Pastoral

In our poetry class, we are assigned to journal every single day. Some days, it’s free writing, and other days we have assignments. Recently, we had an assignment; randomly flip to a page of the dictionary, and write something inspired by the first word you see. My word was, pastoral.

There are a couple different meanings for the word, pastoral, but the one I chose, was that it meant “peaceful/innocent.”

The first thing that popped in my head, was music. I’ve noticed my music taste has been changing into a more conglomerate, coherent thing, rather than being a jumble of odd bits and bobs. It’s become more of soft, peaceful, “indie/alternative pop” that is popular I guess? No idea, but still I’m pretty pleased with it right now. And that music to me is pastoral.

Here are some songs that are peaceful to me.

If you’d like to listen to a playlist of all these songs compiled in order, I made one for the purpose of this blog!

“pretty girl” – Clairo

This song, despite having notes of a gloomier topic, has peaceful acoustics, that makes me feel content in a way. Ugh, I love it so much. It talks about the fondness of memories, and also talks about how love can make us fools. 10/10 song

“Polaroid of you dancing in my room.”

“when the party’s over” – billie eilish

Another sad bop. I have a knack for listening to sad, sad songs. There’s something about this song that just makes me f e e l, ya know? I interpreted the story as a girl who’s experiencing unrequited love from a person that keeps using her. While this all sounds so melancholy, I somehow get peacefulness from it, because the girl is aware of this fact, and has a very matter-of-fact tone. It’s weird how calm this song makes me feel. Don’t get me wrong though, it also has me cryin’ in the club.

“Tore my shirt to stop you bleedin’, but nothin’ ever stops you leavin’.”

“Lemon Boy” – cavetown 

This song’s imagery makes me so happy. And that’s the tea. No, but in all seriousness this song is able to portray such a sweet, and interesting story, and it really resonates with me. In a peaceful way, that is.

“It’s actually pretty easy being nice to a bitter boy like him. So, I got myself a citrus friend.”

“hong kong” – mxmtoon 

A nice imagery song as well. Makes me want to travel more, which is interesting because I’m a lil’ bit of a homebody. I’ve always been the type to be scared of adventure, but this song breaks that. Maybe I’ll go to Hong Kong one of these days.

“yellow cars, smoggy skies, neon lights attract your eyes.”

“Dance, Baby!” – boy pablo 

This song has nostalgia for a memory I don’t have, and that’s something powerful that the artist has done. The vocals and vibe of this song remind me of the 80’s somehow? No idea, but boy pablo pulls this song together nicely. It’s also incredible how this is more of an upbeat vibe-y song, but it stills manages to invoke a serene feeling.

“I’m left alone, should have stayed at home, and searched how to date on Chrome.”

“Cherry Cola” – Jon  Kuwada

The way the artist talks about the girl in this song with descriptive metaphors and similes makes my heart smile. It’s so sweet how highly he thinks of her, based on this song. Hearing how important this relationship is to the artist, is something that adds to the song’s peacefulness.

“No clouds in the sky, ’cause she brings that sunshine.”

That’s a wrap!! There are some songs that I find pastoral.