Playlist: Oh Wow So I’m Starting All Over Then I Guess

feature image by natalia perez


Sometimes you’ve already decided what the rest of your life is going to look like and then something happens, like, for example, the breakup of a very long & serious relationship with your girlfriend, and then you’re like oh wow, okay then, I should figure out some new plans? Except not immediately, obviously, because that is just too much to handle in general. Instead you both should stay right where you are in the apartment you have no immediate plans to move out of and listen to music that makes you feel like you’re moving forward in life, even if the most dramatic move you’ve made so far is to switch from T-Mobile to Verizon. You’re sort of in this space where you feel LIKE A TOTAL MANIAC. Like anything is possible! Which can be good but also bad! Hypothetically!

This playlist is an abstract emotional journey from sadness to self-destruction to moving forward to various sleep issues and onwards and upwards into the unpredictable future because at some point you will feel like a bird, albeit a nestless bird, and then you can fly wherever the fuck you want, little wing!

Fly Away – Poe
Flaws – Bastille
Burn Your Life Down – Tegan and Sara
I Need Some Sleep – The Eels
Sleeping In – The Postal Service
Habits – Tove Lo
If I Ever Feel Better – Phoenix
Let Go – Frou Frou
Let Her Go – Jasmine Thompson
Could I Be – Sylvan Esso
Starting All Over Again – Israel Kamakawiwo’ole
Help I’m Alive – Metric
O-o-h Child (remixed) – Nina Simone
I Think I Need A New Heart – The Magnetic Fields
Anything Could Happen – Ellie Goulding
Dancing On My Own – Robyn
Title and Registration – Death Cab For Cutie
Changes – Stars
Free As A Bird – The Beatles
Wings – Birdy
Sitting On The Dock Of the Bay – Smith & Meyers
Forever Young – Audra Mae & Forest Rangers
Free – The Martinis
White Flowers – Flashpapr
I’m Like a Bird (Acoustic Version) – Nelly Furtado
Move in the Right Direction – Gossip

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Riese

Riese is the 43-year-old Co-Founder of Autostraddle.com as well as an award-winning writer, video-maker, LGBTQ+ Marketing consultant and aspiring cyber-performance artist who grew up in Michigan, lost her mind in New York and now lives in Los Angeles. Her work has appeared in nine books, magazines including Marie Claire and Curve, and all over the web including Nylon, Queerty, Nerve, Bitch, Emily Books and Jezebel. She had a very popular personal blog once upon a time, and then she recapped The L Word, and then she had the idea to make this place, and now here we all are! In 2016, she was nominated for a GLAAD Award for Outstanding Digital Journalism. She's Jewish and has a cute dog named Carol. Follow her on twitter and instagram.

Riese has written 3271 articles for us.

27 Comments

  1. Sometimes it’s scary how relevant these playlists are to my life when they pop up on my twitter feed.
    Getting me right in the feels, Riese.

  2. I’ve been oscillating between ‘moving on’ and ‘self-destruction’ for almost a year now. I’m tired. We might need more playlists.

  3. Well my dramatic move right now is leaving (my work at) T-Mobile after 6 years, so I guess this is relevant, hehe :-) thank you for this awesome playlist :-)

  4. Wow so relevant. Break ups are terrible. I definitely need music that can give me the illusion of moving on in my life right now.

  5. Oh, honey.

    Breaking my comment silence to say I feel your feels right in the feels.

    Looking at last year’s (6 hr long) playlist from my own upheaval, I humbly recommend the following:

    On the Radio – Regina Spektor
    Pursuit of Happiness – Lissie (seriously listened to this last summer on repeat for DAYS)
    This Too Shall Pass – OK GO
    Dance Yrself Clean – LCD Soundsystem

    • Also, should say that there was plenty of overlap between the awesome list you made and was on my own playlist.

  6. <3

    someday i will post a comment on an autostraddle FEELINGS post that is more than just a heart symbol. so get ready for that. in the meantime i just really love you a lot, so.

  7. I would add “The Starting Line” by Keane. I feel like it fits the bill and it’s my go-to OHMYGODWHATISMYLIFE song.

  8. Another beautiful song about (slowly) moving forward: “Splendor in the grass”, by Pink Martini.

    “I can see you’re thinking baby
    I’ve been thinking too
    about the way we used to be
    and how to start anew

    […]

    Life is moving oh so fast
    I think we should take it slow
    rest our heads upon the grass
    and listen to it grow”.

  9. What a perfect soundtrack to my favorite evening activity, getting high and lying at the bottom of the shower weeping. Thanks Riese!

  10. i will listen to this while trying to figure out where i’m going to live in the fall / applying to more colleges because i didn’t get in anywhere / trying not to feel worthless because of that

  11. This is exactly where I’m at right now. Gonna listen to this playlist on repeat while cycling through excitement/manic planning/UTTER TERROR/listlessness/doubt/caffeine-induced uphoria/googling “jobs for hermits”(not for the first time and probably not the last)

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