A random song from a random Spotify playlist is always blaring through my Alexa because, well, I hate silence. Last night, I came across an Instagram story from an old friend about Covid-19 tracks on Spotify. Quarantine has apparently nourished people's creative energies, and as someone in a creative rut, I'm happy for them! DJ Snake literally made a remix from Cardi B's coronavirus "shit is getting real" video, and by my estimates, there might be hundreds of Spotify tracks with the words "Covid-19" or "coronavirus" in the title. I even found some random artist under the stage name "Coronavirus," who released a nine-track "Covid-19" album and a 16-track "Pandemic" album.
Since the quiet was deeply depressing me, I made a playlist solely of these pandemic-produced songs called "wash ur hands".
A clarification: It's never really quiet quiet in Brooklyn. The S train rumbles by my window every 15 minutes and the construction workers are still loudly scaffolding my building (I think they're going to stop soon because people have complained), but I simply have no one to speak to. I previously relied on my boyfriend for conversation, who had temporarily lived with me for the past two months-ish, but he's since fled the city. So now I'm alone in my roughly 400 square-foot apartment, a size estimate based off my habitual browsing of Apartment Therapy, living the pre-pandemic life I've always wanted... except I'm not, because I can't live the life I've always led.
I spent the day listening to this terrible playlist I made, hoping for the poorly produced songs to drown out the drab sense of loneliness that hangs over me. I paused the music at exactly 4:15 p.m. and solidly cried for five minutes (simply because I'm an emotional wreck and everything always seems to be worth crying about). My favorite track (which is arguably not terrible) is called CORONAVIRUS FREESTYLE by music collective After Hours and Bay Area rapper Chow Mane who, in my opinion, looks like a member of the K-pop group Big Bang. It's the type of song that I would add on my spring-to-summer playlist, kind of electro-poppy with a dance beat and forgettable mumble lyrics. (Upon further inspection, I've discovered that Chow Mane produced the song about ABGs/Asian Baby Girls, which is an entirely irrelevant topic if you're not Asian American but an interestingly niche stereotype to know.)
My second favorite song, which frankly redeemed this full of shit playlist, is by an indie funk band called More Fatter titled I Don't Want To Wash My Hands (but I guess I will because of coronavirus). The vocalist is going on and on about how he doesn't want to do anything — valid! — and during the chorus, he croons, "I don't want to wash my hands / I don't want to understand (??) / I don't want to brush my teeth / I don't want to [unintelligible]."
Last one: There's a track called Covid-19 by Aimless Ascetic, which can only be described as vibe-y — not necessarily lo-fi hip hop beats to lose your mind to, but a little more upbeat. I dunno, I'm bad at describing ~sounds~ and not a music critic! If you're into electronic beat-bashing, I'd recommend COVID-19 (when it rains it pours) by Dreamtheory, whose Spotify artist page gives me the impression that he's an angsty dude who makes beats, hates his "fucking job," and thinks "there's nothing wrong with a woman showing off her body."
Never mind. I'm going back to listening to traditional world-ending music. Cue R.E.M.'s It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine). I feel fine. For now, anyways.
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