A Spirituality in Playlists
Musical patchworks as lures for feeling
by Susannah Stubbs
People speak often of the song’s unique ability to transform, and I agree with them: songs transform me. They transport me. There are thousands that I love (and many more that I love to hate). Songs have healed me, have broken me, have come to me like an angel at just the right moment and helped me, have become my worn-out personal anthems for one season or one love or one distant place.
Collecting songs and quilting them together into playlists, though, is what my spirit most often craves. I like these collections of songs so much because they can create something larger and more complex than just a song or a single album. A playlist is like a fingerprint because each playlist-maker has a unique set of experiences that makes the way that they feel and make connections between songs vastly different. A playlist is often varied and weird and winding because the person behind it is even more varied and weird and winding. It's like a patchwork quilt: each piece has a unique meaning to the listener, and as the pieces are sewn together their meanings morph and grow to form an intricate whole.
A list of some of the playlists I’ve made, just so you get the idea:
- A playlist made solely from songs about tea, for a best friend.
- A playlist for a Halloween party.
- A playlist to capture the feeling of fall as it cools into winter.
- A playlist to provide a soundtrack to a friend’s screenplay-in-progress.
- A playlist of songs that I remember from my childhood.
- A playlist of bubbly, earnest pop songs to ease lovesickness.
- A playlist of songs about a specific character, for writing.
I’ve created dozens upon dozens of them. I'm sure that at least one or two friends have looked at my Spotify page and thought I was a bit obsessive! I will admit that I do spend a little more time on it than I probably should. But I'm not ashamed of it. For me, making playlists is not just a creative or organizational practice; often it becomes a spiritual practice, too. It brings me a feeling of clarity, relief, and satisfaction that few other outlets can provide.
A prayer
A playlist can help me focus my energy and push my thoughts in the right direction--toward contemplation, transformation, gratitude, rest. I collect songs that to me evoke a certain quality and I use this collection again and again. A litany of songs. I'm an anxious flyer, so I made a playlist for plane rides. It’s all sappy love ballads and upbeat songs, free of language about disaster or falling. It feels like the arms of a guardian angel keeping me afloat.
An exorcism
When I make playlists, I do work to name the effect that a song has on me, the need that it fulfills. Sometimes feelings need to be fully felt to be released. Creating a playlist about something that I need to move on from helps me to articulate and understand my feelings until I find a way to feel better again. I have a few playlists that exist as personal histories, journal entries from times in my life to which I would rather not return. I have another that only listen to if I need to lean into my own sadness. I use it when I need to, and I stay away from it when I don’t.
An offering
Sometimes I wish that I'd grown up in a time when it was more common for musical recordings to be things that you held in your hand. I remember the mix CD's that my mother's best friend made for her when I was a child. I remember putting my own voice onto cassette tapes and recording songs from the radio. But I think that in ways beyond the tangible, a playlist can be just as special as mixtapes and CD's used to be. Creating a playlist as a gift for someone I love makes me take time to think about who they are, what they like, what we have in common. I collect songs that I know they love. I rediscover old songs that might trigger in us the same memories. I might take a vulnerable step and offer to them new songs that I love in the hopes that they would love them, too. I do my best to show them that I know them, to give them something that is, to me, less tangible but often more meaningful than material gifts.
I think that the overarching spiritual effect that playlists have on me is a sense of deepening. Working to deepen my understanding of myself, of my emotions, my loved ones, and different seasons in my life through the assembly of unique musical collections. I highly recommend playlist-making to anyone looking for a spiritual practice that can lead many ways--to reminiscing, to hoping, to giving, to moving on, maybe even to a little dancing.
In the spirit of this article, here is a playlist for you of songs that make my soul happy. Maybe you'll find something you enjoy.
Collecting songs and quilting them together into playlists, though, is what my spirit most often craves. I like these collections of songs so much because they can create something larger and more complex than just a song or a single album. A playlist is like a fingerprint because each playlist-maker has a unique set of experiences that makes the way that they feel and make connections between songs vastly different. A playlist is often varied and weird and winding because the person behind it is even more varied and weird and winding. It's like a patchwork quilt: each piece has a unique meaning to the listener, and as the pieces are sewn together their meanings morph and grow to form an intricate whole.
A list of some of the playlists I’ve made, just so you get the idea:
- A playlist made solely from songs about tea, for a best friend.
- A playlist for a Halloween party.
- A playlist to capture the feeling of fall as it cools into winter.
- A playlist to provide a soundtrack to a friend’s screenplay-in-progress.
- A playlist of songs that I remember from my childhood.
- A playlist of bubbly, earnest pop songs to ease lovesickness.
- A playlist of songs about a specific character, for writing.
I’ve created dozens upon dozens of them. I'm sure that at least one or two friends have looked at my Spotify page and thought I was a bit obsessive! I will admit that I do spend a little more time on it than I probably should. But I'm not ashamed of it. For me, making playlists is not just a creative or organizational practice; often it becomes a spiritual practice, too. It brings me a feeling of clarity, relief, and satisfaction that few other outlets can provide.
A prayer
A playlist can help me focus my energy and push my thoughts in the right direction--toward contemplation, transformation, gratitude, rest. I collect songs that to me evoke a certain quality and I use this collection again and again. A litany of songs. I'm an anxious flyer, so I made a playlist for plane rides. It’s all sappy love ballads and upbeat songs, free of language about disaster or falling. It feels like the arms of a guardian angel keeping me afloat.
An exorcism
When I make playlists, I do work to name the effect that a song has on me, the need that it fulfills. Sometimes feelings need to be fully felt to be released. Creating a playlist about something that I need to move on from helps me to articulate and understand my feelings until I find a way to feel better again. I have a few playlists that exist as personal histories, journal entries from times in my life to which I would rather not return. I have another that only listen to if I need to lean into my own sadness. I use it when I need to, and I stay away from it when I don’t.
An offering
Sometimes I wish that I'd grown up in a time when it was more common for musical recordings to be things that you held in your hand. I remember the mix CD's that my mother's best friend made for her when I was a child. I remember putting my own voice onto cassette tapes and recording songs from the radio. But I think that in ways beyond the tangible, a playlist can be just as special as mixtapes and CD's used to be. Creating a playlist as a gift for someone I love makes me take time to think about who they are, what they like, what we have in common. I collect songs that I know they love. I rediscover old songs that might trigger in us the same memories. I might take a vulnerable step and offer to them new songs that I love in the hopes that they would love them, too. I do my best to show them that I know them, to give them something that is, to me, less tangible but often more meaningful than material gifts.
I think that the overarching spiritual effect that playlists have on me is a sense of deepening. Working to deepen my understanding of myself, of my emotions, my loved ones, and different seasons in my life through the assembly of unique musical collections. I highly recommend playlist-making to anyone looking for a spiritual practice that can lead many ways--to reminiscing, to hoping, to giving, to moving on, maybe even to a little dancing.
In the spirit of this article, here is a playlist for you of songs that make my soul happy. Maybe you'll find something you enjoy.
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