Editor’s note: This article was initially published in The Daily Gazette, Swarthmore’s online, daily newspaper founded in Fall 1996. As of Fall 2018, the DG has merged with The Phoenix. See the about page to read more about the DG.
New year, new semester, new you – There’s no better way to celebrate a new year and coming back to Swat than a playlist that embodies each of these “new” experiences. But of course, we all know that a new semester really just means a new slate to repeat the same routine and mistakes. Below are a series of songs that can be used for any or all of these new semester’s experiences. Just add “of the semester” to the end of each experience:
Arriving Back on Campus and Seeing Friends:
1) “Happy With You” by Blackbird Blackbird
It’s a dream, it’s a dream, you’re living it
Coming back on the seemingly cold, barren campus, you arrive back to your dorm, drop off your stuff, tell yourself that you will unpack later (and not do it), and see your friends. Moments like these remind you why you decided to stay at Swarthmore.
First Rolling Out with Your Entourage:
2) “Clique” by Kanye West (feat. Big Sean and Jay-Z)
Ain’t nobody fresher than my motherf*cking clique
Wait. Hold on. Is your entire posse back on campus? Sickkkkk. Guys, let’s roll out to Essie’s.
Starting Your First Assignment:
3) “Can’t Hold Us” by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis (feat. Ray Dalton)
Tonight is the night, we’ll fight till it’s over
You sit down in front of your first assignment and think new semester, bring it onnnn. I mean, of course this will only last the first few days, but why not feel invincible at the beginning?
First Day of Class/Walk Around Campus:
4) “Campus” by Vampire Weekend
Then I see you, you’re walking ‘cross the campus. Cruel professor, studying romances. How am I supposed to pretend, I never want to see you again?
New semester – that means the embarrassing incident with that person you had a crush on doesn’t exist anymore, right? Well, sucks. They still do and you will see them again.
First Weekend:
5) “Scream & Shout” by Will.i.am and Britney Spears
Everybody in the (olde) club, all eyes on us
First weekend. The weekend with the least amount of homework, some of the highest party attendances, and just overall excitement. You kind of just want to scream and shout.
First Pre-Game:
6) “Swimming Pools (Drank)” by Kendrick Lamar
Pour up, drank. Head shot, drank.
New game: take a shot every time Kendrick Lamar says “drank”
First Morning-After-Awkward-Hookup:
7) “I Knew You Were Trouble” by Taylor Swift
I knew you were trouble when you walked in, so shame on me now … when your saddest fear comes creeping in that you never loved me or her or anyone or anything. Yeah.
This should be Swat’s relationship anthem.
First Sharples Meal:
8) “How You Remind Me” by Nickleback
…
Nuff said.
This article is great for so many reasons.
First, you put Kendrick Lamar and Nickleback in the same playlist. I have to give you props, I think you are in entirely original territory here.
But even more incredible is how you’re able to take what might be the most cliché lines in history, “Tonight is the night, we’ll fight till it’s over,” “It’s a dream it’s a dream, you’re living it,” and associate them with what are clearly your even more cliché representations of the “Swarthmore experience.” It’s honestly offensive, not just to anyone with real musical sensibilities, but to life experience as something that does not deserve to be reduced to “relationship anthems.”
But I guess sometimes you really do need to just sit back and uncritically accept the one-dimensional music that people feed you. It’s all just “fun” right?
It ain’t a real Swat experience until you get a comment like this. Thanks Anon!