I was thinking about why my Spring 2025 playlist is so moody, and it occurred to me that Spring and everything about it, from the weather to NCAA basketball, reminds me of my dad dying. So maybe my Spring offerings aren’t going to be particularly chipper from now on.

The theme of my Winter 2024/25 Playlist may be…discordant? I suppose not all the songs are discordant, but I do feel like my playlists are becoming somewhat more deranged as the world continues to fall apart. You’re welcome?

I finished my Fall 2024 playlist at the beginning of October—I just haven’t had a chance to blog about it. Better do it now before autumn escapes entirely and we rush headlong into winter.

My Summer 2024 Playlist shreds. And in the rare moments it doesn’t shred, it boogies.

Initially I was thinking the theme of my Spring 2024 playlist was “desperation,” but that’s not quite right. It’s more like…the feeling of being full to bursting, one raindrop too many in a dark, rumbling cloud ready to storm.

I struggled with my winter playlist this year. Incorporating so many genres (arguably too many) made it difficult to find successful transitions between songs. But I managed it eventually. If you’re tired after last year—I certainly am—this playlist will speak to you.

Just in time for this weekend’s autumnal equinox, I give you my Fall 2023 Playlist. I genuinely don’t know how I got this one to work, but I did. Power ballads? Rap? Céline Dion? All there. You’re welcome.

I suspect when I listen to my Summer 2023 playlist in the future, I’ll realize how upset I was about my dad’s death—more so than now, when I’m actually in it. There’s rage and sorrow here. But I’m dancing through it.

So, my dad died. It sucks. And even though I’ve been curating songs for this year’s Spring playlist for a while, I think the selections reflect the trauma of the situation—musically, if not lyrically. But they also reflect the sweet nostalgia of memories, and the rawness of fresh starts.

Through the end of October and November, I decided to learn more about metal, since it’s a genre I’ve hitherto largely neglected. I figured that exploration would have an impact on my winter playlist this year—and it absolutely did not. Not even a little. Instead the playlist ended up being weirdly chart-toppery? The heart wants what it wants, I guess.

My dad has been sick, so I’ve been driving back and forth between Kentucky and Wisconsin to help take care of him. Things have felt uncertain, and I think that bled into my 2022 Fall Playlist—jittery, restless. But “restless” can encompass different motivations—there’s an uncomfortable restlessness here, but also a hopeful, dreamy one.

Let’s go on a journey, shall we? Amazingly, I created my Summer 2022 playlist the day before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, but it already told a story of rage, despair, and finding a way to muddle through no matter what.

Spring has sprung once again—but this is my first seasonal playlist since moving to Louisville. I wonder if my tastes will change along with the scenery? I’d say the main vibe of my Spring 2022 Playlist is…open. Vast. It can see for miles, even through the rain.

What’s the vibe for my Winter 2021/22 playlist you ask? Soulful covers to keep you warm on snowy nights. Glittery glam to mirror the sparkle outside. And an undercurrent of anxiety—couldn’t be helped. It’s just the times in which we’re living.

My 2021 Fall Playlist is moody and cinematic—which is generally the autumn vibe I go for, but I feel like it’s even more moody and cinematic this year. The 60s and 70s make a noticeable appearance. Lots of covers.

The theme of my 2021 Summer Playlist is: DEBAUCHERY! We are vaccinated and we are embracing hedonism! We are hugging our friends! We are eating out! We are traveling! (We are still taking reasonable precautions against the Delta variant!)

Maybe it has something to do with being stuck inside for a whole year, but this year’s Spring playlist leans pretty hard into the concept of Spring itself. Normally I avoid songs that mention the season in question, but not this time. My body wants to be outside in the sunshine.

I honestly think my Winter playlists are some of the best—the season is the most versatile. Glittering snow, iced-over mud, bleak cloud cover. In the case of this year’s playlist, it calls for everything from sparkly disco to the quietest folk strains.

It’s finally cooled down in Chicago, which means that it’s time, once again, for a Fall Playlist. It was hard to corral this one into an effective order; the songs range from sprawling electronic melodies to quiet folk tunes.

Here’s a winter playlist to brighten those cloudy days.