The 1,300 Song Playlist-Library

The last time I wrote a post regarding my music choices in life was somehow only in May, 2024. But I felt like it was longer. But I disgress.

Despite my best efforts (to date), about 92%* of my Spotify listening has been confined to the "Ultimate Playlist". Whenever I find a new song that is cool and interesting, I simply put it on the playlist and go about my life.

Now, does that mean that I listen to all the songs often? No, but they are all in one centralized "hub", and considering that I'm just about to past 1,300 songs, it's probably for the best I revisit the topic. Plus, music. It's sure to generally bring the masses in.

I'll be embedding a few Spotify code snippets into this post directly, and I took the liberty of choosing different songs than the first one.

Let's start with a song from a classic album, Some Nights - Intro by the alt-pop band fun. They were at their height in the early 2010s before going on a now-indefinite hiatus. This was the first song from that album and I thought was fitting to be the first words for this playlist as a whole. That is what the epigraph of this post is, and beckons the viewer that they are in for a world of... emotions, I guess.

While most of the songs are in chronological order of addition, some were added out-of-order. This is one of them.

If you tried to find it, the original "Ultimate Playlist" no longer exists, it was associated with a now-office account that plays soft instrumental covers of turn-of-the-century pop. So it was in my best interest to chuck it and move onto something else. That original playlist was created in 2018 and was around in some form through March 13, 2020. When it was moved onto another account, and then finally to mine by June 13, 2021.

Of course, don't let that fool you. By the time I moved the list to where it is now, there were 446 entries. So there was already a jump-start with the current iteration.

The first few dozen songs were of early-2010s pop, EDM, or 90s rock. There was no rhyme or reason. These were songs that were often on the radio around my elementary school time, and became stuck in my head as a result. Or, they were always on Pandora in the family car. Either/or works in this scenario.

We begin to see a divergence around Song 182. Even by this point, I had realized that the playlist was getting long, and attempted to split into "Vol. I" and "Vol. II", which didn't work out well. Regardless, "How Far We've Come" was an attempt to deviate from the old with new. Which were many of the same artists as before, but different songs and styles that I may not necessarily have initially thought of.

By the time the official playlist started in June, 2021, much of the playlist had remained pop, EDM, but also Hamilton, which was the first major pop culture score to be prominently featured.

The musical style changed to be more alternative. The genres remained the same, but the artists and songs were not those that everyone would necessarily be aware of. Think: Cassio Monroe, Strange Talk, Razihel, etc.

It's also important for me to note, that I, alongside possibly others (who knows), associate certain songs with certain moments/events. For instance: I associate Wild Ones by Five Knives to be with a holiday trip to Vermont in 2021, because I discovered the song around that time.

While there was a fair amount of known music around here as well, alternative music began to become more prevalent around early/mid-2022, alongside songs in Spanish and Hebrew. By this point, I have found myself in an alt-pop/EDM world that I still am somewhat immersed in today.

The 1,000th song was reached on July 31, 2023 and was set to "Celebration" by Otis McDonald, which, for the cultured, is the ending song of OverSimplified's videos.

We have since been in a wunderland of pop songs that many people know, a medium where the artists may be recognized, but not the song itself or much of the genre, and then the really niche music that have less than 15,000 streams and I found by pure coincidence. But that's what makes the playlist special. Even if it appears to be more of a library.

Now, while the playlist is dynamic and continuously changing. There is a "set" ending arc that keeps moving wherever the playlist stops. It consists of "Epilogue" from Les Miserables, and "Outro" by M83, which seemed fitting for an end of a grand idea. But I disgress.

You may be asking what my top songs on the playlist are; and that's a difficult question for me to answer; as it is continuously changing and fluid. But I've narrowed down a list of ten songs that are worthwhile to listen to at least once:

Of course, there are many, many, many more songs and "arcs" that are worth taking a listen to. I am planning to organize the playlist into genre-specific mini-projects by the end of Summer 2026, but we will see if that turns out.

We will see.

You can check out the Ultimate Playlist at ZachsThoughts.com/playlist!

This post may have seemed like it was quickly completed, and that's because I have been sitting on the draft for a few weeks and just wanted to get it out there. I may revise it in the near-future, but that is dependent on my schedule, which ebbs and flows with the temperatures of spring.

The only semi-major announcement I have is that I will be revamping the category system soon to make it more accessible for new visitors, as well slowly removing redundant information across the site. But that's always a process.

Regardless of all going on in the world, thanks for reading. Have a serene spring!