Songs on Repeat

I love finding new music—it’s just like discovering a new book, movie, TV show, app, game, what have you. Songs are the easiest to become attached to because they’re the shortest form of media in that list above (maybe not compared to an app. Maybe). And of course, it depends on the person.

Okay, great, we get it, discovering new things we love is the greatest. The novelty hasn't worn off yet and it inspires or causes an emotion and. My problem is when I find a song I love and I listen to it obsessively. Seriously. I will hit that repeat button and replay said song until I am sick of it. I will play it at home, at work, on the bus, wherever and whenever (if it’s appropriate).

The real question is “why?” I know I will get sick of it once the novelty has worn off. It happens every time without fail. It’s not like it will sneak up on me and suddenly become eye roll-inducing, or that one second I’m in love and the next I’m hitting the “next” button faster than my snooze button in the morning. No, it’s a quick gradual process, by which I mean I slowly start hating the song, but it happens within a couple of days, not a couple of minutes or weeks. Is there a word to describe that middle interval? Eh. You get the point.

Here are a couple of examples in my life of songs that I've replayed obsessively and where I heard that song (in case you would like to know what I’m listening to or would like some suggestions.

• Dance With Me Tonight- Olly Murs (just a really fun pop song that is faintly reminiscent of 50s sock hop music)
• Popular Song- Mika feat. Ariana Grande (I liked the song Popular from Wicked, and this one had a fun take on the song)
• Love Will Come- The Maps (from an episode of Misfits— techno song with a cool background )
• Blue Monday- New Order  (80s song that was in someone’s YouTube video—fun beat)
• Hurry Hurry- Air Traffic Controller (the lyrics literally describe my life as I am working 34 hours a week on top of 9 hours of class not including homework)
• Silver- The Gray Havens (heard it during this video and the combination of the footage and the piano melody really captured me)
• Paris- Magic Man (Never been to Paris, though. I guess Magic Man’s Paris is my London)
• Banker- The Cinema (check this one out ASAP)
• Love is An Open Door-Kristen Bell, Santino Fontana (from Frozen! Let It Go was fantastic too, but I heard it earlier so I got over my obsession with that song earlier, and this song was so much fun, and their harmonizing is fantastic. Good grief that Santino Fontana is a fabulous singer)
• I Feel Pretty -Santino Fontana (this was his audition song for Frozen; he said he was nervous and wanted to song to sing that would perfectly fit this conceited character, so he sang this--hilarious! Again, I reiterate that Fontana is a wonderful singer with a strong voice and range)
• Let It Go- Idina Menzel (Uh, one of the greatest Disney songs from this era, because let’s be honest, Lion King totally takes all of the cakes. It’s such an 80s power ballad—love it! There’s a reason it won an Academy Award!)
• Young Volcanoes- Fall Out Boy (I’ve never studied music and the farthest my venture into the land of music was a year of piano lessons when I was in 7^th grade, and that did not stick. How do you describe why you like a song when you just like it? I could give better and more coherent reasons as to why I dislike other songs. This and My Songs Know What You Did in the Darkness are fun songs that feel slightly 80s-inspired to me for some reason)
• King- Lauren Aquilina (This is a beautiful song by a wonderful British unknown singer. She has a lovely voice and I am such a sucker for piano)
• Carried Away- Passion Pit (I personally like this one much better than Take a Walk, which was played on the radio so much more. Feels 80’s-ish I think?)
• Kill Your Heroes- Awolnation (Oh God, this one I heard on…. The Vampire Diaries. My friend really likes that show and convinced me to give it a shot and watch an episode. I picked one at random and really liked this song in the background, but it wasn’t enough to redeem the show. If TVD is your thing, great. I, however, will not be watching it)
• Little Games- The Colourist (Ah, a free iTunes song! It’s not like I check the free song of the week section of iTunes weekly, I just happened to check it out and download this song. It was fortuitous, I think)
• Roar- Katy Perry (Uplifting, upbeat, catchy, just like everything else Katy Perry seems to make. Is it her superpower or something?? Seriously, she and Ke$ha don’t put out anything original, but their songs are so damn catchy!)
• Start of Time- Gabrielle Aplin (That episode of Teen Wolf… I don’t actually watch the show fully; I watch the ones that get good ratings and skip the scenes that don’t include Dylan O’Brien)
• My Body- Young the Giant
• Cannibal Queen- Miniature Tigers (This is one of those songs that you dislike the first time you hear it, but the more you’re exposed to it, the more you like it. That phenomenom is so strange to me. Why is that the same thing happened to Gives You Hell by All-American Rejects, but not 23 by Miley Cyrus, which was played over and over again at my friend’s Halloween party? Oh, right, because I despise Miley Cyrus)
• Banana Splits- The Dickies (from Kick-Ass. Oh man, that scene was awesome and disturbing at the same time. Don’t watch if you don’t have the stomach for gore)
• Hello- Martin Solveig & Dragonette (oh my God I had this song on repeat for such a long time. Is there anything else that gets me to spastically bob up and down? Maybe Can I see You Again? –Carly Rae Jepsen and Owl City. Shut up! That’s a good song too! Very upbeat and fast, and just so catchy. Also, Wreck-it Ralph)
• She Walks Right Through Me—Alex Day (the music video on YouTube is alright, but for some reason I love that song)
• Harlem- The New Politics
• Berlin- The New Politics
• Goodbye Copenhagen-The New Politics
• Thrift Shop- Macklemore
• Can’t Hold Us- Macklemore (for obvious reasons)
• Chocolate- The 1975 (again, for obvious reasons)
• Troublemaker- Olly Murs
• Stompa- Serena Ryder
• Little Talks- Of Monsters and Men
• King and Lionheart- Of Monsters and Men
• Man of Constant Sorrow- Watsky (This is originally a GREAT song by the Soggy Bottom Boys in O Brother, Where Art Thou?, but Dylan Saunders [Dumbledore from A Very Potter Musical] is a great singer, and I love Watsky’s rhythm and lyrics)
• Two Weeks- Grizzly Bear (this one was featured on How I Met Your Mother, and I can’t remember immediately liking a song I've heard on TV so much. Okay, except for Kill Your Heroes)

So this devolved into just a list of my favorite songs that I highly recommend to people. It’s hard to recommend songs sometimes, though, because I've found that people usually have to discover music on their own to take to it immediately or to be sent links to songs. You can’t make them listen to it. Also, everyone has such different tastes, so my favorites are likely the bane of someone’s existence somewhere out there. The same could be said for anything by Miley Cyrus or Justin Bieber and I- those songs are torture for me. Oh, and country music. Hey, to each their own, right?