Emotional Motion Sickness

Disclaimer: This is not an anti valentines day post! I have had these songs on repeat for the last few weeks as I've been going through ... an interesting time in my life. Without getting too deep into the trials and tribulations of my personal life - I want to share a bit of my experience through this playlist.  

Starting the playlist out with Eugene, by the ever so talented Arlo Parks, I couldn't get the line "Seein' you with him burns, I feel it deep in my throat, you put your hands in his shirt, you play him records I showed you." out of my head. Something about knowing you shared a piece of your life (like me, sharing music that I love) with someone and knowing they introduced it to their new boo is like... the worst feeling in the universe. I could feel her pain deep in my soul with that one. Jorja Smith's Goodbyes carries us through her journey of losing someone and never knowing when your last goodbye will be. To the surprise of no one, I truly can not get myself to stop listening to Motion Sickness by Phoebe Bridgers these days. "I have emotional motion sickness, somebody roll the windows down. There are no words in the English language I could scream to drown you out." I mean.. come on Phoebe! Somehow managing to put my feelings into lyrics time and time again. The last few weeks have felt like I've been on an emotional rollercoaster, every day showing me that I have absolutely no idea what the next will have in store for me. The emotional motion sickness is in high gear over here right now.

Session 32 is the perfect follow up, with Summer Walker starting out with a real "fuck you" attitude ("threw away your love letters, I thought it'd make me feel better"), and then with a complete 180: "I'm sending you one text at a time, I know you're by your phone so boy pick up your line."  I love that this song is acoustic, really brings a level of authenticity to the message. I have been absolutely obsessed with Claud for the last few months and their debut album is dropping Friday - basically the only thing I've been looking forward to lately. Soft Spot could be a page out of my journal and I haven't related to a song on this level for a long time. I can't wait to see what else Claud will be bringing to the table on Super Monster. Stay tuned for an album review coming soon. Ah, we've arrived at the rollercoaster's peak, Wasted Love. Jhene Aiko's freestyle has been my shower anthem for years, but really hits different when you can relate to the lyrics...with some creative liberties of course. I should mention that all of these songs are someone else's experience and there are bits and pieces that really hit home for me or resonate in some way. Remember Me by UMI represents a really beautiful experience in my opinion. When connections fall apart, I always wonder if people will remember the good times, the happy memories and the feelings associated with them. UMI's voice is also absurdly mesmerizing and I've really enjoyed getting to know more of her work.

Did you think I would make a playlist about my feelings and not have some LDR on there? Norman Fucking Rockwell has the best opening line of any song/album ever and that's all I really have to say about it. You're going to have to listen to this one for yourself. My favorite line from the song is actually, "you act like a kid even though you stand six foot two, self-loathing poet, resident Laurel Canyon know-it-all, you talk to the walls when the party gets bored of you."  Seriously genius.

Okay, time to party while being sad...The Less I Know the Better by Tame Impala has been one one of my repeat car bops recently. How can you really be sad about the person you love leaving a party with someone else when you drop some synth, groovy guitar and a funky baseline behind the lyrics? I don't have the answer to that but Kevin Parker might. I know I've put Godspeed on another playlist recently but the lyrics really fit well into this one. Frank Ocean knows exactly how to take the feeling of a rollercoaster ride coming to a slow halt and put it into a cathartic, peaceful poem full of relief. 

Closing out the ride with Pray For You, 1 minute and 40 seconds of Jhene Aiko's sweet voice reassuring me that I'm not a monster because I can truly relate to the sentiment of this song. At the end of the day, "never will I ever not wish you well."