@pyrex’s guide to a ~pretty~ good playlist

If you are thinking of writing an article for an artist or album, click here. 

let me just preface that I took a class on how emotions in music affect the human psyche, so I’m gonna geek out a little bit here.

Playlists

“playlists are all about capturing the proliferation of moods and emotions.”

“‘On Spotify, making a playlist is something like a ritual.’ Playlist creation is an effective reaction integrated into everyday situations.”

Picking your songs: You have the creative freedom to choose whatever songs you want to include in your playlist regardless of listeners or clout. Blend genres or make it all instrumental jazz music, I don’t care. This part is for you to express yourself how you want. However, make sure the large conversation piece of the article is for you to evoke a specific feeling or describe an experience with the listener. Playlists are meant to feel something and usually are made to remind people of different points in their lives. So do that! The article should add to the playlist and not take away / be completely unrelated to it. 

Playlists are divided into two types: Story-based and Mixes.

Story-based

Around 10-15 songs. Meant to be listened to in order and not shuffled. The article should, you know, tell a story or talk about a personal experience whether it’s real or not. But make sure you clarify that!! These playlists are also meant to evoke a “feeling” onto the listener. Genres can be whatever you want and you can mix and match. 

Bonus points if you’re able to make your playlist into a real story and even bigger brownie points if the transitions between songs are amazing.

If you are stuck and need help, think of describing mundane activities as opportunities for creating playlists: playing a video game, reading a book, watching a movie or a series, studying, thinking of a person or concept, or simply having an idea. 

These situations can operate as exigencies in that users experience the possibility to produce, capture, and explore the moods and emotions linked to these situations as an objectified social need.

Some scientific terms you need to keep in mind (optional) when working on this specific category (I did a whole 12 page research paper on this topic):

Emotional contagion: This is when a listener takes the instrumentals of a song and perceives it a certain way. For example, someone using a sad violin. I begin to feel sad, not because I feel sad but because I know that this is the emotion that the song is supposed to be giving out.

Visual imagery: Self explanatory. Songs that make you picture something, useful for your stories.

The “Darling, they are playing our tune” phenomenon: This is when a song takes you back in time. This is common in songs that were played during a significant time in someone’s life such as a wedding or party, where now anywhere that the song is played (let it be a restaurant) evokes the same memory.

“Mixes”

Our second type of playlists are generally the easiest. Think about this as the giant ass playlists that Spotify makes for people. Well, this is exactly what it is. This one is around 30-80 songs. These are obviously meant to be shuffled but make sure they kind of pertain to the theme. 

For example, I recently made a playlist called dulcet, dulcet means sweet and soothing when relating to sound, and that’s exactly what it is. A mix of 70 songs full of music that I think has nice beats, are nice sounding and is not tailored to a specific genre (although you can definitely just do one genre if you please). You’re probably asking how you would write an article for this. Well, you made the playlist for a reason. What was that reason? Ask yourself why you felt so inclined to make this mix and what was going on in your mind while selecting the songs, why did you pick that specific one? Also, why are you making it? In my example, well it’s the middle of a pandemic and this mix is good to play while you chill in your room and work or something. Due to the nature of this, these articles can have a minimum of 200 words. 

Keep these quotes in mind when making these playlists as these were findings in a well-received dissertation about the effect of Spotify playlists on the human psyche: 

“Playlists have become a central role in music streaming. It has become a primary means to discover, order and share music.”

“In this way, music is a key in the production of a collective mood through rituals”

“Playlists begin with an affective exigence. In other words, users turn to playlists to produce, capture and explore moods and emotions associated with a variety of events and experiences in their life.”

Source: Siles, Ignacio, et al. “Genres as Social Affect: Cultivating Moods and Emotions through Playlists on Spotify.” Social Media + Society, Apr. 2019, doi:10.1177/2056305119847514.