Six Picks: July
i'm back! after a much needed break, six picks has returned. here’s a refresher:
Music is a key part of healing and self-soothing for me.
I'm like a musical encyclopedia sometimes. I love reading and watching interviews from artists sharing how they created their art. I’ll try to mix up some different genres to fit all of your tastes, but keep an open mind. ;) welcome to my musical brain!
here are this month’s six picks.
never goes away -
claire rosinkranz
“Maybe it’s just a little better livin’ in your brain instead of spillin’ it all out and leavin’ a permanent stain.”
Our Backyard Boy is back (you may or may not get this reference, but if you do, I am sorry to send you back in time). And this groovy tune is a reminder that our digital generation knows well, and has heard from adults for many, many years now: nothing you say ever really goes away.
Except Claire isn’t just talking about technology today. She’s talking about the painful marks that words and actions can leave behind.
“Most of the time, when you say something or put something out into the world, you can’t take it back. So be wise with your words and your actions. This song was inspired by my friend Hunter after he and I did a photoshoot, and he wrote little messages on the sides of the photos. One of the messages was about once something’s out you can’t take it back,” Claire explained.
For those of us who awkwardly run out mouths, we don’t need this little reminder. However, being on the other end of gossip or harmful actions can feel terrible. So allow this song to boogie you into a validated state of mind.
why is this resonating with me right now?
I’m just over it! Maybe it’s because I’ve been reducing my social media usage, but it just feels like there is so much NOISE out there right now. Pointless clickbait, uneducated opinions, harmful and rude gossip …I guess I’m bored!
Anyone want to have an intentional, real conversation, holding space for each other? Yeah, you know where to find me.
the hardest part
- olivia dean
'“Held you up so highly, deep under your spell, your opinions would define me, this time I made some for myself. ”
This song gives a massive hug to those doing their healing work, and coping with the pains of out-growing people in the process.
“You’re realizing maybe I, maybe I ain’t the same, and what you’re waiting for ain’t there no more anyway.” Woah.
It may not be a surprise to you that this gorgeous song came through for Olivia after the ending of a relationship.
“It really felt like the closing chapter, you know when you’re closing a chapter and starting a new one. And I just didn’t want to be really sad. So I just wanted to write a song that was like a positive outlook on moving on from someone and growing up, and accepting that we’re different people now. And it’s sad but unfortunately we can’t really go back so we need to go forward.”
why is this resonating with me right now?
I think about what it would be like to go back to a period of my life without the insight that I have now. I think about seemingly simple things that I do now that I used to not be able to handle: walks around town, taking my vitamins, time alone.
I wouldn’t be able to trade that. Would you?
rewind
- krewella, yellow claw
“Is it just me, or do you ever feel like time just flies?”
Okay but hear me out, crying dancing?
It’s giving - Taylor Swift’s Never Grow Up but with significantly less complex lyrics and some satisfying bass drops. I’ve followed Krewella since their 2010s hit Alive, and this one definitely makes my favourites list. Female DJs for the win!
And the song doesn’t lack backstory and intention. “We wrote ‘Rewind’ about the bittersweet feeling of losing yourself in memories. How moments and emotions seem to vanish at the blink of an eye, and suddenly it’s a month, a year, sometimes a decade later, and you feel like everything you’ve experienced is a fictional story.
“The ‘you’ from the past is a familiar stranger. You’re sad that it’s all gone, but happy that it led you to where you are right now. They say nostalgia is like a drug, likely because it’s so easy to get stuck in the past, but this song is about letting yourself slip into it knowingly and enjoy it with reckless abandon,” Krewella explains.
why is this resonating with me right now?
I mean, they said it better than I could. I’m grieving old versions of myself at a rate that I can’t keep up with, and when I first heard this song I have an intuitive dance party in the kitchen - it is SO validating.
Greenlight
- hayley kiyoko
“I wanna know what it feels like, I wanna follow the green light, it’s calling me.”
“‘Greenlight’ is about making an active decision to put your energy into the things that are working,” Hayley explains, “Of course there will be roadblocks along the way, but we become our best selves when we surround ourselves with people who challenge us in a healthy way, encourage us to keep digging deeper and support our overall journey.”
Hayley acknowledges that she has spent a lot of wasted time trying to prove her worth to people, and that it hasn’t gotten her very far at all.
Uhh… samesies.
why is this resonating with me right now?
I feel like I’ve been pushing against the current for so long and I continually find new ways to turn around and allow myself to be supported, surrendering in a new way each time.
There’s something to be said about the path of least resistance, even if it’s not your favourite.
i don 't live here anymore
- leith
“When it hurts to say it's been a while, that's how you know you're too far from home.”
Okay, I lied. THIS is the Taylor Swift’s Never Grow Up musical relative. This is it’s distant cousin.
Prepare your fragile heart, my friend. “We wrote ‘I Don’t Live Here Anymore’ the week my childhood best friend’s parents put their house up for sale, and I think I was surprised by how it made me feel. I haven’t lived at home in years and it hit me just how long it’s really been and how much I miss my friends and family in Canada. For me, it’s a song about growing up, recognising and loving the people that made me who I am, and acknowledging that at any stage the most important people are always there…”
Why is this resonating with me right now?
Being in the gap between kid and adult means being excited for what’s to come, yet every aspect of growth causes grief in another space. This song gives my extremely sentimental inner-child a hug.
pick me
- wafia
“I don't need an owner. Can't you just support me the way that you're supposed to? Every time you push me, I get even colder.”
This is your anthem for ending that toxic relationship! If this song reminds you of Dua Lipa’s New Rules, that’s because you’re listening to one of the songwriters from that track!
“I wrote this song… after coming out of a bad relationship last year,” Wafia says, “The break-up period dragged out way more than it needed to, but in all of our angry calls and texts I came to see how much he resented me and my career.”
Interesting… people intimidated by women and their successes? Sounds familiar.
why is this resonating with me right now?
This is a song that acts like an intention for me. On the days when I definitely wouldn’t pick me over someone else (toxic or not), this song is on repeat.
