Name: Nicole J
Place: Minnesota
Your relationship to music: listener
Industry: community outreach and communications
I first met Nicole when she was born. I am happy that this week I am featuring my sister. We have a lot in common in regard to music, movies, and sense of humor. We chatted over the holiday break to discuss love, life, and her five picks.
5songpjct: You recently decided to leave Minneapolis and move back to our hometown in Northern Minnesota. What is it like being back?
Nicole: It’s wonderful! The first year was kind of challenging. Readjusting to the pace of life here as compared to a bigger city was difficult for me, missing friends and simple conveniences, but I had a good group of friends and family here to welcome me. Now I’m discovering even more amazing people in my peer group who want our town to be an exciting place to live. Growing up, I couldn’t wait to leave and see a bigger world, but after having a family I totally appreciate its charm and the comforts it offers. There seems to be a lot more going on these days for young people – from performing and visual arts to music, family events and a lot of outdoor activities. It’s amazing how much time I have back in my life to just enjoy these things.
5songpjct: I was surprised that Har Mar Superstar went to our town to perform. I see that other well known local artists, like Haley Bonar, have also played in our tiny town. This definitely wasn’t the place I grew up in. I remember our town being a desert in regards finding new music. How do you discover new music?
Nicole: We are lucky enough to have an excellent community radio station (KAXE) that brings these artists in, and also to be in a place where we are able to tune in to The Current out of St. Paul. That used to be my station. I honestly wasn’t totally convinced it was time to move back “home” until I learned that they broadcast here. I use them as a jumping off point, plus I follow a lot of music news.
5songproject: When we were talking about you participating in the project a few months ago, it seemed pretty easy for you to come up with multiple lists, how did you choose this one?
Nicole: It was actually pretty hard to come up with only five songs. Music is typically a background for everything in my life. Jamming out in the car or while doing chores – it is a mood setter for me. I typically wake up with a song in my head (and then get super creeped when I hear it later that day). I created all the playlists for my wedding based on songs that created a specific moods during the different parts of the day, for example.
There were a lot of lists swimming around in my head: Women Who Rock, 90s Movie Songs, Walking-Into-a-Room Theme Songs and so on. When I learned that my submission would be around Valentine’s Day, I thought about love songs. But a lot of songs about love are obvious and I like things with a little more mystique.
There are so many ways to express or feel love. Being in romantic love, feeling jealous/possessive in love, loving your family or having platonic love for your friends. Each of these songs makes me stop what I’m doing and listen and I just exist in that moment, maybe thinking about what memory it might recall or what type of nostalgia I feel for something or how it might apply to my life right then.
Another thing I wanted to express, and we’ve talked about this before, is that I don’t really listen to all the same music that my friends or partner or family listen to. I do have varied tastes, so can Top-40 with the best of them, but sometimes I’m Drunk In Love with Beyoncé and other times I want to wallow in Radiohead or fulfill my lifelong dream of being in a harmonizing sister-band with First Aid Kit. And that’s not for everyone. Finding concert pals is sometimes tough, but I feel like music reveals my true self. The secret side of me that a lot of people don’t really know or wouldn’t expect.
5songpjct: What is the theme of your five songs this week?
Nicole: Music evokes such strong emotions, but none greater than the longing of love. Sometimes it is pure and hopeful, romantic and flowery, or tough and unrequited. Songs about love are the easiest for me to connect with books or movies or events or people and then immediately recall that feeling. Each of these musical groups could have their own five-plus love song set, but these are some of my favorites.
5songpjct: I love the idea of finding new songs that aren’t overtly about love to share with someone you love.
Your assignment for February, 4, 2018:
Your homework this week is to listen to these five songs. Each weekday we will focus on one song and tell you why it was chosen. These songs are on the Spotify playlist (songs 26-30) for this blog and the videos are linked in the song name, when they are available on YouTube.
[1] Florence + The Machine. “Cosmic Love.” Lungs, Island, 2009
[2] Phantogram. “You’re Mine.” Three, Republic, 2016
[3] Cardigans. “Lovefool.” First Band on the Moon, Stockholm, 1995
[4] BØRNS. “10,000 Emerald Pools.” Dopamine, Geffen/Interscope, 2015
[5] Coldplay. “Clocks.” A Rush of Blood to the Head, Parlophone/Capitol, 2002. [Our first repeated song]
NEXT WEEK is Valentine’s Day. Perhaps you can add these unconventional love songs to your playlist. Tomorrow we talk about “Cosmic Love.”