Playlist Analysis

Lately I've been involved in a lot of really in-depth discussions of music, all different genres and styles and a variety of artists - but I realized that I see all of these things in such different and strange ways. Songs become images to me - as if I make my own music videos in my mind that are sometimes completely fictitious and sometimes the sudden soundtrack to something that happened in my life. It's so hard to think of anything that is more powerful than music. It breaks your heart, it makes it beat faster, it can ruin your day or it can make it surprisingly good. There's always a song in my head, there's always a song for everything in my life that just appears as soon as I need it. I make soundtracks for everything - for road trips, for feelings. I mean...I look at my playlists on my iPod and it blows my mind.

"Dance Party with Scott and Todd" - which is rather self explanatory and rather short. It includes such loveable favorites as the "Wine Red" remix from Snakes on a Plane and "Baby Girl I'm A Blur" by Say Anything and of course, our most favorite bass pumping sing-along song "Sweat the Battle Before the Battle Sweats You" by Cute is What We Aim For.

"Breathing" - all the songs with something related to that very thing in the title - breathing, breathe, breath, oxygen, air, breathless. It's 27 songs long, which is kind of surprising. The hidden gem in compiling this list? "Breathe" by Melissa Etheridge. I'm alright, I'm alright, it only hurts when I breathe...

"Darkness" - all the music from late middle and early high school. Some of this stuff is just obnoxious: "Eye of the Storm" by Blindside, "Cadillac" by Mest, "Summer Wind Was Always Our Song" by the Ataris (which to this day always make me think of the exact some moments and relationship, and that's probably the reason I don't listen to it anymore, haha), "Cheer Up Emo Boy" by the dear departed LPC, "In My Eyes" by Rufio, "Best of Me" by the Starting Line, and of course, the all-time most remembered "San Dimas High School Football Rules!"

The absurdly named "Give It To Me" - which was mostly made full of songs that really pumped me up and got me going...cleaning doing homework or whatever. It goes from the heartbreaking vocals of A Fine Frenzy's "Almost Lover" to the showtune-style of "I Don't Dance" from HSM2, all the way to the crazy heart thumping "U + Ur Hand" by P!nk. That song just drives me wild. Of all my playlists, this is the one that makes the least amount of sense. There's a lot of The Used on here too..."Lunacy Fringe," "Blue and Yellow," and a ton more. Odd. I didn't make this that long ago and there's a lot of stuff I don't listen to that much on here.

"It Makes You Go" - I'll keep this one to myself, the reason for it, but it includes: "Come in Closer" by Blue October (which is such a random gorgeous song), "Lying is the Most Fun..." by Panic! at the Disco (is anything more alluring than his voice in this song?), "Sic Transit Gloria...Glory Fades" by Brand New, and "Paralyzer" by Finger Eleven. Yum. haha.

The most recent - "Life Sucks" - is ironically full of songs that make me feel the opposite. Lots that I have started listening to again, or that have been recently recommended to me. The super soft lullaby tones of "Umbrellas" and "All That is Beautiful" by Sleeping At Last, the catchy bounce-on-your-toes beats of "I'm a Pirate, You're a Princess" by PlayRadioPlay!, "The Last Night" by Skillet - which at this point in time is speaking to me more than almost any song ever. I listen to it so much and somehow always catch the line that I need to: the night is so long when everything's wrong, if you give me your hand I will help you hold on. My new favorite soul-searchers: "Together" by the Kin and "All We Are" by OneRepublic, and my old favorite soul-searcher "Save Us" by Cartel.

And that's just a tiny sample. Random combinations of these playlists went in to my ultimate Summer 2008 mix...I'm almost thinking I need to make a Fall 2008 playlist already. There's been so much added in the last couple of days. It's like for awhile this had disappeared from me, and now I've got it back again. It feels so good, just to be able to disappear inside the music like I've been doing the last couple of days. I've gotten so much good advice and reassurance from the people around me that I'm starting to feel a lot stronger about some things than I used to.


"The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit." -Psalms 34:18