Spanning various eras, styles, and genres, our new Playlist of the Week spread spotlights a plethora of Andover students’ song recommendations alongside their commentaries on their chosen song. We compiled these recommendations into a playlist featuring, among others, BTS, Arctic Monkeys, Hole, and Hippo Campus. This week’s selection includes genres such as grunge, rock, indie, and K-pop. Give it a listen by scanning the code below!
Natasha Muromcew ’22
“A song I would recommend is ‘Way It Goes’ by Hippo Campus. It’s a really happy and relaxing song, and I love listening to it when walking around campus. Its genre is alternative/indie, which is a style I am drawn to because it calms me down when I am stressed. There aren’t many lyrics in the song, but one that stands out to me is ‘that’s the way it goes,’ which is repeated multiple times. I like it because it reminds me to chill out and be okay with the way things are going, even if I’m unhappy about my current circumstances.”
Christian Gomez ’24
“[My] song is ‘Boy in Luv’ by BTS. Although a lot of their music has become very popular, this song was released much earlier in their career, around 2014. Broadly, the song belongs to the K-pop genre, but has a lot of hip-hop influences and blends different forms of artistry [such as] dancing, rapping, and singing, [which] adds a lot of depth. Listening to this song released earlier in their career and seeing what they’ve accomplished now is really impressive and a good representation of their evolution as artists. Also, the song definitely opened my eyes to other songs that aren’t sung in English, [and] I think that’s pretty cool.”
Fae Ross ’24
“I love the song ‘Doll Parts,’ by Hole. A ‘90s girl grunge classic, this song uses a metaphor of a broken, dismembered doll to lament unrequited love… [it] is so raw and powerful that you can’t help but be drawn to it, and Courtney Love’s voice is ragged but controlled. It’s pretty simple composition wise… just three or four chords, but it’s the simplicity that makes it so powerful. I’ve been listening to this song since I was nine or ten, and… it makes me feel powerful and mournful at the same time, which is an incredibly fun combination of emotions.”
Alex Giarnese ’25
“‘Two Birds’ by Regina Spektor. The song talks about these two birds who are together on a wire. The meaning is pretty clear—it represents two people…who do everything together, and it talks about how close they are. Gradually throughout the song, it implies how one might be holding the other back and how they start drifting. This song is important to me as someone that’s gone through something similar—I had a very close friend that unfortunately drifted apart from me through Covid-19… I enjoyed the time that I had with that friend, so I think it hits home for me because Regina Specter does a good job talking about the details of drifting from a friend. [The song] helped in recovering from the friendship ending.”
Jacqueline Gordon ’25
“A song I would recommend is ‘I Wanna Be Yours’ by Arctic Monkeys. This song is a cover [of a] song based on the poem by John Cooper Clarke of the same title. This song is considered to be part of alternative rock…[and] I’m drawn to this particular style because I think it’s a mix of some of the better genres of music. It’s slower than usual rock, but still has strong drum beats. Plus, I enjoy the guitar riffs that make the song more expressive, climaxing at the end of the song…[and] becoming very trancelike and powerful. This song is one of my favourites and is important to me because this was my starting point into the band. I enjoy listening to it to take a break from everything for a few minutes—like a comfort song.”
Hanbie Park ’23
“‘Chronic Sunshine’ by Cosmo Pyke. This is an alternative/indie and pop song, [and] I think I’m drawn to this song because it has chill vibes. It’s laid back, not too happy or exciting, but also not sad. Its mellowness makes it a very pleasing listen. [In the song,] there’s a line in the second verse that says, ‘She said you’re a star Cosmo/But you’re a star and we’re all star stuff.’ This conveys that we’re all made of star material, and that resonates with me because it’s reassuring— none of us are alone in our struggles. Overall, I like how carefree this song makes me feel, because we all need downtime where we stop caring about all the stress going on academically and socially.”
