If there’s one thing that’s gotten most of us through 2020 and the pandemic, it has to be music. Whether it was the stressful transition into hybrid learning or the abundance of time on our hands due to quarantining, listening to music has always been a reliable crutch to lean on. Now, moving into the new year, it’s important to have playlists to motivate, encourage, and ultimately uplift us for a successful 2021.
Music is an incredibly integral part of many peoples’ lives. For many, it's absolutely essential to spice up mundane everyday activities with music--whether you’re spending time with family, exercising, or even doing your homework. Streaming services such as Spotify and Apple Music are perfect for said occasions. Providing individual playlists for every mood, listeners are able to easily find which type of music best suits them in that exact moment. What’s more are these platforms’ personalized curated playlists feature, which generates a playlist specifically for each listener based on their listening history. These playlists help people expand their music taste and discover new artists and genres. With so much time and isolation, especially with at-home learning, playlists like these can help us beat the boredom and maybe even get us hooked on an up-and-coming artist!
On the other hand, others prefer a more inspiring, engaging and social experience, like podcasts and drawing inspiration from familiar voices. From Michelle Obama to social media influencers to public radio such as NPR, platforms including Spotify and Apple Podcasts can offer an incredibly wide range of speakers and topics. These allow for a more focused and interactive experience while listening, and can be perfect for drives to work, going on a run, finishing errands and more! Additionally, on these same platforms, you can follow your friends and get inspired by what they’re listening to. Listening to other peoples’ playlists can be fun and refreshing, showing different types of music than your own favorite tunes.
Finally, although many of us want to leave 2020 as much in the past as possible, our favorite streaming services have created ways to reflect on our listening habits from the past year. Spotify’s 2020 Wrapped and Apple Music’s Replay are fun ways to check out your most played songs of the year, as well as to see some of the statistics behind your listening. These year-end programs additionally create a playlist full of your top 50 most played tracks of the year, which are super fun to listen to and reflect upon.
Moving into 2021, as unclear as the future looks, it’s important to keep the things that we know have our backs, like family, friends, music, and more. Even though many aspects of our day to day lives can seem repetitive, there are always things to look forward to, like your favorite artists’ new releases or exploring a whole new genre of music. With this in mind, let’s put on our favorite playlist and take on the new year!