Playlist of My Life

I haven't wrote in here in a minute but I thought this was a cool idea to adjust back into the blog. I do have a lot of other things to put down but this will do to start. I got inspired by the videos that Vogue has been puttin out where they ask various artists to create a playlist of their life, or songs that matter most to them. I think I will write a more literal playlist of my life in which I break down different songs that defined periods of my life so far. Yea I ain't that old and I will have lots to add to this list in the future but there's definitely also songs that have stayed w me so far. These aren't necessarily my favorite songs but just songs that had a large impact on me in specific times of my life.

1. Encore - Linkin Park/Jay-Z

Prolly the first time I ever picked out my favorite song, this was it. This was like grade 4ish and I heard this on the radio, and I had no idea what it was called and ofc shazam didn't exist in 2004 so I took down the lyrics "what the hell are you waiting for" and searched it on google. I did like Linkin Park type music back then but for some reason I jus like the version w Jay-Z way better. So even though I'm not huge into hov now I guess he was my first intro into hip hop.

2. Don't Cry - Guns N Roses

When I was in my classic rock phase I loved me some Guns N Roses, and they remain my favorite band to this day. There's somethin about their versatility in the genre that keeps me goin back to them even though I don't listen to rock anymore. I know there's a ton of GNR songs that coulda made this list but I always been drawn to Don't Cry just a lil more. This song has one of my favorite solos of all time, it's so simple but at the same time Slash hits it w such a nice tone. I also love the way Guns N Roses executes outros. This will always be one of my favorite songs.

3. Good Morning - Kanye West

I feel like in middle school my music taste was like rock music and obscure hip hop but when I heard this it just opened up the rabbit hole that was 2000's Kanye. This prolly still my favorite Kanye Song, and I always preached that Graduation is my favorite Kanye album no contest. The entire project was just a whole different sound that hip hop was used to at the time and set up a lot the electronic mixing that started taking place. Kids now gotta appreciate the old Kanye and his entire musical repertoire from fire bars to fire production.

4. Wedding Dress - Taeyang

Woo ok this is the song that kickstarted my entire Kpop phase, prolly my biggest singular phase in music for me. It was like summer grade 9 and I was not a believer in Asian music until I heard this shit. And I think it was a combo of the song itself, the video, the dancing, and I just thought the dude was the coolest guy ever. Taeyang even influenced the style evolution I went through in high school (which was pree cringe now that I look back at it but yo it was hot in 2010). This is still a pree good song, and it's got numerous english remakes, but it's definitely the defining factor in my korean phase.

5. You Exist In My Song - Wanting Qu

This still might be my favorite song, which is definitely saying a lot. I heard this song near the end of grade 12 while I was still in my asian music phase but like I'm just way more down for chinese songs now cause I can actually understand them. There's something about this song that it's so simple but also so elegant. Plus the lyrics in chinese are put together in a much more poetic way than possible in english, just cause of the way the chinese language works. Everyone who knew me in high school knows my love for the last 2 songs lmao. I also love the Li Dai Mo version of this song and both of them are in my top 5 most played on my phone

6. Feisty - Jhameel

This song completely took over my life for like half a year in 2014. This came right when I was coming out of my kpop phase and slowly into the rnb and hip hop that I've come to love. But it was definitely a nice bridge between those genres. It's got a super unique sound with the beatboxing and all that, and Jhameel's just got a unique voice to suit it. It's also incredibly high energy for how little instrumental is used in it. The repeatability of this song is through the roof. That entire summer I was obsessed with Jhameel's music.

7. Say It - Tory Lanez

Damn I miss 2015 Tory Lanez. That man could do no wrong in music that year, literally everything he put out I liked. This was fosure my favorite song ending off 2015 and into my exchange. I remember listening to it on repeat on my flight to Sweden. It's just a real nice and smooth track w some good vocals. Plus so many people have covered and remixed this song so there's plenty of variations to work with here. Tory Lanez doesn't quite do it for me recently but I can always go back to tracks like this and B.L.O.W.

8. Old English - Young Thug ft. Freddie Gibbs, A$AP Ferg

Man this was my jam in the summer of 2016. Like literally I found this song right after I got back from exchange in June and I prolly repeated this for the entire summer. It was literally such an addicting song and they all had fire verses on it. I had never liked any Thugger songs before this and I lowkey thought he was trash, which he was cause I only heard songs like Hookah, but this for sure turned it around for me. Thugger's songs continue to be hit or miss for me but some times he comes out w some heat.

9. Don't Play - Travis Scott ft. Big Sean

Honestly I coulda chosen quite a few songs from Days Before Rodeo but I feel like this really did it for me. I can't believe I was so late to that album cause once I gave it a listen it hooked me onto my consistently favorite artist since 2016. Travis is jus so versatile with his music and when he spits he's got good bars for sure. This is one of his hardest songs fosure and Big Sean puts in a mean verse too. I was late onto La Flame but now his music now holds a top spot in my hierarchy. I couldn't stop listening to this entire mixtape and other Travis songs for at least the entire first semester in 4th year.

10. Weight in Gold - Gallant

You know there's some songs that just remind you of specific memories? Well this is for sure one of em for me. I coulda maybe also put Electric from Alina Baraz here but I feel like it's more this song. It's pree recent but it just really gives me back some of the good moments from summer of 2017. Plus the track itself is too nice, it's definitely got this dramatic quality to it which makes it a great listen every time.

I think I'll leave it at that for now. The songs are much easier to pick in retrospect, and the more recent songs were way harder to pick out since it's a lot more clear which songs defined certain stages or phases in my life only once those stages pass. And since I'm currently in a stage its hard to say which songs will come to truly define it. I would say the songs up to 8 are cemented, but the latter 2 could be variable. I could easily throw a dvsn song in at 12 since that's my current shit, but it's hard to say. Anyways this was really nice to write since it made me reflect on the different phases of music I went through, I found it super interesting.