On the playlist as a self-portrait

A playlist tells the listener a lot about the curator, even when the curator wishes it didn't. The choices are signed in a way no description page can fix. After a couple of hours of listening, a regular listener has formed a fairly accurate picture of whoever's behind the playlist, without having seen anything else about them.

This isn't always flattering. A playlist that's avoiding obvious choices on principle reveals as much as a playlist that leans into them. A playlist with no vocals is making a statement about vocals; so is a playlist with one. There is no neutral curation; the absence of a choice is a choice.

For the rooms here, I've made peace with this. The five rooms are a fairly transparent self-portrait of someone who reads slowly, doesn't like surprises, and uses music mostly to lower the temperature of the room. That's a real person, and it's the person making the playlist, and the listener gets to take or leave the portrait.

What I avoid is pretending otherwise. A playlist that says 'for everyone' is for no one in particular; a playlist signed by a specific taste is at least useful to the people who share it. Most of the time, that's enough.