Spotify playlist to make

These Are the Playlists Everyone Needs to Make

Certain moods need soundtracks. When youre sad, or excited, or making out, a certain kind of music can elevate the experience and lend a grandiose, cinematic quality to your life. If you have particular music tastes, playing one of Spotifys prefab playlists doesnt scratch that itch. You want a custom playlist, first crafted in a few minutes, then honed over years. Here are the five playlists you should prepare for yourself.

Pump Up the Jams

This is your workout playlist, if you work out. Otherwise its your general adrenaline-rush playlist, for when youre headed to the second party of the night, or youre just frickin pumped today.

Your goal here is no skips. Because once you skip one song, you will skip five songs, and youll break the mood. So keep this playlist trim, and if you start skipping a song every time, kill it.

Spotify has a whole section of workout music, including playlists like Beast Mode, Workout Twerkout, and Cardio. You could start with one of those, copy it to a personal playlist, and customize it. Better yet, find a personal pump-up playlist from a user whose taste matches yours: classics like Pat Benatars Invincible, hip-hop like Run the Jewels Nobody Speak, electronica like the Chemical Brothers Block Rockin Beats, or dance pop like Icona Pops I Love It.

I dont think I listen to what other people listen to to get pumped, says Uber driver turned music influencer Tj Jones, who recently talked to Lifehacker about making great party playlists. My indie/emo rock playlist is usually what i get pumped to. Screamed vocals and more complex instrumentation (like Dads and Tiny Moving Parts) get me pumped up but also kind of sad at the same time. Like the way listening to I Miss You by Blink 182 feels.

I get a lot of my pump-up songs from soundtracks, because fictional characters are constantly doing energetic shit. Look through some soundtrack playlists for your favorite shows and movies, or try Succession (dramatic), Glow (80s fun), or Divorce (touch of irony).

Study Background

Or work sounds, or anything you can tune out while you read, write, or otherwise use your brain. This is the least personal, and you could do just fine with a prefab playlist. But I find its better to throw several albums into a massive playlist that doesnt run out or distract you every few minutes.

I go with instrumental music almost every time. Sometimes I need it very simple and droning, like Music for Church Cleaners by Áine ODwyer, or Music for Airports by Brian Eno. Sometimes I try something more peppy and varied, like Bird World by Leon Chang or Tubular Bells by Mike Oldfield. Music in other languages is a bit more distracting but can still work. I love Nigeria Special, a compilation of Nigerian blues and Afro-sounds from the early 70s.

I also go with long classical compilations, like Jörg Baumanns recording ofBachs cello suites. Old jazz with just a few instruments, like Luiz Bonfás Solo in Rio 1959, Sonny Clarks Cool Struttin, or some Django Reinhardt, keeps up the pace while still melting into the background. Soundtracks are good too, but I prefer calmer ones like Haruomi Hosonos soundtrack for Shoplifters over dramatic works like anything by John Williams.

You dont even have to listen to the music before you throw it into the playlist. Pile up a stack of albums, and start at a random spot each time. If any one song gets distracting, delete it. You dont need to keep the whole album intact.

Sad Songs

This is what you play when youre feeling down. You could optimize it for total despair, minor sadness, or just a hangover. Its just nice to have a soundtrack that lets you wallow. This is an extremely personal playlist, so youll be much happiersadderif you build it yourself instead of grabbing one from Spotify.

You might want songs that twist the knife, like Lykke Lis Love Me Like Im Not Made of Stone, or songs that say everything will be OK, like Hey Jude. The lyrics dont have to match your situation so long as the tone is right. Jim Croces New Yorks Not My Home works fine even if you live in Dallas.

My sad playlist has barely changed in 14 years, probably because I played it less and less as I got my shit together, but also because old songs are comforting when youre sad. I still have the Nationals Exile Vilify and Sias Breathe Me, but I did delete Gollums Song, from the Lord of the Rings soundtrack. I just cant gin up the self-pity required for lyrics like No loyal friend was ever there for me.

Even with this playlist, its fine to start with someone elses choices and work from there. Sometimes I want to get sad to a playlist where I dont know all the sad songs, Jones tells me. I attach specific events and emotions to songs and if I discover a new sad song that gets me good, I want whatever is contributing to my depression that day to be attached to the new one instead of a song Ive heard for years that brings back other sad shit. So this is a rare occurrence where Ill listen to a playlist someone else made. He recommends sad shit by joshgerrard.

Ive pulled sad songs from movies, video games, even the web series Jake and Amir (when Amir thinks everyone forgot his birthday! Ugh, my heart). Your sad playlist will have some real cheesy shit like that. Because nothings too cheesy when youre sad. Except, again, a song written about a CGI ex-hobbit.

Party Time

Your party playlist comes on for any gathering over, say, six peopleany gathering where you want people to break into multiple conversations. The music helps break up the soundscape of the room.

Once youve got around 20 people gathered, theyll ignore the music (unless this is the kind of party where people dance). So dont worry about it. Dont try too hard to impress anyone. Just throw in your recent favorites, but avoid bummers and anything over seven minutes. Or, sure, borrow a good party playlist off Spotify. This time you are pleasing a crowd. But its still more fun if you put your personality into it. I always throw in Youll Always Find Me in the Kitchen at Parties.

Upbeat stuff is good, but some slow jams work great, even when the partys energy is high. I like The Piano Has Been Drinking by Tom Waits and Tonya Harding by Sufjan Stevens. Theyre both quirky but artistic.

You can recycle the same party playlist, but keep it updated. Throw in some new hits. Take out some overplayed ones. The definitions of either depend entirely on your crowd. Some people hear Uptown Funk or Despacito and they want to dance, some want to puke.

Heres a cheat: Take a few good albums everyone lovesold or newand instead of the singles, throw in the first track from each. Ultralight Beam, Dirty Computer, All I Really Want off Jagged Little Pill.

Or use songs from a recent show or movie, especially the deep cuts. Call Me by Your Name and Baby Driver filled out my New Years Eve playlist. This year its Killing Eve and Glow. God, remember when soundtracks were just CDs, and they might not have all the music from the movie, and you couldnt grab every song from every HBO series off Spotify the day each episode came out?

Getting It On

Your makeout playlist, your sex playlist. This one is highly personal. And honestly Im unsure whether people still use sex playlists? Am I just old? Still, this has to be the most fun to make.

If youre getting romantic with people who dont know you super-well, you dont want the music to get too cheesy. But finding some shared tastes can really help a date, so its nice to avoid the generic picks and play what you really like. Go through all your other mood playlists, plus whatever youre liking lately, and pick out whatever just seems to fit for you. Lean toward the slow and breathy. When in doubt, you want the music to move slower and softer than you. You dont want Pony blasting when you go in for a tender kiss. But you do want songs that imply a little danger or drama.

Once again, soundtracks are your friend. Killing Eve and Sharp Objects both combine sex and danger, but in two very different ways. Another soundtrack strategy: what movies turned you on as a teen? OK whew I can wrap up the sex part now.

All these playlists will sparkle when you break out of the Spotify recommendation echo chamber and find more interesting music. And oh look, weve written a lot about finding new music!