BY EMMA WESTCOTT//
If you’re back at GW or in DC, you’ll know that the weather has finally decided to turn into our favor. It is going to reach 70 degrees today, and even at 61, the sun is very warm. As well, if you’re back at GW or in DC, you’ll know we have about 2 square feet of grass, so of course it’s filled with students trying to cure their seasonal depression before we’re betrayed again with cold weather.
This is the perfect weather to bolster with happy music. If it wasn’t obnoxious I would’ve brought a speaker to the crowded grassy spots on campus so people could listen with me. Honestly, we know that happy music isn’t really my lane, but when I do listen to it, it’s really good (and I’m humble). So, I wanted to give you the few happy songs I do have (sarcasm) to prove that I’m capable of enjoying this weather.
To start, we have “Glory Days” by The Vamps. This track makes me think of early evening car rides in the sun. If I had a car here, I’d certainly be utilizing it and this song. After The Vamps, we have MATEO with “9:29”. This track is a bit more lowkey and chilled, but it would be the perfect backdrop to pretending to do work in Kogan. It’s the kind of song you talk over, but that doesn’t make it any less important. It wouldn’t be my column if I didn’t mention The 1975 at some point. Next, we have “Give Yourself A Try”, a fast-paced track that would perfectly support a montage of the people emphatically playing spike ball in U-Yard. They go so hard, but they look so happy so I can’t actually make fun of them. I can, however, pick the song for their highlight tape, and that’s it. It also wouldn’t be my column if I didn’t include One Direction, so the next track is “No Control”. This, if you know the choreography, is the song that you and your friends can dance to outside now that you finally aren’t rotting away inside your criminally small (but criminally expensive) apartment.
Following 1D, we have Miss T. Swift with “gold rush”, which is easily my favorite track on her newest album. It doesn’t outwardly give off the vibe that it’s a song you should scream, I will admit. However, it doesn’t give you a choice; it rips out from your vocal cords and your lungs try to keep up because it’s just that good. The next track sounds like it would play during the credits at the end of teen mystery movie after the ragtag group of students solve the mystery and save the school dance (I don’t watch movies if you can’t tell). “There’s Still A Light In The House” by Valley sits on top of the kind-of-yellow grass with all of the isolated students. Following Valley, we have “Heartbreaker” by New Parlor. It lets you float away from the stick you just sat on that definitely made your leg start bleeding and pretend you’re at a crowded pool party with people you don’t know, but in a way that makes it better, makes it so that you can do whatever you want since you’ll never see them again.
As we near the end, we have “Black and White” by Niall Horan. Now, I know this song is about a wedding, but I think it would be a wedding in this kind of weather. The right temperature so that it’s warm enough for an outdoor reception, but you won’t start sweating as you jump around to this song. This is one of the most overtly happy and positive songs I listen to, and I don’t mind it one bit.
To finish us off, we have the classic jump-around song: “Green Light” by Lorde. Okay, I don’t actually know if this is a classic jump-around song BUT it’s a classic for me and my friends. I have a memory from this past summer: we played this song as it started to rain, and just bounced around in circles and sang. I can just imagine that transferring well to this kind of weather. Maybe there’d be some kind of magical film moment where the entirety of U-Yard or Kogan starts dancing too. I’m sure it’d even wake up the girl who’s sleeping in the grass in front of me.
- Glory Days by The Vamps
- 9:29 by MATEO
- Give Yourself A Try by The 1975
- No Control by One Direction
- gold rush by Taylor Swift
- There’s Still A Light In The House by Valley
- Heartbreaker by New Parlor
- Black and White by Niall Horan
- Green Light by Lorde