My Summer Playlist

I love music, that's...not new information.  It's what I live for.  Every day is colored by what songs I listen to that day, what album has my heart in it's clutches, what concert is coming up.  I organize my memories by music.  High school is driving around Lexington listening to Underneath and Hello, Good Friend.  The beginning of 2012 was dedicated exclusively to Walk off The Earth.  Two albums came out in 2013 that saved my life (I can't kill myself, I have to listen to this new music...sad but true).  So needless to say, the soundtrack of my life is carefully chosen and appreciated (maybe only appreciated by me but...appreciated nonetheless).  

I never only listen to new music.  I love music for decades at a time.  I mean, my favorite band is HANSON for pete's sake.   Penny and Me is a thirteen year old song and it's magic has yet to wear off.  So...I'll begin this playlist with my summer staple: 

1. Penny and Me - Hanson 

I can't in good conscious make any sort of playlist without including my favorite song, the most played on my itunes, my musical ride or die - Penny.  I want to write a whole blog about Underneath and what it means to me but suffice to say, the day I heard Underneath was the first time I felt anything after nearly a year of feeling numb.  Especially Penny.  It's lyrically dense (which is probably why I'm the wordiest lyric writer in the history of human kind) and doesn't leave out any details.  I strongly believe the reason Hanson has the insane, devoted following it does is because they never tried to be anything other than our peers.  Penny and Me is about driving around, windows down, radio up.  It's exactly what we were/are doing when we were/are listening to it.  Oh, they understand us, they're one of us.  Okay...I have to stop myself now or I'll never move on. 

2. Little of Your Love - HAIM

Wow, another sibling band, awesome KT.  What can I say, I love sibling bands!  Give me those perfectly blended harmonies all day, every day.  But seriously, HAIM released their sophomore album this summer and it does NOT disappoint.  Listen to it.  Drown in it.  I'll never be over it. 

3. Fault Line - Michelle Branch 

Michelle's new album, Hopeless Romantic, came out in April and it still hasn't worn off on me.  I...love Michelle.  Hotel Paper is one of my favorite albums of all time.  Anyway, this is my favorite track from the newest record.  

4. Carolina - Harry Styles 

It's true, I boarded the Harry Styles trash train.  I couldn't help it, his album is killer!!  I love every track but this is the one that I crank in the car.  The whole record sounds like Underneath 2.0 to me so sign. me. UP. 

5. Supercut - Lorde 

I read this thing on Tumblr that was like "If Supercut is your favorite track from Lorde's new album, Melodrama, you get high on nostalgia and cried after listening to the album the first time," and honestly I feel incredibly attacked. 

6. So Much Love - The Rocket Summer

It has been a whopping TEN YEARS since Bryce Avary (The Rocket Summer) released his album Do You Feel.  TRS is quintessential high school in my memory bank, but this summer it has made quite the comeback for me because I am seeing Bryce LIVE in less than two weeks and I couldn't be more excited.  

7. Whiteout Conditions - The New Pornographers 

April was a good month for me and music, I guess.  I love this whole album.  I love dense harmonies, I love synths, I love POP MUSIC.  I DO.  I DON'T CARE.  Give me a big fat hook. 

8. Somebody That Wants To Love You - Hanson 

This song is from Hanson's newest EP, In Color which I talked about in length HERE! 

9. Celebrate - Ingrid Michaelson feat. AJR 

Ingrid (my girl), released an EP called Alter Egos this year, which is basically all reworkings of some of her previously released songs from her last album.  Each track features one of her musical friends (Tegan and Sara, Sara Bareilles, etc.) and it's pretty cool to hear songs I already love in a different way. 

10. Praying - Kesha 

She's BAAAAAAAAACK!!!!!  

And there you have it!  Some old, some new, a lot of pop but that is...who I am as a person.  If you haven't heard any of these songs, I suggest you look into it!  They all, in some way, give you that "roll the windows down, turn the radio up, push the pedal to the ground" feel. 

Peace, love, and aimless conversations 'bout the better days, 

KT 

If I wait for summer to begin...

Holy wow, it's been a while, hasn't it?  I was even joking with my sister, who has a blog she actually updates regularly, that blogging is not my thing.  But writing definitely IS my thing, so I'm going to keep this little website in my back pocket for whenever I need or want it.  It's been with me through a whole heck of a lot.

So it's the end of May, you guys!!  Isn't that...crazy?  I feel like time is always flying by so fast.  I'm getting sick of saying "I can't believe it's *insert month here*", but I can't!  So anyway, SUMMER.  I have always loved the summer months.  Even after I graduated and became an ~adult~ there was just something about this time of year that put a tingle of possibility in my bones.  Growing up, summer meant being in a production, or at musical theatre camp, or going on a fun trip.  It meant new friends and new places and dreams as big as the sky over the arboretum.  My favorite memories are summers. Living in the musical theatre bubble of GSA, spending twelve hours a day at Lexington Children's Theatre, performing Rent or Hair or Once on this Island, moving to St. Pete and doing The Burnt Part Boys.

Around this time of year I get an itch.  It's the feeling that something BIG is about to happen, and I know that it's just my body saying "heyyyyy you're about to do a project or go on a trip"  even when it's not actually the case anymore (adulthood, am I right?).  So I guess my challenge to myself, and to all of you, is to USE that itch.  That summery restless feeling where our fingers and toes tell us that school is out, time to do something that we could write a YA novel about, but our brains know that we're still going to have to get up for work every day.  Use it to pick up an old hobby, or go to the beach, or go on a day trip, or spend a Saturday reading adventure novels.  Or...you know...actually do something crazy. Realize that dream you've been thinking about all winter. It's summer, after all.