Playlist: May

So there I was, bopping along and going through life without a care, when I realized that I had not posted the playlist from the month of May. Sorry about that.

Here it is. Have at it. Shuffle and enjoy.

Playlist: April

Sorry for the incredibly delayed posting of this monthly playlist, which I am sure you were all waiting for with bated breath. 

T.S. Eliot was right--April is the cruelest month. Well, this April was at least. It was one of my best months in France, but for every happy moment there was another cruel reminder that my time in France is almost over. In fact, this time next week I will be back in the United States. 

Wow.

So yeah. That's why this playlist goes from party songs to sappy songs to upbeat feelgood songs to songs one might play on a calm morning. Shuffle and enjoy!

Playlist: March

OK I CAN EXPLAIN: My computer's been at the Apple Store for two weeks getting repaired. That's why I haven't been writing. I'll try to make up for it with an extra long playlist, which apparently consists of basically every song I heard in the month of March. Maybe I went overboard. I don't know. But, as usual, shuffle and enjoy!

Playlist: February

I promised to write more this month. That didn't necessarily happen. But then again, I've barely been in Lille this month. After one week of work I had a two-week break, which I kind of extended into a three-week break by taking a trip on my days off last week. And now here we are at Leap Day.

At least all that travel made for an interesting playlist. Here's a mix of songs I heard in Lille, Cassel, Bruges, Paris, Copenhagen, and Oxford. It starts and ends with Zayn, and the artists that appear most often are Simon and Garfunkel, Yann Tiersen, Hozier, and Justin Bieber. I can't think of a better way to sum up my February than that.

Shuffle and enjoy!

Playlist: January

Here it is: the first playlist of 2016. Inspirations include but are not limited to: open mics, David Bowie, cold weather, nights in with friends, and throwback dance parties. Shuffle and enjoy!

Playlist: December

Happy New Year, everyone!! Here's the last monthly playlist of 2015, inspired by:

- The director of one of my schools saying that he's a huge Bruce Springsteen fan and that he wants to teach the kids The River in choir (all the teachers were like "director no" but I was like "DIRECTOR YES")
- Songs that we hold very specific memories and emotions for everyone who listens to them.
- Finally getting back into the mandolin madness of Judah and the Lion
- New music from The 1975
- Getting introduced to Grimes (thanks Beth!)
- Hearing a surprising amount of Édith Piaf in Paris
- And then just a bunch of Christmas songs I like

Shuffle and enjoy!

Playlist: November

This is a shorter playlist than past months, because unfortunately some of the songs that defined my November (Taylor Swift's song 22 and Adele's entire album 25) are not available on Spotify. But I hope you enjoy the songs that are available! This month's music was inspired by:

- Hearing songs that I had listened to in French class...in real life?
- Finally getting around to listening to Hotline Bling...and then not stopping.
- MADE IN THE A.M. (I like One Direction in case you hadn't noticed)
- Wondering if the All-American Rejects were still together and finding out they released new music LAST MONTH.
- Vitas becoming important in my life again.
- And Braden Holtby.

Shuffle and enjoy!

Playlist: October

Hi everyone! As per usual, here's an end-of-the-month playlist so you can listen to what my October was like. It's weird--on the one hand it feels like I've been in Europe for a really long time, but on the other it feels like time is passing really fast. (Halloween is TODAY??? I'm turning 22 in FIVE DAYS??? WHAT.) But anyway, here's the mix of the month, inspired by:

- Songs that I heard in stores everywhere (yes, including the Madelyn Bailey cover of Titanium, which is strangely popular over here from what I've seen)
- NEW ONE DIRECTION
- The one English-language song performed at an open mic I stumbled into earlier in the month
- My "going to work" playlist which was mostly just Walk The Moon's newest album
- Watching Arrested Development alone on a Friday and feeling inspired by Lucille
- Being reminded of the existence of Naughty Boy
- Favorites off of Josh Ritter's new album Sermon on the Rocks
- Listening to a record of Paul Simon's Graceland at the AirBnB in Granada
- Much-awaited new music from Adele
- And selections from possibly the strangest mix of songs ever heard on Halloween.

Shuffle and enjoy!

Playlist: September

It's officially the end of September, and I'm officially in France. Funny how things change in a month. Well, here's the soundtrack to my September, inspired by:

- A newfound love of Nicki Minaj (seriously, "Grand Piano" though)
- Watching Ken Burns' The Civil War (or like, two parts of it. Still need to watch the rest. Bt any excuse to listen to "Ashokan Farewell")
- Dad's Sunday morning "wake up" playlist
- Switching it up and listening to country instead of top 40 while washing dishes...and discovering I liked some of the songs
- Also finding out that Dave Haywood of Lady Antebellum plays not only the mandolin but also the bouzouki?!
- Iceland's apparent obsession with American late 60s/early 70s music
- Visiting Yoko Ono's Imagine Peace Tower
- The few Icelandic songs that Shazam was able to recognize
- Of Monsters and Men (because Iceland)
- The music that came on shuffle as my plane was landing in Paris and therefore sums up how this year will be
- New Josh Ritter music
- The Ryan Adams version of 1989
- And I think you can guess why the last song is on there

Shuffle and enjoy!

Playlist: August

Hey team. So. There aren't going to be many posts in the coming weeks. Not because nothing's happening--actually, quite the opposite. This whole "I'm moving to France for a year" thing is hitting me full force. There are some things that happened in August that I still want to write about. Maybe I will, maybe I won't, maybe I'll save them for some future throwback Thursday post. Until then, you can get a glimpse of what my August was like through this here playlist, which was inspired by:

- New singles from One Direction and Josh Ritter that were released on the same day (and the freakout that ensued)
- More new music, from Josh Ritter again and Imagine Dragons
- Seeing Fun Home on Broadway (All the songs are good but I just put the ones that I've had on repeat on here)
- More songs I heard on the radio or saw the video for on TV or danced to while dishwashing
- The best of the Washington Nationals' walk up music (in order of the lineup from 8/24)
- Reading Louise Penny's How The Light Gets In (and then going to her tea and book signing!)
- The VMAs (of course)

Playlist: July

Okay, so I know July isn't over for a few more days, but for me July ends when the DC Grays' season ends, and that was on Sunday. Also, I'm leaving for New York tomorrow and I figured I should post this before I go. So here it is!

This playlist was inspired by:
- Songs played between innings at the ballpark, including tons of country songs I didn't know existed and some pop songs I knew very well
- Songs my dad likes and therefore played a lot in the car
- The Fourth of July
- Going to an Irish pub on the Fourth of July and seeing some live music, which consisted of both Top 40 and traditional Irish tunes
- Seeing Far From the Madding Crowd and Trainwreck 
- Seeing the trailer for Paper Towns too many times
- Getting introduced to the band Years and Years (thanks Elisabeth)
- Jamming to the most random selection of songs in the car with Alicia
- Songs that I heard on the radio so many times I thought they were following me
- Songs that I didn't hear as many times on the radio but that I listened to and liked anyway

Enjoy!

Playlist: Post Grad

Post Grad from annamahoneyy on 8tracks Radio.

The idea for this playlist came to me the day after graduation, when I was driving away from Kenyon for the last time. I knew where I was leaving, I had no idea where I was going. I was scared. I was excited. I was ready. This playlist has some songs that I think express those feelings. Listen and enjoy!

Playlist: June

One of my friends told me a while ago how every month or so, he puts the songs he's been listening to a lot into a Spotify playlist. If he goes back to listen to it, he associates the music with memories of that time. I thought it was a neat idea, so I started a version of my own. 

I've been keeping this playlist/music journal/memory thing on Spotify going for about a year, and now that I'm also keeping this blog, I thought I could share the monthly playlists on here! But be aware: it's always a really weird mix of songs. 

This month's playlist was inspired by:
- Of Monsters and Men's new album
- The Tonys
- Songs I jammed to on the radio while washing dishes
- A certain Usher song that I decided to pluck along with on the mandolin as a joke but then it actually sounded kinda good
- Between-inning music at baseball games for the team I intern with
- Baseball players' walk-up songs that I have now heard almost 40 times and will probably hear 40 more times before the season ends.

Shuffle and enjoy!