Blog1 min read
Music for a hard day
Days that don't need a playlist so much as a room that doesn't ask anything of you.
Some days don't need a playlist. They need a room that doesn't ask anything of you. Music can help with that, if it knows when to be present and when to stay underneath.
What I avoid on those days: anything that announces a mood. Songs that have decided how you feel for you. The 'cheer up' tradition of music, which usually works only on people who weren't actually low to begin with. Music that wants to be sad with you is also a trap — it's flattering at first and grim by the end.
What works is the room music, played as the room. The wellness playlist for a long evening that needs to dim. The sleep playlist much earlier than usual, as a way of giving the day permission to end. Sometimes lo-fi, because the warmth helps, and because the music doesn't ask you to do anything with what it's playing.
None of this is a fix. Music is not a fix. But the right music can stop a hard day from getting harder, which is a useful thing for it to be able to do.