The Freedom Playlist

Lets face it; Valentines Day is a nightmare!

I mean, why should chocolates and roses and a fancy dinner be a declaration of love to your significant other on this one particular day when you can do those things literally any other day of the year and it'll have an even greater impact because you're not forced by some shoddy marketing campaign to do so, because for some reason, if you don't do those things on February 14th, you are an enormous A-hole.

Valentines Day is almost like Christmas. The moment Christmas ends, the shops are immediately awash with pink displays to ram Valentines day down our necks like Christmas does when Halloween ends, and we all fail to notice one thing out of all of it: Love songs are playing. We don't notice because all the Christmas songs have finally stopped scraping our eardrums to finally get back into the swing of actual normal songs being played.

If you're single like me, this only exacerbates the feeling of being absolutely and horrifyingly alone at a time where couples are going to be everywhere practically rubbing it in our faces that they have the perfect and happy relationship whilst we sit here binging Netflix and eating take-away (which is the dream, let's be honest) and feeling miserable. Some of you are fortunate enough to even look back to "better times" when you were in a relationship and reminisce, and then you sit there with Ben and Jerry's ice cream with "All By Myself" blasting in the background or "Nothing Compares To You."

But you should be listening to things that avoid all that. Avoid the love songs and avoid the breakup songs and break out the hits and indie tracks that go against the grain of traditional songs being about love and romance.

So in no particular order, here's some of my playlist of Anti-Valentines day tracks:

#1 SULTANS OF SWING - DIRE STRAITS

The 1977 single by the British rock band has little to no mention of love at all in this. A funky rhythm and even funkier guitar solos is both lively and also relaxing due to it being in a minor key. Nothing but chill vibes here.

The song is about a jazz band playing to an otherwise uninterested and diminutive audience, sounds sad but it's actually the opposite.

#2 THE WOLF - PHILDEL

Now Phildel is an artist who hasn't really reached an audience much like those of Gaga or Ed Sheeran but if you were to listen to her track "The Kiss" you may just remember the high piano notes and guitar chords in a Marks and Spencers ad some years back. Her soft and soothing melodies and equally soft and soothing voice and lyrics are a treat to behold, but don't be fooled because Phildel also has a dark side.

Soft and soothing vocals that in most of her other songs come across as joyful and resplendent music videos to match, become haunting and enthralling to a beat of dark pulses and techno beat with "The Wolf" may sound like a breakup song but is more than that when you learn that Phildels childhood wasn't exactly great when it comes to her relationship with her step-father, an incredibly and deeply religious man who had banned music from the household when she was 9 years old, it's more a song about revenge; so if you've been jilted or scorned or dumped then this is a good song to imagine taking the d-bags head.

#3 PONYBOY - SOPHIE

RIP to a wonderful artist in the LGBTQ+ community.

SOPHIE was well renowned in the music industry working with many big name artists such as Madonna but was still relatively underground, and though she passed in January this year, it was with her sudden and tragic passing that her audience grew, myself included only finding out about her and I began to listen to her music.

I'll be honest, at first, it was definitely an acquired taste, a symphony of electronic beats that vary in tone and atmosphere and with heavily altered vocals with each track is a lot to take in, but it eventually grew on me, and I found myself becoming a fan and wholly understanding the vast comments about her impact, and in her music I found euphoria and freedom, freedom more so in her track "PONYBOY."

PONYBOY is a track with a very, how can I put this, a very violent beat. Pulse after pulse of intense electronic rhythms and beats is a barrage to the ears with a heavily filtered voice that is almost indecipherable the first time you hear it besides the female squeak of the occasional and titular lyric, expresses not love, but sex. BDSM to be precise, especially with the Sub/Dom aspect.

"Spit on my face, put the pony in his place! I am your toy, I'm just a little Ponyboy!" and "Crack down the whip, make the pony bite the bit" are just some of the lyrics that awaken something deeply sexual inside everyone that you can't deny is sinfully hot and exciting! Beware the music video though, it is extremely heavy on the eyes with blaring strobe lights and consistent flashes may effect those with photosensitive epilepsy, but it definitely heightens that feeling you get listening to it.

#4 LOSE CONTROL - MISSY ELLIOT

Missy Elliot has been there and definitely done that and still continues to do so to this day. A track like Lose Control still sounds as fresh today as it did when it dropped in 2005. A Hip-Hop and Dance club anthem sampling "Clear" by Cybertron and featuring Ciara and Fatman Scoop delivers on feel-good energy and a heart-thumping rhythm to coincide with a get-up-and-dance mood.

#5 GLASS HEART HYMN - PAPAER ROUTE

Rather melancholic in tone, this song by the indie group Paper Route is one of my favourites of theirs that isn't related to love in any way, but rather the lyrics bear a heavy message and metaphor for the past with biblical references here and there for the added weight of coming to terms with the past and the feelings that come with it.

#6 Pretty much anything from the Rocky Horror Soundtrack.

Yes, I'm going there. Besides the song "Dammit Janet," everything in this album/movie is just... great!

Weird, whacky and a hell of a lot of fun, I remember that this particular album and film was banned from my house when I was a child because my mum always thought that it wouldn't have been a good influence on me, but this is a woman that would let me watch things like Kill Bill and other multitude of violent films, so why would something like Rocky Horror be such a terrible thing for me?

I realised when I watched it back in April 2020 why; it was sexy; liberating, dare I say. Struggling as a young, gay man it was watching the Rocky Horror Picture Show that it told me that I could be anything and everything I ever wanted to be and not be ashamed of it, and that's the beauty of the songs, they're all fun and unashamed to be so, and listening to these songs makes one feel the same way.

#7 SHALOTT - EMILIE AUTUMN

Now Emilie Autumn I have had the pleasure of seeing live, an indie artist with a particular niche for being Gothic Rock with a Victorian twist and a steampunk fashion sense, her earlier works consists of a more fairytale approach, with lyrical retellings of classic fairy tales and poems and Shalott is no exception to that.

A musical retelling of The Lady Of Shalott (which in turn was loosely based on the story of Elaine of Astolat,) Shalott tells the story of a woman locked away in a tower and can only view the world outside through a mirror, unable to look out the window directly, and weaves a tapestry of the things she sees.

Yes, this might be breaking the rules of Anti-Valentines since she sees and falls in love with a handsome horse rider, but if you know the story of The Lady of Shalott then it will come to no surprise how the song ends.

The song is set to upbeat folk-y music which makes the whole experience seem ethereal, definitely a fantasy, especially if one is fond of wonderful tales and legends.

#8 LOWER YOUR EYELIDS TO DIE WITH THE SUN - M83

Okay, so "Lower Your Eyelids To Die With The Sun " isn't a typical song. It's more an arrangement of post-rock ambience. M83 is a French Electronic group that have made it into the zenith of radio charts back in 2011 with "Midnight City" which is a song that everyone will know with it's unique electronic melody, and even composed the soundtrack to the Tom Cruise movie Oblivion (the titular song "Oblivion" with vocals by Susanne Sundfør is one of my favourite songs ever but it comes across more of a love song which is why it's not made it to this list.)

LYETDWTS is a piece that is an experience that will invoke a variety of emotions and is one that you can find yourself lost in and imagine anything, especially with it being 10 minutes minutes long, further adding to the songs mythical and wonderous aspects.

This song was also used in the early trailers for the film "A Monster Calls" if anyone finds any recognition from it, (a film and book I highly recommend watching/reading.)

There you have it, a taste of my Anti-Valentines playlist. Of course I have much more but without a doubt listening to any of these on Spotify or YouTube will quickly open new doors to a wide variety of music that is very Anti-Valentines.