Editor’s Note: This is a weekly music article recommending new as well as old songs to diversify your playlists. You can find the playlist here.
Summer as a kid is so much different than summer as an adult. When you’re a kid all of the responsibilities and stresses of the school year disappear as soon as June hits, but as an adult you’re still working your job and still constantly on that grind, it gets tiring. As a college student, that’s almost disheartening like when am I ever going to get a break again? Am I going to be stuck in this cycle of constantly working to make ends meet for the rest of my life? That’s why I’m glad I found a passion in my life that I’m constantly working at. It helps give me a sense and a purpose of why I’m living and doing what I do. It helps give joy to the constant grind, working late nights, and waking up in the early mornings. If you haven’t found yours that’s okay! You might not find it for a long time, but keep working because it’s never too late. Jay-Z didn’t release his first album until he was 26, Sylvester Stallone was 30 when Rocky came out, Samuel L. Jackson got his first big role when he was 43, Bryan Cranston was 44 when he got his break. With that said here are some songs with some positives vibes and some with some negative ones to take some stress off your mind. Explicit lyrics warning.
“Tribe” by Bas & J. Cole
This song is nothing but good vibes and good times. The most memorable line in this song is one of the first. “I think I made it.” Bas and Cole repeat throughout the song and you sing along because you want to share in their joy of finally seeing the fruition of all their hard work. The guitar chords in this song are also super melodic and like any Dreamville song, it has some hard bars.
“Riptide” by Vance Joy
If you’re a sad boy or sad girl, you already know about this song and how hard it slaps. It’s like one of the first songs people learn to play when they get a ukulele. The chorus is infectious and danceable, it’s a little repetitive but you won’t mind because it’s such a jam. The multiple covers of it on YouTube are also very enjoyable. Here are two from Taylor Swift and Grace Vanderwaal that stand out.
“Bloodstream” by Ed Sheeran
At first you’re like, “Oh what a nice little pop song.” And then towards the end you’re saying, “Ed Sheeran, what a freaking mastermind.” He understands what makes a good song so well, you start to get why he’s written for so many other people, like he wrote “Love Yourself” by Justin Bieber. Listening to this song you understand why he’s about to have the highest grossing world tour of all time because hearing this live would be just so incredible, just look at these two performances of him at iHeart and in Glastonbury.
“Kolors” by Monte Booker featuring Smino
First and foremost, Monte Booker makes fire beats. The drop in this song is sickening and Smino’s rapping complements it so well. Trust me when you hear, “Purple tree, plus I got this brown in me. Curly yellow dancing on me. Said she smell the green on me. And she straight from California. Freaky as she wanna be. Told me she like boys and girls. Oh well, that’s okay with me.” Along with the beat, I’m telling you it’s smooth like Versace silk drawers.
“Blessings” by Chance the Rapper featuring Ty Dolla Sign, Raury, BJ the Chicago Kid, and Anderson .Paak
I love how all the voices on this track compliment each other and Chance’s verse leading into it is heavenly. The gospel elements in this song knocks so hard and I can relate to it because, like all the artists on the song, I grew up in the church. The lyrics, “I made it through, made it through, made it through. And everything I gave to you, I gave to you, I gave to you. You got it, you got it, you got it, it’s coming (Coming, coming, coming). So are you ready? Are you ready?” You feel that in your soul.
“Money Longer” & “Ps & Qs” by Lil Uzi Vert
Summer 2016, when these songs were popping off, what a time to be alive. It felt like the whole world was happier back then and these songs just reminds you of that unforgettable summer. These songs were the first up whenever anybody got the aux and at any function, kickback, party, or rager it was the climax of the gathering.
I hope you enjoy the songs for the week and if you have any songs to recommend to me, email them at paulce@email.grcc.edu.
