1.04.2018

A Year in Songs (2017)

In the year 2002, I made my first soundtrack of the year inspired by Larissa from LJ. To give you an idea of just how long ago that was (15 years!), it was the first time I listened to Jason Mraz (thanks to my friend Mika for introducing me to his music by way of "Sleep All Day") and I was obsessed with Babyface. Haha! I managed to find everything on the list and made a playlist of Spotify except for this song, which I totally forgot about till I pressed play.

What is it about music that instantly transports us back in time? How the first few bars of a song can make you remember an exact moment in your life and immediately fill you with...feelings. Like when I play "After Party" by Koffee Brown, I'm transported to Batangas back when my friend's resort was only two kubos wrapped in kulambo. A time when I took photos with my Advantix camera and wasted a ton of film cartridges because I covered the flash or the lens with my finger. Or when I learned how to breakdance to J.Lo and Ja Rule. LOL. Or how I played Shelby Lynne's "Dreamsome" for my imaginary radio show in Speech 160 with DocLa. Fifteen years ago, when I was editing an online zine with my online friends.



I've since made one every year save for 2004 and a momentary pause from 2013-2015. Here's last year's soundtrack.



What's on yours? ♫