In an effort to try to summarize my music tastes (so you’ll get an idea for what my music might sound like), I’ll hopefully create a new post every time my listening habits change. So far, I’m currently two months into university, so I thought I’d share what’s on my playlist.

Lizzy McAlpine - five seconds flat

Songs I really love from this:

• erase me (ft. jacob collier)

• hate to be lame (ft. finneas)

I have yet to actually listen to the entire album (yeah, I know, shame), but the mixing on Erase Me is absolutely beautiful. I would go on one of those positive “rants,” but I think Dodie summarizes it pretty well.

I love the piano work in hate to be lame - it reminds me of lovely (billie eilish), but with the vocals integrated even more with the instrumentals. I don’t know how to explain it - it’s just... better? No, that sounds wrong.

John Powell - How to Train Your Dragon (live action + animated)

If you’d have told me that I would’ve convinced my professor to let me do a paper on the instrumentation of How to Train Your Dragon’s opening sequence in June, I would’ve told you that you’re crazy. And yet, here we are.

I honestly adore both soundtracks - the original for the nostalgia, and the live action because it’s a refinement of the original, honed in with Powell’s additional experience composing solo.

Songs I really love:

• This is Berk + This is Real Berk

• A Forbidden Friendship

• (the original) Test Drive

• You Are My Homeward

I’m a member of the Vocalists at SBU, and I’m potentially considering trying to arrange a medley including that last one. The others are absolutely beautiful pieces of scoring (not much more to say here).

Madilyn Mei - A Thousand Songs about it All (Act 1)

Proud to say I’ve been listening since Kleptomaniacrow came out in September of 2023. Also saw them in concert form.

Songs I really love:

Quarters

I’m in a new place called Stony Brook, New York (well, as I’m writing this, I’m sitting at Penn Station at 3 in the morning waiting for my train for Boston, but that’s not the point) and I love this song so much, simply because it’s so relatable.

Here I am, in a place I’ve never been

All alone, two decades old

My best friend is a cat who is buried in the yard

Across the country safe at home

Yep. Maybe not “across the country,” but Long Island is very different from home, no matter how similar they are in climate or foliage. It looks like home, but it doesn’t feel like it.

Velcro

And I always called my mom instead of

Reading what the bottle says

Even though I’m 34 and live alone

I trust her more

The amount of time and the pure pain I went through trying to book a doctor’s appointment and a dentist appointment by myself was... well, let’s just say it wasn’t fun. I barely know how insurance works :P

Yes, I called my parents to help me. Surprisingly, finding people in-network with a specific health plan is way harder than I thought.

Hey, at least I can do it.

Songs I like, but don’t want to admit because it’s weird to put on for a group:

What’s Going On?!

Love the song, relate so bad, but I unfortunately have friend groups that would probably not appreciate this. Yes, I’m aware I’m putting this on the internet for everyone to see, but then again, there’s almost no one that would actually read this.

At least, I think.