Taylor Swift

Summer Mix 2021, Part 1: Day

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Summer is back! Kind of. Let’s do what we can to eliminate the delta variant so we can enjoy the summer alongside these tunes.

The tracklist, along with YouTube and Spotify versions of the playlist, are at the bottom. But first, some notes:

I’m declaring “good 4 u” by Olivia Rodrigo as 2021’s official “Song of the Summer.” If you think I should be making other considerations, let me know. Other “songs of the summer” for the last few years, according to yours truly: “Savage (Remix)” by Megan Thee Stallion and Beyoncé in 2020, “Old Town Road” by Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus in 2019, “Nice for What” by Drake in 2018, and “Slide” by Calvin Harris, Frank Ocean, and Migos in 2017.
I never thought I would like a Modest Mouse song in 2021 as much as I love “We Are Between,” but “here we are.”
It wouldn’t really be a summer mix without the most underrated artist of the last 5 years, Amber Mark. People need to stop sleeping on her.
Check out the fizzy, bubbly cover of that one Third Eye Blind song (you’ll recognize it). Hilary Duff, rising from the ashes!
Is “The Way I Made You Cry” from 2021 or 1967?
“Summer Mix 2021, Part 2: Night” coming soon!

Tracklist (meant to be played top to bottom, no shuffle):

1. Modest Mouse: “We Are Between”
2. Wavves: “Sinking Feeling”
3. Dirty Projectors: “Lose Your Love”
4. RAC, Matthew Koma & Hilary Duff: “Never Let You Go” (Third Eye Blind Cover)
5. Silk Sonic (Bruno Mars & Anderson Paak): “Leave the Door Open”
6. Amber Mark: “Competition”
7. Mourn: “This Feeling is Disgusting”
8. Cool Ghouls: “The Way I Made You Cry”
9. CZARFACE & MF DOOM: “Mando Calrissian”
10. Olivia Rodrigo: “good 4 u”
11. Kiwi jr.: “Cooler Returns”
12. Anna Fox Rochinski: “Party Lines”
13. Fleet Foxes: “Can I Believe You”
14. Flock of Dimes: “Walking”
15. Taylor Swift: “Mr. Perfectly Fine (Taylor’s Version)”
16. Hiss Golden Messenger: “Sanctuary”
17. Bleachers: “How Dare You Want More”

Five Quality Tracks: November 2017

1. Pinegrove: “Intrepid”

No band makes me feel things quite like Pinegrove. This might sound dumb to anyone who doesn’t care about sports, but the first time I heard “Intrepid” was at my computer browsing the Internet, trying to take my mind off the fact that the Dodgers were currently on the verge of losing Game 7 of the World Series after a season’s worth of build-up and excitement. I wasn’t despondent — that had happened after they lost an insane, drama-filled Game 5 by a score of 13-12 in extra innings — but I was feeling pretty dejected. But when I played “Intrepid,” I started to feel comforted. It struck the exact tone that I needed — not too happy, not too sad, but affirming and warm. Understanding. “Don’t let it get to you, you said.” So then I played it again, and again, and again…

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Poptimism Won 2015, Who Won ‘1989’?

Ryan Adams, Taylor Swift, and ‘Peak Poptimism’

For those who don’t obsessively peruse music blogs, “poptimism” is a strain of music criticism that celebrates top-40 pop music and the mega-stars that bring the hits to life. Music magazines, websites, and publications such as Pitchfork and SPIN rose to prominence through their celebration of punk, indie, underground rap, and other genres far from the mainstream, dissing the vapidity of chart-topping hits along the way. But over time, pop has overcome its stigma. “Poptimism” has thoroughly permeated the ends of the blogosphere, to the point that praise for the likes of Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, and Carly Rae Jepsen has become the modus operandi of most music criticism (see the links on each name for examples). The fact that Pitchfork bestowed its #1 song of 2013 to “Hold On, We’re Going Home” by Drake, perhaps today’s biggest pop juggernaut, would have been unheard of a few years ago. It’s no longer an embarrassing display of naiveté to love “Call Me Maybe” or “Teenage Dream” — it’s a sign that you’re an impartial judge.

With the release of Ryan Adams’s cover of Taylor Swift’s behemoth of an album, 1989, we have officially reached “peak poptimism.” We are now in a society where there is no such thing as a guilty pleasure. If someone like Ryan Adams had covered a Kelly Clarkson album ten years ago, I guarantee it would have been a completely ironic exercise. The culture was just not one where the critically acclaimed underground mixed with the pop stars. But today, in an age where poptimism reigns supreme, Adams can talk about 1989 in an interview and say, with total honesty: “These songs are incredible. You break them down from what they are to this raw element, and they’re just super powerful and they can tear you up.”