“Pumpkin iced chai,” Natalie Mix’s collaborative playlist on Spotify, encompasses the warm hues of the fall season. Some members of staff have added songs from all genres, filling our daily soundtrack with a little bit of everything. I find myself with a cup of my favorite bedtime tea in hand but am truly fighting the cold with the warmth that this playlist brings me.

Ever since I can remember, I have always written “fall” on classroom questionnaires asking me to pick my favorite season. I love the flannels and the smells and the oranges and the holidays, but most of all, I love the music. Maybe it’s a bit controversial to assign certain sounds, songs, albums, and artists to a particular time of the year, but I have been doing it for a very long 16, give-or-take.

“All Our Weekends” – French Kicks

Arguably one of my favorite songs for every day of the year, but probably played significantly more around this time, stands my fifth-most played song of 2021, according to Apple Music. Everything, and I mean everything, about this song is a masterpiece. The beat meshes perfectly with the ghostly undertones of the song, each verse accompanied by a different combination of the two. This song builds so nicely, and it’s one of those rarities that is set in simplicity but avoids becoming repetitive. 

“Little Dark Age” – MGMT

Certainly one of my more mainstream songs included in this review, but it is an unapologetic favorite nonetheless. This track gained momentum on TikTok in 2020, although it was released in 2018, and explores some interesting concepts through the carefully chosen lyrics. The meaning of the song is somewhat subjective, although the artist has released a couple of comments possibly explaining the song’s purpose, and because of this, it certainly is dropped right on its head into the fall category. The lyrics are eerie, similar to the moody instrumentals, which blend together to transport the listener right to this very Halloween night-esque feeling that MGMT has created.

“Sick In The Head” – The Lumineers

Consider this bit my personal campaign for The Lumineers to be a staple fall artist—this song is just gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous. It’s rolling out of bed late to school but not feeling guilty about it. It’s sleeping in on slow Sunday mornings to only be coached out of bed by the promise of a warm cinnamon sugar doughnut waiting downstairs. It’s both the sunrise glowing through the red leaves and a to-the-bone cold-type darkness—like I said, gorgeous.

“On Ice” – Michael Nau

I would describe this song as Tame Impala’s stand-in for the season—it keeps their theme of electronic beats and loads of synth but much more toned down. This song has a very casual feel to it and is a good one for catching up on homework—a great choice for background music for any fall occasion. It’s the kind of song that you can just melt into, and it just feels so natural due to the easy-going rhythm of the track and the gentle build of vocals into the chorus.

“warm glow” – Hippo Campus

I put this song last because the song within itself is nothing more than a perfect ending. It’s the kind of music that plays over the end credits of a movie, and it’s always the song I play last whenever I’m driving home from wherever I may find myself that particular time of day. It’s a pretty hefty listen, standing at almost six minutes and transitioning into a new beat and feeling almost halfway through. Hippo Campus does an exceptional job of keeping the ending the kind of powerfulness that you just can’t get out of your head, yet still holding back from any aggressive vocals or instrumentals—tastefully heightening the tone of the first half of the song.