I'm starting this writing challenge late, so I'm about to bang out five prompts in one day. This is going to be a long one.
1. Ten songs that made your 2020 and why- alternatively, you can write about an album that made your 2020 if it’s easier
If I'm being honest, I didn't really listen to a ton of music this year. I mostly let the Spotify algorithm guide my musical journey in 2020. But there were a few standouts for me I think.
1. "Texas Sun" // Khruangbin & Leon Bridges
Ben and I got married in February 2020, right before Covid hit and we could still see each other and breathe on each other and be around each other. This was our first dance song. Listening to it now not only reminds me of our love, our marriage, and our wedding, but also of the last time I saw the majority of our family and friends before lockdown. I'm so thankful that we got to celebrate and be together before the whole world went to shit.
2. The New Abnormal // The Strokes
This one is an entire album, and it came out in the middle of this shit show year in April. This one is important for a number of reasons. One, it's the first album in several years that The Strokes have released, and they have been my favorite band since I was 15 years old. Listening to this whole album felt like hanging out with an old friend, it brought back so many memories of going to shows and blasting this from the car radio while driving my parents' Toyota Corolla in high school. But it also felt like something new from a band that's grown over the years. That along with the fact that I spent New Year's Eve 2020 seeing them at Barclays, which I believe was my first and last concert of 2020, made this album especially meaningful to me this year.
3."Wait For It" // Leslie Odom Jr. + the cast of Hamilton
I'm honestly tempted to include the entire Hamilton album here as well, but this is my favorite and most played song from it. I had never seen the show, but when it came out on Disney+ Ben and I became fairly obsessed with it, rewatching the show and listening to the music for probably a month after we saw the show the first time. This was also around the time that we moved apartments after being in our first one together for seven years, and I have a very distinct memory from July of eating Chinese takeout and watching Hamilton in our old empty apartment because our new one didn't have internet yet.
4. "Black Swan" // BTS
I have always been a casual fan of K-pop, but this is the song and video that got me really into BTS and K-pop music. I thought the song was pretty different from the previous K-pop music I had previously listened to, and I was an especially big fan of the first music video that came out, which was an "art film" that featured an interpretive dance troupe. This also led me to spend the rest of 2020 trying to figure out which member of BTS was which (I have about half the group figured out).
5. "Me Rehúso" // Danny Ocean
I first heard this song while working on the outside patio of my DUMBO, Brooklyn office on a beautiful sunny day, emanating from a coworker's "Reggaeton" playlist on his laptop. When I was putting the playlist together for my Tulum bachelorette party in January, this song was at the top of it. It's a catchy, fun, addicting tune that reminds me of dancing poolside in a bikini, drunk off margaritas and Moet, with all my best girl friends.
6. Future Nostalgia // Dua Lipa
Another whole album, because I couldn't pick just one song. This came out one to two weeks after lockdown and was on repeat for a while, because the electro pop beats and synths were fun, upbeat, and a little nostalgic of past pop hits. Had many one person dance parties in my living room to this album.
7. "Simply The Best" // Noah Reid (from Schitt's Creek)
I watched the entire Schitt's Creek series during peak quarantine time, and fell in love with every character and the entire world that Dan and Eugene Levy created. Obviously the moment that Noah Reid's character Patrick sang this to David had me in TEARS and I stan those two as a couple so hard so of course I listened to this song A LOT. Also Schitt's Creek swept the Golden Globes, which was pretty memorable.
8. "WAP" // Cardi B ft. Megan Thee Stallion
Obviously because this song is a fucking banger and if clubs and bars were open this would be on all the time and I would get so tired of it.
9. "exile" // Taylor Swift ft. Bon Iver
Both of Taylor Swift's cottagecore albums were fucking great and got me through the second half of the year, peak T Swift and peak cottagecore. Her songs with Bon Iver are my favorite because obviously I love him.
10. "You Are The Sunshine of My Life" // Stevie Wonder
The first nine songs/albums that made my 2020 came to me really easily but I had a little trouble coming up with the last one. I decided to go with the song my dad and I did our father daughter dance to at my wedding. The only reason it's on my Spotify Top 2020 Songs is because we practiced our cha cha so many times in the one week leading to the wedding, and I'm still impressed that we managed to perform it fairly well considering my dad just made it up in a week!
2. Your first memory and what you think it says about you
My first memory was when I was 3 years old and my brother was about to be born. My mom went into labor and my parents had to leave me with my dad's cousin, Tita Esther. I remember I really did not want to be left there and I freaked out and cried about it. This being such a gigantic change in my life, it makes sense that this would be a distinct memory, since nothing was ever the same after Glenn was born.
3. Something the horrors of 2020 taught you
4. You’re in total control of the world for a year and can decide what to do, irrespective of the cost or any political woes that may arise. What things are you going to implement? Why?
I would ensure that we have the resources and infrastructure to give everyone the Covid vaccine in the next month. Give funding to small businesses in trouble and stimulus checks to those who need it. I would enact environmental reforms worldwide so we don't burn the whole damn world down when we're allowed back in it. I would enact worldwide anti-discrimination laws.
5. A popular TV show you don’t like and why. Make it as controversial as possible, for funzies and explain fully what made you dislike it.
I didn't finish either Game of Thrones or Breaking Bad. Game of Thrones I stopped mid-3rd season, and Breaking Bad I stopped at the beginning of the second season. I got bored okay?!? I just didn't feel like finishing either one, neither didn't really captivate me enough to go back and finish.
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