Every day, Spotify curates a personalized “Daylist” for listeners, tailored by its algorithm. These often come with quirky, hyper-specific titles like “Soulful Souldies Wednesday Evening” or “Lit Fraternity Saturday Afternoon.” This week, The Phillipian asked students to open their Daylist and share one song that resonated with them. Tune in to see students’ daily picks, covering everything from upbeat anthems to nostalgic throwbacks.
“Soulful Souldies Wednesday Evening” | Quin Langham ’26 | Sienna by The Marias
“Sienna is a very chill song at the end of Submarine, The Marias latest album. It’s really daydreamy, and I feel like I’m floating every time I listen to it. It’s a part of my daily music diet, waking up, walking, doing work, and going to sleep. The daylist overall is very dreamy and soulful, as the title says. I highly recommend this song to anyone who wants to chill, and the whole album for studying.”
“Lit Fraternity Saturday Afternoon” | Matthew Wei ’28 | Heartless by Kanye West
“I think that this playlist embodies a ‘Lit Fraternity Saturday Afternoon’ because there’s a lot of rap, there’s Kendrick, Travis Scott, Lil Uzi, 21 Savage, J. Cole, just a bunch of people who you’d want to be in a fraternity with. Whenever I feel down or unmotivated, Kanye gives me a lot of motivation with his themes of passion and hard work. This is particularly helpful when I’m doing my homework, providing that extra ‘boost’ to get through the day. My favorite times to listen to artists like Kanye and Kendrick are in the mornings to get me motivated, and at night to help me wind down after a long day.”
“Clean Girl Sunbathing Wednesday Afternoon” | Leilani Glace ’25 | Pink Pony Club by Chappell Roan
“I’m not a morning person. I wouldn’t even consider myself an afternoon person. But starting my day with Pink Pony Club at 6:30 am really gets me going, perhaps so much so that I might one day consider being an early bird. It is infectious, heartfelt, and it makes me feel like I can be unapologetically myself, even if I am not highly functioning at that godforsaken hour.”
“Symphonic Orchestra Afternoon” | Elliot Chai ’28 | Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances
“I love this song because it’s really soothing and calming. It’s a really intense piece, with fun, almost bouncy spots throughout. If I had to describe this song with one word, it would be
‘galvanizing.’ I find that it provides really intense motivation that inspires me to accomplish things whenever I listen to it. This is particularly motivating when I’m on my bicycle. I do cycling here at Andover, and this song really just motivates me when I’m working hard and cycling long distances.”
“Isolated C-Pop Afternoon” | Linda DeBoer ’27 | 我用什么把你留住 by “FloruitShow”
“I really love the lyrics of this song, they’re really powerful, deep, and intentional. There’s this one lyric that comments on the ups and downs of life, and it’s just such a vibe. In the last line of the chorus, it says ‘所以生命啊 它苦涩如歌.’ Here, 苦 means bitter, and 涩 is another dreadful flavor that doesn’t have an English translation. It essentially says, ‘It’s bitter in a beautiful way, like a song.’ I just thought that that was awesome. I don’t really listen to music that often during the day, but when I do, I really try to listen to the lyrics of songs, lyrics are like poetry. If you like songs, you like poetry.”
