We’re over six months into the coronavirus pandemic in the United States, and we’ve faced several phases of coping and distraction together, haven’t we? Maybe you’re among the folks who organized closets and hosted Zoom parties. Maybe you invented a quarantini and worried about drinking it too much. Maybe you perfected the art of making bread or took up knot-tying. Whatever you’ve done or haven’t during this time, congratulations on surviving this incredibly difficult point in time.
But there’s another transition afoot. As the seasons change, we’ll soon give up our picnic blankets and head back indoors. So, ahead of that, you might consider a small bit of random advice: You should lean into pandemic playlists.
This might not be a surprising recommendation. Even before the pandemic, you might’ve had a queue of songs that you listened to when driving, or maybe your Monday Vibes playlist was the only thing that got you through. But, right now, when we’re spending more time indoors and away from loved ones, revisiting favorite songs and expanding your musical palette is a solid idea.
Let’s start with what you might already intuit: Listening to music can help boost your mood or calm you down. A 2018 meta-analysis published in The British Journal of Surgery looked at 81 studies investigating music as a medical intervention to reduce stress and anxiety before, during, or after surgeries. Researchers found that there was a statistically significant decrease in anxiety and pain for adults who listened to music before, during, or after surgery. I’m not saying that your favorite ’90s playlist is a medical miracle, but if your mixes make your day a bit easier, it’s kind of comforting to know you’re not imagining things.
“I make playlists because I can pop in and out of different moods and different eras of my life,” Adeola A., 35, tells SELF, adding that her Sam Cooke playlist reminds her of childhood. “I also find joy in organizing the songs.”
In the past I’ve overlooked the pleasure that comes from organizing my playlists. But when I’ve set out to create an hours-long writing soundtrack, I’ve found that it satisfied my urge to control and rearrange. So if you were one of the people who rearranged your closets and drawers a few months ago, but now you’re over it, making a pandemic playlist could give you similar gratification.
During the pandemic, my playlist tendencies have expanded. I listen to a randomly selected bossa nova playlist when I’m feeling stressed in the middle of the day. I have a hodgepodge playlist for cooking dinner and a yoga playlist that features only five songs (and that I’ve never used during my yoga practice). Spotify, my streaming app of choice, has curated the vast majority of my playlists. But even when I surrender to an algorithm, there’s pleasure in being open to hearing songs I wouldn’t choose myself. In short: If building your own playlist seems like too much, I’d recommend searching for a few you didn’t create yourself. (And even if you love building your own playlist, experimenting with other ones can still help you discover new songs and artists.)
We should also address the obvious. Playlists can provide an emotional release as well. In an essay about how nostalgia has helped her during the pandemic, Anna Borges, a senior health editor at SELF, writes, “For weeks it’s been nothing but My Chemical Romance, Good Charlotte, All Time Low, Dashboard Confessional, Say Anything, the Used…the list goes on. As I cycle through anxiety, depression, grief, anger, and a million other emotions triggered by my current situation, the old pop-punk anthems, angsty emo ballads, and soft acoustic lullabies I listened to and loved as a teen now set my heart at ease.” The value in compiling your favorite songs speaks for itself.
And finally, though I haven’t done this during the pandemic, I imagine that when someone enjoys a playlist you’ve made, it’s a special kind of love language. There’s intimacy in sharing a playlist with other people—if they’ll listen. “There is pleasure in sharing them, but I’ve realized no one wants them,” Adeola says with a laugh. “I take all this time to make them because music is close to the heart.”
For Adeola, playlists are a way for her to connect with herself and express her creativity. For Borges, remembering music from her teens has brought some solace in 2020. For me, when I swap playlists based on my moods or use them as companions throughout the pandemic, I’m finding support in melody and memory as well. So, as we gear up to navigate another iteration of the pandemic together (because, as we all know, it’s not over), creating a soundtrack for this moment couldn’t hurt.
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