How To: Curate Your Perfect Playlist
We’ve all been there, songs repeating, someone asks to change the music and then everything catches on fire. Creating the perfect playlist for your event, a friend, or just to put you into a certain headspace, is a key function of changing the mood of any room. I’ve always been in charge of curating playlists for parties that my roommates and I would throw. And yes, they were all themed. I once put two songs on a playlist for a party to impress a guy that would be there. He never showed up and everyone looked at me sideways when Italian disco came on. Curating a playlist for someone can be as lighthearted or as personal as you’d like. Here are a few tips to curate your perfect playlist!
Know the event you’re having: Know the basic speed of the playlist, this will depend on the type of event. A house party playlist and a dinner party playlist will sound very different. If you happen to be making a wedding party playlist, throw in some family favorites, throwbacks and current hits depending on your audience. Dinner party playlists should include some Lo-Fi songs, slow house music, or even some Italian classics. While for a house party, I’d go full force into Yeah! By Usher, Get Low by Lil’ John, and Laffy Taffy by D4L.
Know your audience: Knowing your audience is crucial to curating your perfect playlist. There is a huge difference between songs that would please my best friends, compared to songs that my parents or coworkers would love. If these two groups coexist for you, consider yourself lucky. For a work party, you’ll want to stay within the boundaries of appropriate, but I like to go as far as the line will take me. For example, one of my go to songs for any party is Hotline Bling by Drake, it’s a PG beat with a Rated R story. If I’m curating a playlist for my friends, my 100% go to is Come Get Her by Rae Sremmurd. Again, this is not a song I would play openly for my coworkers and boss. If you have that relationship with your workplace, go for it!
Consider the length of event: This step is super important, you don’t want to mess this up. You never want to hear the same song more than once. My recommendation for playlist duration is to always try to have at least four hours’ worth of music on your playlist! This may seem like a lot, but if you make it too short… you’re relying on people to either A. Be gone by the time the song repeats OR B. Be too drunk or distracted to remember that Toxic by Britney Spears already played.
Try not to use songs you don’t know: Always try to use music that you’ve heard all the way through, at least once. You want to know that your party will love the music as much as you do.
Look through Spotify playlists that match the mood for your playlist for quick song ideas: I’ve had a few times where I had playlist builder block. I combat this by drawing inspiration from other Spotify playlists that match the vibe I’m going for at my event. You may ask yourself – well, why would I make my own playlist, when Spotify has already created playlists for my events? Because Spotify doesn’t know you OR your audience! Those playlists will only go so far. It’s a special task to create a playlist for an event, don’t take away the magic by putting on some mundane-already-made-cookie-cutter dinner party playlist. Make it your own! Make it you!
Some great playlists I’ve curated for various reasons // Spotify @ Tdixo
Cry and Ponder Life Playlist | It’s a Haus Party Playlist | Tori + Ashley’s Badass Playlist | In Your Lana Feels Playlist