Spotify Shuffle

Since this is UIC Radio, I feel obligated to post about music and my preferences. I’ve been trying to figure out how to write about this…but it’s hard. I don’t claim to know anything about “good music”. I don’t have formal music training (I played the clarinet in middle school, but whatever).

Sometimes I’m into current artists, and other times I go back a couple decades to find a “new” artist or album. This means I might be obsessively replaying three songs from Rihanna’s ANTI on my way to class, or obsessively replaying three Rolling Stones tracks on they way home.

So instead of trying to pick a specific artist or album to discuss, I decided to let Spotify do it for me. I put my collection of saved Spotify songs on shuffle, and wrote the first things that came to mind about them. I call this game “Spotify Shuffle”, obviously. Let’s play!

Note: Since not all music is available on Spotify, I didn’t choose from a completely accurate pool of my favorite music. But the results are pretty accurate. Which is either hilarious or embarrassing. I can’t decide.

Paper Planes, M.I.A

This was the first song I ever heard by M.I.A, and it made a lasting impression. Its acknowledgement of refugee stereotypes is simultaneously powerful and catchy, much like the rest of her work. Her controversial songs and music videos are important, mainly because she is the most visible South Asian musician in the Western world. M.I.A uses her voice not only to entertain, but to inform and advocate, which make her cool x 2.

Lost, Frank Ocean

“Where he at, tho?” are the words I uttered when this song popped up. Frank Ocean is one of my favorite current musicians, which is a big statement considering he has technically only released one studio album. And he dropped off the face of the planet, so yeah. The mixtape Nostalgia, Ultra was the first body of work I heard by him, and is still available on the Odd Future site. This song is great, he’s great, everything’s great. I’ll just be over here, stressing until he FINALLY releases another album.

Bathed In Grey, King Krule

This track is from his debut album, 6 Feet Beneath the Moon, which was very important to me freshman year. King Krule’s sound is unapologetically melancholy, even when the song’s theme isn’t. His deep, British vocals make even his weakest lyrics cool and profound. A New Place 2 Drown is Krule’s most recent release, although it’s under his real name, Archy Marshall. It consists of a short film, book and mixtape, all available on this website. The mixtape is also available on Spotify as a playlist.

Boys, Sky Ferreira

I don’t have a Tumblr, but recently my roommate informed me that Sky is very popular among the Tumblr-ing youth. I’m totally not surprised. Her bleach blonde hair and grungy clothes are a classic cool girl *aesthetic*. “Everything is embarrassing” was my first Sky song, and it’s still my favorite song by her. She and I are both Cancers, which explains why I personally identify with her moodiness, mumbling and lack of eye contact in interviews. I can’t wait for her next album.

One Thing, One Direction

I like boy bands. There, I said it. As a twenty-one year old woman, I still enjoy *NSYNC, Backstreet Boys and One Direction. The catchy lyrics and angelic voices put me in a good mood, okay? Nothing to be ashamed of (I’m embarrassed right now), Spotify Shuffle has spoken, and I am blogging about this experience honestly. It’s not like I have posters or dolls or anything weird like that. I just know how many times Zayn has dyed and styled his beautiful hair. Plus, they may/may not be breaking up, so please let me have this.

That concludes this week’s Spotify Shuffle! Now you know everything about me. If you’re interested in listening to these tracks again, I compiled them into a Spotify playlist, plus some extra songs I didn’t write about. Check it out here.