There are two possible places one can be on Feb. 14: in the arms of your beloved or in a Snuggie watching Netflix and eating ice cream because only ice cream knows the depths of your loneliness.
Well, not really, but you get my drift.
There’s a lot of feelings to be felt on Valentine’s Day. It’s hyped up to be this amazing holiday where you celebrate the one you love, but what if you don’t have someone? It’s easy to feel lonely or like you’re missing out when romance is everywhere you look.
This is especially true in music. Since love is such a universal experience, a lot of artists find inspiration in all kinds of love stories, whether they’re happy or sad ones. Without further ado, here’s a playlist of some of my favorite love songs.
The first song I would like to include is “It’s Nice to Have a Friend” by Taylor Swift. This is a song I didn’t talk about in my review of Lover (check it out on The Pacer website), but it’s one that has really grown on me in the months after the album’s release. The dreamy ballad samples from a children’s choir in Toronto, Canada, which I think lends to the nostalgic feel of the song.
In the song, Swift tells a love story in stages, beginning with a childhood friendship and ending with a wedding and life after. She ends each verse with the titular line, and the feeling changes each time from innocent happiness into relief and finds its place in grateful reminiscence. It’s a sweet and simple song that makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside every time I hear it.
After this would be “Butterflies” by Kacey Musgraves. The upbeat country song tells a story of new love and was written about Musgraves’ husband. Musgraves uses the metaphor of a butterfly to express the joy of finding a love that provides feelings of freedom and empowerment rather than feelings of entrapment and inferiority. She combines the metaphor with more straightforward statements like “I didn’t know him and he didn’t know me” to tell a realistic but poetic story.
The combination of the storytelling aspects and dreamy, twangy guitar make the song really calming to listen to.
Mitski’s “Pink in the Night” would be my next pick. If I could describe the feeling of falling in love with one song, this would be it. This song is pretty short, only clocking in at two minutes and 17 seconds, but I don’t think it needs to be any longer to get across the feeling that it conveys, that being the feeling of an infatuation so intense that it feels like heartbreak.
The song starts off with atmospheric synths and as the song builds, some electric guitar and drums are added into the mix and begin to drive the song forward. It’s a truly beautiful song that I strongly urge you to listen to.
After that would be “Lips on Lips” by Tiffany Young. The song has a light and uptempo electro-pop beat that makes it really pleasant to listen to. I think my favorite lyric from this song is “like a rose full in bloom, I romanticize.” Maybe it’s the imagery of the rose lending to the sentimental tone of the song, but it’s stuck out to me since the first time I heard it.
The romantic feel of this song makes it perfect for Valentine’s Day. Plus, it’s all about smooching, so there’s another point in its favor.
The next song on this list is “Would You Be So Kind” by dodie. I think this song can be best described as soft. The instrumental is led by ukulele and snaps/hand clapping as percussion. Even when the song picks up by the end, it’s more because of the background vocals than any notable changes in instrumentation.
Dodie’s voice also has a soft and tender tone, which lends a hint of shyness to the otherwise direct lyrics, in which she asks someone to fall in love with her after confessing her feelings for them. It’s such a sweet little ditty that I can’t help but smile when I hear.
The final song on this playlist would be “Bloom” by The Paper Kites. The song reads like what I think one of Shakespeare’s sonnets would if it was written in modern English. The verses are filled with vivid imagery of nature and the feelings the singer has for the subject of the song. These lyrics are accompanied by a strong acoustic guitar, and the vocals are supplemented by noticeable harmony. It’s the kind of song I would want to listen to when taking a morning hike or drive through through a thick forest.
I hope this playlist is one that you can enjoy this Valentine’s Day season, no matter how you plan to spend it.
