you’re feeling brave, you can listen out loud, in the car, or in the bathroom at a party because you need a break from socializing. There is something so captivating about this music, specifically. These melodies surround and intrude and touch each listener. Music is inherently palpable.
At the beginning of the playlist, “This Is Home” by Cavetown sounds like a kid singing in their bedroom about whatever kid things come to mind, and it’s the most beautiful thing when music sounds as personal as it feels. I am almost invasive as a listener entering the mental space of another artist, but as I write this, I realize perhaps in vulnerability is where real art exists. “On Melancholy Hill” by Gorillaz has a similar vibe as a bedroom production. Speaking of rooms and home, “Michigan, 1997” by Dolly Valentine continues the story as a sweet acoustic about the act of wandering. “We’re far away now from everything we thought we would be.” Doesn’t that break your heart a little?
Isn’t it intriguing that sentimentality is so often synonymous with love? Our collaborative playlist has plenty of love songs with varying depth. The unrequited kind, the platonic kind, the overwhelming version, or the end of a flame. Tyler the Creator’s (yes, Tyler the Creator can be sentimental) “I Don’t Love You Anymore” holds the upper hand in the relationship. Contrastingly, Cavetown’s “Green” bleeds of aching regret, singing “I hope you feel happy. That’s all I want,” at the end of each chorus. Meanwhile, Lady Gaga bemoans the sentiment altogether in “I’ll Never Love Again.” Our old favorites- Elton John’s “Your Song” and Ed Sheeran’s “The A Team” allow for more recognizable interpretations.
There’s also a time for self-reflection. Ambar Lucid writes a letter to her younger self in both Spanish and English, admitting “I’m not what you thought in your mind.” Meanwhile, Wallows in “Do Not Wait” offers advice to a future self, singing about “the times that feel like everything when nothing really happens at all.”
To be sentimental is hazy and confusing (and that’s what makes it great). This ambiance is maintained through Allison Sudol’s introspective and slow-moving “Moon” and Lucius’s more outgoing and adventurous “Until We Get There.” There are some old faces- Billy Joel, Jeff Buckley, Frank Ocean- and some new, more up-and-coming voices as well. Of course, it would not be a playlist without a nod to some of our generations heroines- Lorde and a satisfying finale from the Lady Bird score.
Thank you for sharing your music, and consequently, a bit of your heart with me. Now, go be sentimental!