Infinite Playlist | SAD songs

I bleed black and gold, I speak Pittsburghese and I refuse any ketchup if it’s not Heinz. I have lived in Pittsburgh for almost 19 years and even decided to continue my college education in Oakland. I love this city with all my heart — but the weather, I couldn’t care less about. From December to March, Pittsburgh is the ugliest city. Everyday is grey and gloomy. A few years back, I was diagnosed with Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), which is a type of depression that changes with the seasons and, particularly, worsens with winter. It is not a fun illness to suffer from, but know that there are people who love and support you. I’ve crafted this playlist for people down bad or in their bag as a way to help feel your emotions. 

Majorly bagged  

“Marvin’s Room,” Drake

In the sixth track on his sophomore album, “Take Care,” Drake sets the scene with a hazy, mellow rhythm to place listeners in his clouded mind. The song takes place with a drunk Drake missing an ex late at night. The opening begins with a woman speaking on the phone to a friend about her night, and Drake enters singing about how he truly feels about this girl, even though she has moved onto a new relationship:

Bitches in my old phone / I should call one and go home / I’ve been in this club too long / The woman that I would try is happy with a good guy / But I’ve been drinking so much that I’ma call her anyway

The lyrics continue with Drake repeatedly speaking to his old flame as he tries to coerce her over the phone, “I’m just saying, you could do better.” Broken and toxic, Drake is trying to get his ex-girl to cheat on her new man, but the song is crafted in such a way that the listener feels bad for him. One of the biggest rappers in the world, Drake still manages to capture the universal experience of loneliness. 

“The Night We Met,” Lord Huron

The final track of Lord Huron’s second album “Strange Trails,” the song begins with a beautiful melody that kick starts the water works. The themes of this song are lost love, regrets and intense longing. Listeners don’t know exactly what happened, but it is strikingly clear that Lord Huron is emotional. What causes his present agony is the absence of his love in his life. He sings the lyric “Take me back to the night we met” as he wishes for the opportunity to go back and fix what tore him and his lover apart because he feels responsible for the end of the relationship. In the chorus, he reveals that he is “haunted by the ghost of” the old love. The music mirrors the emotion of the lyrics so well that the listener gets lost in Lord Huron’s pain. He lost someone who was everything to him — someone he confided in, shared every thought and emotion with — only to end up as strangers. 

“Ribs,” Lorde

“Ribs” was a track released on Lorde’s debut album “Pure Heroine” in 2013, when she was 16 years old. In this song, Lorde describes her nostalgia for childhood and early adolescence, a time without so many responsibilities. In her music video, she reveals the song is about a party she threw while her parents went on vacation without her. The lyrics describe all the fun she had that night, the plethora of problems it caused and her fear of having so much responsibility, 

“This dream isn’t feeling sweet/ We’re reeling through the midnight streets/ And I’ve never felt more alone/ It feels so scary, getting old.” As the song progresses, her voice becomes more drained and frantic to express her efforts to keep up with the pace at which life moves. During the song, Lorde sees her best friend at the party and realizes all the people there mean nothing to her, and that person is the only friend she needs — “You’re the only friend I need/ Sharing beds like little kids/ Laughing ‘til our ribs get tough/ But that will never be enough.” She remembers sharing beds, laughing until it hurts your ribs, but she hints at falling in love with her childhood best friend because the friendship “will never be enough.” A lyrical poet, Lorde has listeners nostalgic and longing for when life was easier. 

Many more tracks are available for a listen on my playlist this week. Check it out here.

In the beginning of the semester, my friends and I accidentally set a somber mood for the whole floor of the dorm because we never left due to the weather. Nothing was going on because of the weather, which all contributed to mutual sadness between all of us. I talked to a few of my friends to discuss what we could do to lift everyone’s spirits up and so far we have been successful. We make sure to get outside more than once a day for fresh air, congregate in the evening for a hang session or a movie night and plan exciting stuff for the weekend. 

Each person can try their best to not be sad during this time of year, but it’s okay to let yourself feel every once in a while. That’s where a good old SAD playlist comes in. 

Ariana Siclari writes about her emotions through her Spotify playlists. Write to her at AHS53@pitt.edu.