Every Month Has A Mood

Do the first three months of the year feel like one week to everyone or is that just me? I always feel like January, February, March are actually just New Year's Day, Valentine's Day, and then oops, we're almost to Summer. This year felt no different, except that I was prepared for it to go by in a blink of an eye... and so was my Spotify. A playlist, or multitude of playlists, for the right weather, the obvious holidays, the songs that make us clean faster and the playlist for the perfect morning:

January

As we all know, January is the reset month. We set new goals, we put together our schedule for the year, and sometimes just sometimes, we give up on all of it by the 31st. My favorite "cleaning and creating" goal for January every year is organizing my playlists. I think of my Spotify Playlists like a Pinterest Board.

Since January is the month of reset, I tend to start it off with a little up-beat nostalgia. I chose from throwback artists, like Abba, Spice Girls, Britney Spears, Hall & Oates, Hilary Duff... you get the gist. I love restarting the year with the feeling of "you get to start again" and somehow that's by starting with the past. Clean up your house/apartment, dance around, drink your green juice, give up your green juice... let's start the new year off strong with some memories before we move on:

February

I've written about this month a couple different times... anti-valentine's day playlists, women empowerment pieces, and ways to celebrate with your significant other as well - I'm not completely against the holiday, I promise. Trust me, I've been in a healthy relationship coming up on 5 years and I can tell you we haven't celebrated it once except for the occasional flowers, which I (accidentally) killed in a matter of days. I love love, I'm just one of those cliche people that think you should show it constantly instead of one day a year.

With all that being said, I'm gonna stick with the women empowerment vibe and reshare some of my favorite kick-ass women with an anthems playlist that I consistently add to... especially in February:

March

Around this time of year, growing up in Oregon, March was our warm weather manifestation month that usually never came. We drove in the rain, and yet our music matched very cynical, but hopeful sunny dispositions. Country music was always the beginning of March, even though most people equate it with summer.

My Honky Tonky playlist was one I created in High School and has remained a tried and true for the beginnning of "fake" spring for years. A little bit of sad country folk and a little bit of country girl shake it for me. A perfect start to manifesting a warm spring:

April

This is the in-between month, where I incorporate the mindset of "april showers, bring may flowers" and oddly, wherever you live, that tends to be the case with the weather. I created a playlist around the gloom, drive around sad, sing your heart out kind of month. I slow dance around the kitchen, listen to self-care songs, and get deep in my feels before we head into the upbeat, launch of summer music.

A mix of songs I found from emotionally charged movies, unknown artists, or old songs that bring up good, nostalgic memories:

May

Right before summer, I tend to get my most productive. I make to-do lists, start reading again, go to the gym, and prep for the summer... last minute. Because of this, I'm one of those people that has to have music playing if I'm writing or reading, but can't always have lyrics cause I'll start to sing along and lose my focus.

Also as someone that lives with a film major, I'm a even more of a movie score nerd. The Up Film Score? Cry everytime. Any movie soundtrack from a war film? Gorgeous. Whether you need a little extra focus time or you just wanna have some background ambiance - movie scores just for you:

June

I grew up a sports girl. My dad was an umpire and played slow pitch softball with a big group of guys that I still call my second dads. My brother started swinging a bat as soon as he could walk, and going to his games was our own personal way of bonding. Even though baseball season begins in April/May, Summer ball was an entirely different beast, hence June is always my baseball month. It starts to get warm, you can wear shorts to a game, and the rock, country, rap, and classics come back into the rotation:

July

The windows down, drive to loud music month. More girl anthems, the finest hiphop legends, with just the right about of sentiment. Another playlist from the early high school days that has grown as my music world grew around me.

Standing at a solid 13 hours and 53 minutes of music, you'll hear Basketball from Like Mike or Sweet Disposition by The Temper Trap - in all honesty, the song that symbolizes summer. When the days are longer, the playlist follows suit:

August

End of summer in our brains, even though the official first day of fall isn't until end of September. I guess I view the seasons differently than the calendar, and my music playlists can tell. End of November, December, January, and February are Winter. March, April, May are Spring. June, July, August are Summer. September, October, first half of November are Fall. That's what I'm sticking with.

Because of my own special seasons and August being the end of summer, I'm giving us two playlists. A little bit of funk/disco always seems to round out the summer... and yet, I somehow always sneak back to the nostaglic, party anthems with a specialty playlist ranging from middle school dance hits that still get the party going. A little bit of both worlds, but really seems like the theme to the end of summer is: dance it out.

September

As I stated above, September is Fall, always has been. For some reason, like April, Fall always has me in my feels. When I was younger it was a listen to sad songs and watch the leaves changes kind of mood. However, as I've grown up and started envisioning a future, September feels like a Sunday.

For some color here, anyone who's heard the quote "start romanticizing your life" knows what I'm going for. I've started romanticizing my Sundays. It's like a New Year, the fresh start of the week, the prep day, but also the day that I've always pictured a rom-com. I would wake up and make coffee, start pancakes or waffles for my husband and possible kids and I would have music playing as I sang around the kitchen until the family joined me - or my husband would be cooking, cause let's have an even split on who get's to sleep in. When this feeling started replaying in my mind, guess what I did? I made a playlist. This is what September and Sunday feel like:

October

Now that we've established the true seasons and their timing, can we all agree that October is the beginnning of cold weather & Halloween, November gets pitch black as soon as a clock sees 4pm & Thanksgiving, and December is spending all our money, and Christmas? Okay, great, glad we're on the same page. Albeit, what exactly do we put on for Halloween music besides the Monster Mash or a scary movie in the background..., and yet, I always put on rainy day music or and hear me out... jazz.

For my folks here that own vinyls, you can't tell me that this scenario doesn't scream October: it gets cold outside, you pour yourself a glass of red wine, while you listen to the pops of Frank Sinatra sing Witchcraft on Vinyl. Or fight me on it, I dare you. For those that agree, here's a good playlist for having that exact night:

November

In a similar fasion to October, let me pose a question for anyone's that made it this far in this playlist journey, can you truly tell me what qualifies as Thanksgiving music? The songs we learned in first grade about turkeys don't count. So, for now I'm claiming love songs as November's time to shine.

When I go home for the holidays, specifically Thanksgiving, I tend to be the DJ of the Sonos sounds system. This playlist gives off a calming, twirling, lovey-dovey feel that we all need more of when we're stuck with our families, right? From Alicia Keys to Shania Twain, November you're the new, better February:

December

Do I need to explain? Perfect.

Looking back on this month to month playlist, my taste seems a little all over the place... and I'm content with that. Whether you need a playlist for the sun or the rain, a specific season or a specific reason - hopefully we've covered a plethora of bases.

Here's hoping the first three months of the year slow down in 2025, but expecting them to do a little dance and fly by as they always do.