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This song feels like a big hug. It feels like comfort. Zoe Reynolds, the aforementioned Kississippi, blends honeyed vocals with velvet guitar so well that this song packs quite a punch for the two and a half minutes it lasts.

“I can’t stop thinking about how nice it would be, to be bothered by your breath reclaiming mine, to wake up in the morning half dead to you, unable to find a place to rest your arms, I can’t move ‘cos he’s comfortable there, his legs tangled mine, hands tangled in hair, I can’t move ‘cos he’s comfortable there”

That’s it. That’s the whole song. Just repeated two and a half times. It’s such a sweet and pure snapshot of the described moment? I picture breeze blowing a lacey curtain, sunshine hitting the floor on the side of the bed. A ceiling fan spinning with the smallest of noises from a loose blade. Time moving like molasses. Bliss, right?

Such a simple song, but so beautiful IMO. It’s Saturday, with someone or solo, I want you to try and find that bliss. Love you lots. Thanks for reading.

https://open.spotify.com/track/6dRMBfMGMhic99nXASMFFR?si=1d8ff1c140d04e2b

There is something about the rhythm of the guitar in this song that just serves as such a pure line throughout. Then add on to it Chrissy’s pitch perfect vocal delivery and it just has an amazing flow to it.

The chorus is the standout part of the song for me. Her voice just matches that guitar so well and resonates so beautifully.

“I’m here for a reason, that’s something that I believe in, and it gets me through the day, when these feminine feelings got me crying all night, ooh, getting back to yourself is the hardest part, after hiding in somebodies arms, can we let the dark back in?, we can run towards ghosts instead”

Can we let the dark back in? One of the best realizations I’ve made over the past year is that nothing in life is worth anything without balance. We can’t value the light unless we’ve experienced the dark. Ups with downs. Gains and loss. I think learning to navigate those as smoothly as possible, and the knowing that each will be coming in the future. Feeling good? Lean into it because sometimes those feelings are fleeting. Feeling down? Keep going. The sun will rise. You matter very much. 

I also don’t think “i’m here for a reason” can be any more important an idea than it is. We’re all here for a reason. One of my favorite quotes is by Mark Twain:

“The two most important days of your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.”

Do you know why? It’s ok if you don’t yet. The best is yet to come. Maybe today is the day you find out why? I hope that for you. Be good, do good.

MARINA has one of the most velvet voices that appears on this project. I’ll post another song by here at the end that you absolutely have to listen to.

There’s just this beautiful ache to Marina’s voice. It definitely has this angelic quality to it, IMO. This angel is calling out a warning in this song though. 

“It’s difficult to move on, when nothing was right and nothing’s wrong, you still can’t look me in the eye, ’cause you’ve been bitten once and now you’re twice as shy, I’ve had my share of beautiful men, but I’m still young, and I want to love again, it’s difficult to say goodbye, and it’s easier to live a lover’s lie, and I’ve tried to say, babe, I’m gonna ruin you if you let me stay, you still mean everything to me, to me, but I wanna be free”

I really dig the use of “ruin” in this song. It’s such a descriptor for what’s being talked about in the lyrics. Manipulation, infidelity, etc. That’s heavy shit. It goes beyond mere use of the word “hurt”, right? I think we probably hear “you ruined it” a lot, especially if like me you work around kids. But using ruin as a verb towards a person? That’s a completely different thing. You know this if you’ve ever been ruined. 

The song does actually finish with MARINA proclaiming herself as the titular ruin. Which makes the song hit that much harder I think. Love is hard, ugly, and cruel sometimes.

But not the love we’re going to share with the world today! Let’s set a positive intention wherever and whenever you are reading this. Make someone smile. Or just smile at people yourself. Start the ripple.

Love you, enjoy!

P.S. Here’s that other song I was talking about by her! Bit of the opposite end of the spectrum compared to this one.

I listened to the Angie version of this song at least 100 times before I found out it was a Fleetwood Mac cover. In fact, this song was my most listened to for 2023, and I’m pretty sure I only discovered it in June. 

I love how slow this song begins on Angie’s version. It makes me want to buy whatever guitar she has and learn how to play honestly because that sound is just butter.

“You can be my silver spring, blue-green colors flashing, I will be your only dream, shining Autumn, ocean crashing in”

This song is more in what I’d call Angie’s melancholy/longing-stage in and around her Salt album work. She channels a relationship in this song honestly and it feels so authentic to me. 

The standout part of this song begins at 2:16 when we hit this verse:

“Time casts a spell on you, that you won’t forget me, and I know that I could have loved you, but you would not let me…”

…and from there the song builds, getting more and more emotional and peaking with raw hurt. I love that this song ends up being a curse on a cheating boyfriend/girlfriend/spouse/whatever. I’m hurt now but you’ll hurt more later.

Fleetwood Mac’s version, instrumentally completely different from Angie’s cover. Almost sounds like lighter, right? Yet, we still feel that same central tension! 

Then we hit that same 2:16 range and immediately you feel the exact same emotions from Stevie that you felt from Angie. I think it’s because both performances are completely authentic. Both of these women experienced the same pain and torment. 

Angie’s version: Building rage built from sorrow. A dam breaks finally. In becomes out…and then relief.

Stevie’s take: I’m foot stomping angry. Bitter. Sharp. Prickly fucking edges.

My overarching love is that in both performances the jilted lover is vindicated, stronger for the experience, and ready to blossom. It’s an amazing character arc, right?

Thanks for reading! Enjoy both! Let me know what you think, but not in a “who wore it better-type” way. We aren’t yum yuckers here!

From the very beginning of this song, the first few chords, you can tell we’re going on a journey. Almost seems like a winding path melody to me. 

I kick myself in the ass daily almost because Nic asked me if I wanted to see Rainbow Kitten Surprise and I was like nah..so we didn’t end up going. Though I hadn’t discovered them yet, it was truly a missed opportunity. I really shouldn’t ever say no to new music. 

Instead of me trying to describe who they are, I’m going to post the most hilarious Spotify description I’ve ever seen:

“…where genres simply don’t exist” made me laugh out loud because that’s the most amazing thing about RKS. Are they rock? folk? country? but they’re also kind of alt? why did I start typing in lowercase?

The stew that comprises RKS allows for a myriad of experiences if you listen to the record Seven and Mary. For me, one of most moving ones comes over this lyric:

“Say you love me like you used to, and we’ll vacation first class, I’m breaking your fall, you’re breaking my ass, you’re working all day, hating on all the bitches at work, you say you’re ok, you’re faking, fucked up, drinking all day, you give me a cup, and I’ll be damned if we can make it out of this alive, baby”

One of the themes in these top songs for me is that they are relatable. You, me, and anyone else can absolutely insert ourselves into these songs because they really are authentic. We’ve ALL faked it. We’ve ALL been fucked up.

Some really amazing songwriting highlighted here, and on this list in general.

“Say you didn’t see it, that I saw right through you, say you didn’t mean it that I mean nothing to you, like you said, do you believe me?, that I’ll be right for you, say you love me like you used to”

We’re all on our own journey, sure. As I mentioned in the I Hate Myself, Florence Pugh post though, there is absolutely a shared experience though, and a shared suffering of sorts, so it’s always sad to me that we don’t talk about that with one-another more. We’re all going through the same shit in so many cases. We could easily help one-another through it.

Thanks so much for reading! Enjoy! Let me know what you think of the song!

JOSEPH leads a bunch of badass all-female indie rock bands on my list, including The Last Dinner Party, boygenius, and The Beaches. It really seemed like a banner year for that on my playlists. There are some incredible, incredible songs that I really look forward to diving into with you all!

The beginning of this song is like lighting a fuse. We slowly follow it’s sparking as the wire winds this way and that, until we finally explode.

Or it’s like we’re tip-toeing up behind someone to scare them, and there’s that hushed anticipation before we finally spring on our prey!

This song is both explosive and “prowly”.  I made that word up, but somehow I think the meaning will make sense. 

“Those green eyes are my green light, I’m giving up on control, you see red lights, I see me blowing straight through to you…If we’re headed for the cliffside, I’m ready for the fall, if you know me at all, you know I don’t need lights to decide, I’m not changing my mind“

The three-part harmonies these women hit are so powerful and I just love how all the instruments work so seamlessly together. There’s such a steady rhythm throughout to guide us on the ups and downs and some really hard-hitting percussion at some perfect spots.

The best part of this song I think is just the energy it instills. We’re very often driving to a peak in this song, and when we go over it we’re surfing a tidal wave of emotion. To me it’s a “soul song”. A soul song is just one that hits you so deep you can’t help but move with it and feel it.

That’s that stuff we have to pay attention to in life. That stuff that feels a little bit like lightning for us. We’ve been trained by all the stimuli in our life so well that we miss that lightning feeling and forget we can create it. Start paying closer attention. I promise you won’t be sorry.

This particular four-lyric group is such a roller-coaster, but the sequence of lyrics and melody is just a dream.

“Thought I could read you, but I lost my place, now we’re on different pages, I need you“

How amazing is that description of a relationship dissolving? That juxtaposition and irrational feeling of “we’re not right for one-another anymore,” and “I still can’t imagine life without you.” The dichotomy of thought that we’ve all known intimately at one point or another.

I think this song does a great job of recreating that dichotomy to what being in a relationship like that feels like. Moments of slow sweetness. Maybe this can work? Building tension to an eventual blowout. Things unsaid for too long come spilling out.

I might be a dirty and painful cycle, but we’re all in for it on this song. Thank you ladies!

Shout out to the tambourine on this song. I hear you lil’ guy!

Thanks for reading. Enjoy! Let me know what you think of the song!

If you are a self-reflector like me…you may want to skip this song. I mean it’s an incredible song but dear me does it hit HARD. The movie though, you can’t skip that…so I guess just get ready?

I couldn’t listen to this song more than twice in a row without needing a break. Pugh’s voice is…and I don’t know how to explain what I just felt, other than her voice is all of us? Like we’ve all been in this much pain before. When I hear it therefore…I get very emotional.

That’s a great testament to the quality of a song though, right? It’s job is to create emotion through sound. This one does it’s job with efficiency. It has me very deep in my feels whenever I hear it.

The song and the movie really make me think about how little we as a society actively let emotions out of ourselves. It reminds me of my own mental health journey and really drives home the fact that we need to be more patient with one-another. Sometimes getting out of bed is the mountain we summit. Sometimes eating. Sometimes taking a shower. The thing this song reminds me of though, is that sometimes we’re weak. Sometimes we’re fragile. Sometimes our self-talk is SHIT.

There are also times where we can’t get out of our own head. We can’t stop thinking about that person. That thing we did. How everything bad is going to happen because of something we did or said. It’s so easy to catastrophize things, and then it spirals.

Here’s what I think though. Muscle is broken down before it becomes stronger right? Iron sharpens iron, right? (Had no idea that was from a Bible verse. Huh. Proverbs 27:17. ”As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.”)

Now, this is not to say in this way you’re sharpening yourself in some way by being more and more depressed. 

I think it’s important to talk about pain and the fact that we all carry it around with us. Why do we pretend we don’t have it? I wrote about this back in February of 2020 before COVID hit. We are all living a collectively shared experience. Same pains. It connects us. Humanity.

Regeneration: https://wordpress.com/post/everything-etc.com/1160

Food for thought. Enjoy Pugh’s beautifully painful performance. Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think of the song!