What I'm Listening to This April

Tune In's a monthly-or-so column for me to share what I'm listening to (and sometimes watching.)

Hey y'all!

Last month, I didn't do a traditional listening update. Instead, I followed the thread of the psychology of shared music taste (complete with a fabulous book rec) and the role of various forms of media. Plus, I discovered some song dissections that inspired Mountain Sounds, and I'm very fond of these old graphics. But, y'all missed out on my elite playlists. (Kidding, kidding—unless.)

Sometimes, I get rather analytical and symbolic with this wrap-up whereas sometimes I just like what I like. I never quite know what's going to happen until I sit down to write.

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Also, I generally say twin telepathy is just the two of us knowing each other so well that we can read each other immediately (and having parallel patterns that mean we might naturally be on the same wavelength at the same time.) We are best friends, but I laughed when I wrote down a gratitude item yesterday about rediscovering an old playlist and loving every single song on it and Hannah texted me the following this morning:

We're not always texting each other, but we do have a constant text thread going. She's the one I'll send random thoughts or pictures to.

Basically, I've been cycling through my old workout playlists for some new energy.

I've been obsessed with the science of endurance, fatigue, and muscle lately—at this point, just a theme of my 2025 reading—and decided that the way to soothe my brain and kind of knock it down a notch from book-revision-induced overactivity was to physically tire myself out. (I've also been thinking about happiness vs. relief, and what gives you permission to finally rest. If you opt for intense conditioning, you can bypass that curiosity entirely.)

Going for heavy lifts, more traditionally strenuous conditioning, even occasional two-a-days instead of the cadence I've occupied for the last few months, which were more so cycling or pilates-based workouts shoved into stolen hours.

I think I'll always be a very active person (it's built into me from a family that prioritized "well-roundedness") but I do love leaning into a season where I can really go hard on the athleticism.

I find that when stressed about a subjective, artistic pursuit, it's helpful to have a very physical, objective, measurable goal or win operating in parallel because otherwise I'll run myself in circles about whether or not I'm moving the needle enough. Although I'm trying to define myself less by output or capability, this satisfies my need for "togetherness" somehow, more than other aspects of life.

My favorite hobbies tend to balance each other out in that way. Anyway, it's made the music selects for this month interesting.

The Current Playlists

The Monthly Core

Let's start with the monthly listen—a general brain dump of songs onto an aptly titled APRIL 2025 playlist. It's always pleasant for me to rifle through old dated playlists (I make a playlist for absolutely everything instead of queueing) and to tap back into specific mindsets. Time capsule-ish.

This morning, I queued up my On Repeat playlist and I can tell I've been on one at the gym because my most listened went from Nathaniel Rateliff's And It's Still Alright to Jeremih's Down on Me. From easy listening to a blacked-out lift (but I'll get to that later.) I'm also trying, rather poorly, to get back into consistently practicing the guitar.

Notable Songs:

• And It's Still Alright — Nathaniel Rateliff
• Porch Light — Josh Meloy
• On Like 40 — Jake Zimma
• Down On Me — Jeremih, 50 Cent
• Feels Right — Danny's Dead
• Cowpoke — Colter Wall
• America's Sweetheart — Elle King
• Again — Noah Cyrus, XXXTENACION
• Time Will Tell — Gregory Alan Isakov
• Past Lives — BØRNS
• Knockin' On Heaven's Door — Bob Dylan
• Mess It Up — Gracie Abrams
• Batman (with Lil Wayne ft. Moneybagg Yo) — LPB Poody, Lil Wayne, Moneybagg Yo
• My Girl — The Temptations

Oranges

I'm going through a real obsession with one very small, recurring motif, which is that of giving an orange to someone. I'm not entirely sure why, but an orange is precisely seen as a very tender thing—a pure act of love. I did write into my book, because it's turned into a little inside joke for writers. Also, I just had two friends get engaged, and they announced it with a picture of a ring while peeling oranges for each other, so I immediately texted one of them to tell her about the symbolism, which she appreciated.

“If a boy gives a girl an orange, her love for him will multiply. I catch it in my open palm. "Oh no you don't," I say, tossing it right back to him. "Odd response," he says, catching it. — I'll Give You the Sun, Jandy Nelson.”

I definitely plan on writing a fully-fledged blog post on this, because I've picked it up in I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson, Wind, Sand, and Stars by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, and even The Warrior Elite by Dick Couch. And my own book, of course. There may or may not be a Costco-sized bag of mandarins in my fridge right now.

And then I went down the associative rabbit hole of collapsed synesthesia in terms of making a playlist for it (because I went through a phase of making book-themed playlists), which meant I was basically trying to analyze what are cultural associations we make between various senses (like seeing an album cover's orange so thinking of the song as orange forever) versus neurological synesthesia. I got to write an essay on that exact concept in college based on Autobiography of Red by Anne Carson, and that's forever one of my favorite curiosities.

Notable Songs:

• Orange Blood — Mt. Joy
• Super Rich Kids — Frank Ocean
• So Free — Vin Bogart
• Blood Orange Wine — Stela Cole
• Feeling Whitney — Post Malone
• Something in the Orange — Zach Bryan
• Old Ties and Companions — Watchhouse
• Echo — Watchhouse
• Loving Is Easy — Rex Orange County, Benny Sings

self-sovereignty

I've had various editions of this playlist over the years, likely titled things like tunnel vision or I Got My Own Back. That head-down, grind, montage energy.

Specifically, I have always said that if you ever see me on Spotify listening to Tunnel Vision by Russ or Almost There (yes, from The Princess and the Frog, the animated Disney movie), that means I am really going through it. I do consider Tunnel Vision to be the unofficial theme song of my last few years of intensity.

Notable Songs:

• Good News — Shaboozey
• Even If It's Lonely — Hazlett
• Made of Stone — Matt Corby
• Tunnel Vision — Russ, Bibi Bourelly
• Mirror — Lil Wayne, Bruno Mars
• A World Alone — Lorde
• Hard Way Home — Brandi Carlile
• Trust Fall — Caye

My Various Gym Playlists

As mentioned, I've been resurfacing old exercise playlists, especially since the workout classes I'm going to to are farther away on island. Get myself hype! Usually, I'm listening to lift, stay sore, or RUNNING WORKOUT, but it varies. I have an ARC (review copy) of Run the Song by Ben Ratliff, which I can't wait to read, and I think it will tackle this phenomenon: that the right playlist can give you so much more physical energy.

One of these playlists is from 2022 when I read Cultish by Amanda Montell and got (briefly) very into CrossFit because hey, actually, I love cultish things—as evidenced by both the college I attended and my love for my summer camp community. I used to be a huge runner and now opt for some more variety in my workouts, but I have a thousand from various races or training regimens.

If the song doesn't have an explicit sign by the title, it doesn't need to be there. (Cue book excerpt.)

from Mountain Sounds

Some songs also flash me back to L.A. studio choreography because they lived on my playlist purely for the purpose of specific dance routines I'd mark while listening. (I owe y'all a compilation of some greats. Plus, I've been so in love with the memory science behind gesture and marking as I delve back into studio life.)

And bless all y'all who can run without music; I will never be one of you monsters.

Notable Songs:

• Need to Know — Doja Cat
• Sweet Lovin' — Sigala, Bryn Christopher
• Pineapple Skies — Miguel
• Power Trip (ft. Miguel) — J. Cole, Miguel
• 10 Bands — Joyner Lucas, Timbaland
• Sauce All On Me — Coca Vango
• Partition — Beyoncé
• Opposite of Adults — Chiddy Bang
• WAM — A$AP Ferg, MadeinTYO
• Little Girl Gone — CHINCHILLA

SUN GUILT (COVE II)

I told y'all music tends to come first for me while plotting and outline, and I'm fully in the thick of my next book, which I describe as Someone Great or Euphoria meets selkie/siren mythology. I love it in a similar way to Mountain Sounds in that I feel like the mood will be all-consuming when I allow myself to go fully into it. Restraint, right now, is good while I clean up some human aspects of living—but I'm itchy and hungry and excited to let the vibe sweep over me while I go full-on conspiracy wall in my studio to bang out that first (good) draft.

One of my favorite studies on how we imagine the same stories in response to specific musical cues.

The playlist tends to go wide, collecting hundreds of songs, then whittle down as I get deeply precise with tone words, atmosphere, and reader appeal. In that way, it mirrors the writing process, which I call synonymous with distillation. So here's what I've added to it lately.

Even just listening, you can tell the energetic differences between this and the nostalgic, folkloric feel of Mountain Sounds, which goes to articulate the broad strokes of each work before I form the words that make it onto the page (and one of my favorite studies above supports this.)

RELATED: Building Out a Book's Mood Through Music

I also plan on writing an introduction post to this work, since I've had the luck of being able to talk about my plans for it recently. Starting a new book with genuine support from others (as I wrote Mountain Sounds in secret) feels good.

Notable Songs:

• party 4 u — Charli XCX
• Just a Girl — Florence + the Machine
• Swim — Renée Rapp
• Me in 20 Years — Moses Sumney
• Simple Girl ‚ Remy Bond
• Real Down Low Lonesome — Early James, Sierra Ferrell
• Rescue Me (half light Remix) — Unions, half light
• Love Me Like You Used To — Kaskade, Cecilia Gault
• Ain't No Rest for the Wicked — Cage The Elephant
• Beneath the Surface — Demons Of Ruby Mae
• Shame — Kiana Ledé, Blackway
• Gettin' Old — 6LACK
• Don't Sleep (FREESTYLE) — SKYLR
• Cold Showers — Chelsea Cutler
• Your Side of the Bed — Loote

& more to come!