2019 – Moving On

Welcome one and all to the Ryan Music Awards for 2019, as well as the showcasing of my playlist for 2019! If you haven’t been following my Twitter, I’ve been posting my top 5 listens every week for the first half of the year. After that I just posted something every month because life got in the way. Having the list really helped me pick the songs I was obsessed with earlier on in the year, because if I’m honest, I forgot which songs I liked…

Many of the tracks on this list are songs that I discovered this year and surprisingly, none are repeat offenders from last year’s list, even though some of the honourable mentions are. I honestly can’t believe how quickly this year has passed, it’s been fucking crazy. I won’t go into too many details, but just know that I’m walking into 2020 a homeless man.

This is Turquoise

If you want to skip straight to the playlist, here’s the link! Turquoise is bittersweet, nostalgic and a little angsty.

Since this is the first post of this kind, I’m going to get distracted on Twitter for 45 minutes before explaining what I’m doing here. Clearly this lockdown is messing with my concentration. Anyway, I have these colour-coded playlists that fit different moods. I stole this idea from my friend Ray a couple years back and I haven’t regretted it for a second. Sometimes it’s hard to explain feelings, so colours help me distinguish and name them.

Let’s get into these potatoes. Since this is the first playlist feature, I’ll do a little explanation before I head into it. Every month I’ll make a little post with one of my mood ring-esque playlists and do a bit of a feature on what makes a song fit that mood. Every year should bring a new evolution of these playlists as their feeling become even more distinct, but for now I’ll stick with my original nine.

You’re Not Alone

Yeah I know I haven’t posted anything in ages and the last thing I posted was a dig at the catholic church, not a real story at all. For those of you who are out of the loop, May is mental health awareness month. That makes it the perfect time for me to reflect on my own mental health, as well as focusing on *insert name of secret project* (hint: it’s music related). Since I haven’t done anything for my non-existent fan base in a while, here it is, my playlist for Mental Health Awareness month.

This playlist is a reminder to myself that I’m not alone and neither are you. Sometimes life can feel like a fucking burden and all you feel is pain, but thankfully, that doesn’t last forever. All of the songs on this playlist come from different angles and perspectives, but they all touch on mental health in some way.

The Notre-Dame Burns, Billionaires Write Cheques

When tragedy strikes the world, millionaires and billionaires have a single strategy; fight it with an open wallet. Unfortunately, that same approach hasn’t translated to long-term world problems. Take the tragic fire of the Notre Dame. An iconic building with history spanning centuries burns down and once again, the heads of corporations are tripping over themselves, trying to lay down cheques to pay for repairs.

Of course, it’s upsetting to see a French icon burnt at the stake, but does that really warrant millions if not billions of dollars in donations?

2018 – Origins

I’ve always said that if you understand my relationship with music, you’ll uncover the deepest, darkest parts of me. Well, I’ve never actually said it and it’s definitely not true but whatever, it sound cool and makes me seem all dark and mysterious which is apparently an appealing trait. Anyway, I’ll shut up.

This year has been crazy for me. It’s cheesy, but I’ve grown so much as a person and my life has changed dramatically, for better or worse. For the most part, music has just been the soundtrack to my life, a way for me to relate to my feelings and understand myself better. Even though music has always been a part of me, I’ve dug so much deeper this year and it seems fair that I should put together my first mixtape. Well, technically it’s a playlist but mixtape sounds cooler.