On Feb. 2, Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow, predicting six more weeks of winter, which now leaves us lucky bastards with three more weeks of puffers and layers! Snow is starting to melt and we’re cruising at a balmy average of 40° for the upcoming weeks — it seems the winter has grown tired of giving us its worst and is making way for spring. Here are some songs to manifest a quicker transition into spring and make your chilly walks feel like a warm 70° stroll.
1. Simon & Garfunkel: “April Come She Will”
While spring officially starts on March 20, we all know that Ithaca spring truly begins in April. We begin the playlist to the tunes of soft guitar plucking and poetic lyrics of Simon & Garfunkel, truly a springtime classic.
2. Lucy Dacus: “Best Guess”
My best guess at the future? A warm spring, complete with a picnic on the slope with blankets that don’t get wet or fly away — thank you so much for asking. Dacus’ “Best Guess” is an optimistic love song about genuinely seeing and wanting a future with your lover. In this case, my lover is spring; “if I were a gambling man, and I am,” spring would be my “best bet.”
3. Kacey Musgraves: “Rainbow”
When it rains it pours, but it ain’t raining anymore! Take off your coat and shed the winter blues with “Rainbow.” A must-listen if you’re in need of a slow pick-me-up to face the last weeks of winter. Know that Kacey Musgraves is rooting for you! And so am I!
4. Fiona Apple: “Why Try to Change Me Now”
This is going to sound strange, so bear with me. I like to imagine winter personified singing this song — it’s a rough season, but maybe it’s over-hated. Why can’t we accept the winter for what it is? Why are we always longing for something more instead of finding the beauty in what we have? Should we empathize with a season? These are all questions we should be asking ourselves.
5. The La’s: “There She Goes”
OK enough sad vibes, we want good vibes! There’s nothing quite like this song to make a girl feel like she’s in the final montage of an early 2000s rom-com. Winter is on its way out, and here comes spring again. In the words of The La’s, “no one else could heal my pain” like spring!
6. Lizzy McAlpine: “All Falls Down”
I lied. We are back in sad vibes — but! This time, to a funky beat! McAlpine’s “All Falls Down” is a song about being overwhelmed and everything piling up, feelings I’m sure many of us experience now that we’re about halfway through the semester.
7. Dolly Parton: “Gonna Hurry (As Slow As I Can)”
Sometimes the seasons change more quickly than we can process certain things. It’s hard to move on and let things go, especially when the literal Earth begins to change before you feel ready to. Parton’s “Gonna Hurry (As Slow As I Can)” tackles accepting leaving something behind, but letting it go at your own pace, just as slow as you can.
8. Lana Del Rey and Father John Misty: “Let The Light In”
Hey! How about we let the light in? Pull up those janky dorm blinds, turn the ambient lighting on (no big light!) and invite some friends over to come and hang. Here’s to hoping the cold stays away — but if it snows again, we know we have lights in our own lives to invite in and keep each other warm. To quote Del Rey (and queue my super smooth transition into the next song): “Put The Beatles on, light the candles, go back to bed.”
9. The Beatles: “Here Comes The Sun”
Was it smooth? Quite literally, here comes the sun! “It’s been a long, cold, lonely winter,” but fret no longer, I’m pretty sure I saw only 5–10% of the slope covered in snow, a pretty good sign if you ask me. Nothing like a muddy walk across the Arts Quad to make you smile. I kindly suggest repeating “Sun, sun, sun, here it comes” over and over again as a manifestation ritual; we need all the help we can get.
10. Zara Larson and Muni Long: “Midnight Sun”
Specifically, the Muni Long remix: “Don’t matter the season / Summer endless when it comes from within.” Enough said.
You can find the playlist here.
‘Solar Flare’ is a weekly playlist column where Sun contributors spotlight a slice of musical taste with the campus community. It runs every Monday.
Paulina Delgado-Umpierre is a member of the Class of 2028 in the College of Arts and Sciences. She is a staff writer for the Arts & Culture department and can be reached at pdelgadoumpierre@cornellsun.com.
