Every year, the blooming of the magnolia trees in front of Samuel Phillips Hall marks the beginning of one of Andover students’ most beloved traditions: lawning. With the warm sunshine and gentle wind, there is no better time to be on the Great Lawn with your friends and favorite music. This week’s Phillipian Playlist, recommended by students who are no strangers to lawning, spotlights a compilation of their favorite tunes that can also accompany your lawning sessions. Enjoy!
Anushka Bhat ’22
“My favorite song to listen to while lawning is ‘We Don’t Care’ by Kanye West. I began listening to it about a year ago, during my Upper Spring. It was the first term where things were starting to feel normal again after the pandemic, so my friends and I spent an absurd amount of time on the lawn. We would play spikeball, read, have picnics, frolic, etc. So, this song is really nostalgic for me.”
Joe Murphy ’23
“One of my favorite songs to lawn to is ‘Ghost Town’ by Kanye West…[because] ‘Ghost Town’ does everything a song should do perfectly. It’s both meaningful and catchy, [and] has great features and iconic verses from Kanye…‘Ghost Town’ is a hip-hop song which samples two soul songs: ‘Take Me For A Little While’ by the Royal Jesters and ‘Someday’ by Shirley Ann Lee. This mixture of genre makes for a song that makes you feel like you’re floating. What makes ‘Ghost Town’ special to me is the song’s message. I have always interpreted Kanye’s verse on ‘Ghost Town’ as him acknowledging his past mistakes, specifically his egotism. Kanye repeats the words ‘someday’ throughout his verse which I always felt is meant to show that someday he will change. In 070 Shake’s outro she sings about how she ‘feels kind of free,’ which I feel represents Kanye finally reaching the point of leaving his fears behind. I feel that this message of self-love and acceptance is something that everyone should hear, as almost anyone should be able to resonate with them, including myself.”
Ashley Song ’23
“A song I found recently is called ‘You Were Bored’ by Loyal Lobos. I just really like the slow-paced rhythm, and it just feels like spring…I think the voice of the singer is very melancholic, in a good way, and it has this dreamy feel to it that speaks to me like spring. It’s very melodic, in the best way background music can be, and in whatever you may be doing, lawning, walking, chatting, it’s got a very attractive and catchy loop of notes that sets the mood, and just maintains this very calm energy. Maybe it’s also the plotline of the song that draws me in; this sad ‘summer romance’ is a staple of American summer, and as we head into the warm days ahead, a summer escape is all I can think about. I’m reminded of the temporary nature of summer, and as an upper, heading into my last summer before senior year and the onslaught of essays and late nights, I want to embrace the fleeting joys of everything despite those inevitable sadnesses that Loyal Lobos sings about.”
Arim Lee ’24
“A song I love to lawn to is ‘I Like You’ by Weather Cast, a Korean band from the ‘90s. I love listening to Korean songs that were popular around then because they have this strange, fuzzy feeling that takes me back to a time when I technically wasn’t even born. The song is classified as a folk song, a genre that I don’t typically listen to, but I think there’s something about its over-the-top sweetness that made me add it to my playlist right away. The lyrics are pretty repetitive, not to mention very, very cheesy, but the way the singers own up to them attracted me to the song. This song became a huge hit when it came out in 1996, and since then, it was remade by many contemporary artists—the most famous example would be the cover by Cho Jung-Seok, a Korean actor, and it was through his cover that I discovered this song. My mom once caught me playing this song on repeat, and she was surprised, since it had been one of her favorites when she was in college. I think that just goes on to emphasize that music truly shouldn’t be constrained by time, and that revelation prompted me to hunt for more songs that were released a while ago. I was able to find some gems!”
Karen Wang ’24
“One of my favorite songs to lawn to is ‘Dear Luca’ by Ayokay because of the catchy yet laidback rhythm. It’s the perfect song between an upbeat and a chill song, and even though this song carried me through the winter term, I just recently realized how fitting this song is for a fun lawning session. I think this song is a balanced mix of dance, electronic, and pop music, which is my favorite type of music because it’s lively enough to keep up the energy in the moment, but at the same time it’s calm enough to relax to, which is great music for lawning. The lyrics have a hopeful tone that makes the listener feel good while listening, and they match the sound of the song very well too.”
Editor’s Note: Ashley Song ’23 is an Illustration Editor for The Phillipian.
