Concordia students share their favourite songs for the fall season.
As the leaves start to slowly change colours, autumn marks a turning point in the year. The temperature slowly gets colder and a change in mood begins, often leading us to pensiveness and nostalgia.
The Concordian compiled students’ favourite songs to listen to during the fall season into a playlist, many of which have a chill, melancholic sound. Here are some of the top picks, and the reason students turn to them year after year.
Taylor Swift is a classic fall pick. “All Too Well” specifically explores a failed relationship and all the great and horrible memories Swift associates with it. She sings about losing herself in the relationship. The 10 minute version on the re-release of Red doubles down on the narrative by extending it. The song’s lyrics are vividly descriptive and filled with details that point to the fall season. As she sings, you can imagine her staring wistfully at the stirring fall leaves.
“Feather” by Nujabes (feat. Cise Starr & Akin from CYNE) starts with a light, melodic piano tune. It continues into Cise Starr’s verse, where he laments the problems in the world and wishes to float away from it all.
“The song ‘Feather’ represents peace and acceptance through change and strife to me — in troubling times, staying present and grounded,” said Simon Vandermeulen Kerr, a second-year Communications major at Concordia.
Mike Shabb’s “Autumn & Fall” ushers in the season with a soft jazz beat layered under Shabb’s monotone voice as he drops thoughtful bars about looking inwards and reflecting. The song picks up in the second half with a quicker rallying instrumental, setting a hopeful tone for the months to come.
“Yebba’s Heartbreak” is the interlude off Drake’s Certified Lover Boy. It is a reflective piece on the nature of affection featuring vocalist Yebba’s angelic voice. The instrumental has an echoing quality that leans into the song’s themes of love and commitment. It brings to mind laying in the grass with your lover on a chilly autumn afternoon.
“[This song is] perfectly layered and just makes you feel at ease; it feels lonesome but not in a bad way, more so in a reflective state,” said Mariam Sy, a third-year Communications major at Concordia.
“We fell in love in october” by girl in red is the perfect song to agonize over your situationship this autumn. The themes of longing and loneliness in this song are something anyone can relate to.
Similarly, “Fade Into You” by Mazzy Star explores the songwriter’s feelings of intense devotion. It describes the experience of discovering yourself through another person and losing your identity in them.
“To me, this song encompasses everything you feel when the seasons change: the chilly air, how the light shifts and becomes darker and everything feels cozy,” said Madeline McKee, a third-year Communications major. “Hope Sandoval’s voice has just such a velvety quality to it that really captures this feeling — her voice basically feels like a warm hug!”
“Shrike” by Hozier describes the symbiotic relationship between the shrike and the thorn. It paints the image of a lover, a thorn, waiting for her shrike to impale his prey upon her. The song invokes serendipity. As in, we will find each other in every life, just as the shrike will always find the thorn.
These songs and more can be found on the Concordia Student Fall Picks 2024 playlist below!
