Last night I went to see Aly & AJ perform at the Fillmore in Silver Spring and it was everything that middle school Joslin, high school Joslin, and present day Joslin wanted it to be. If you worked with me last year when they released their first EP in 10 years you’ve probably heard their new sound because I forced you to listen to it. If you haven’t heard any of their new music then plug in your headphones right now and get to it.
A few weeks ago Aly & AJ released their second EP, Sanctuary. And it’s amazing. It has the same 80s synth-pop sound as their last EP (Ten Years), but this time with re-imagined 80s power suit vibes as well. As soon as it dropped I added it to my 2019 Spotify playlist and it’s been on repeat ever since.
You might remember that I stole my friend Chelsea’s tradition of making yearly Spotify playlists with all my top hits. I started doing this last year and I’ve been decently good at it this year as well. I tend to go in spurts of adding new music to the rotation–I’ll listen to just my playlists for a few weeks and then I’ll notice that an artist I love has released something new and I’ll immediately add it. Sometimes without listening first, but that’s just the kind of fan I am. Add it to the playlist first, take it off later if I decide I’m not into it. (But let’s be real, I’m always into it.)
Some of the new music added to the 2019 playlist is from Aly & AJ (obviously), Lizzo (I’m going to see her in September and honestly I need that to hurry up), Carly Rae Jepson (if you say you don’t like Call Me Maybe you’re a liar), the Jonas Brothers (please tell me you’ve all been as stoked for their re-emergence as I am), and of course Beyonce’s Homecoming album. As a side note my favorite spin instructor led a Homecoming ride and the entire thing was songs from the Coachella performance live album and it was amazing. Clearly my taste tends towards very pop-y music but honestly I’m 100% okay with that because I like my music to make me feel happy.
There is definitely something cathartic about listening to sad sad songs when you’re upset or lonely or just in a bad mood or space, but I don’t generally add these songs into my yearly playlists because I listen to my playlists on shuffle when I’m getting ready or hanging out with friends or cooking dinner and I don’t particularly want a song to come on that reminds me of a time when I was feeling low. Plus Spotify is great at curating playlists for when you are feeling angsty or emotional and want to cry or sing it out.
I hope you enjoy my playlist (mostly I just hope you even click on it to give it a chance) and I hope that you listen to Aly & AJ because Sanctuary is truly great.
xoxo,
J
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