Pandemic Playlist 1: Quarantined Spring/Summer 2020

This isn’t really writing related, but I thought I’d still post it in case people enjoy it.

During the entirety of this pandemic, some of my writer friends and I have been doing these Zoom dance parties. At first it was every Friday, then every two weeks, then once a month. Now that everyone is vaccinated, they are happening less often, or in person. These dance parties have been a lifeline for all of us during this past year. It was the thing that got us through the week. It was a way to connect with friends. It was something to look forward to during the weeks when everything was locked down, we were all scared for our jobs, our families, and our lives, and we couldn’t even open a window because the California sky was on fire. These dance parties brought me a lot of comfort.

The way these playlists worked was that we’d all send 3-5 YouTube videos to someone who would organize the playlist and be our DJ for the evening. We’d sign on around 7:30 p.m. and talk. Start the music at 8:00 p.m. Then dance until after midnight. We’d all be dancing in our tiny little squares while we watched a screen-share of the YouTube playlist. Some people came and went over the course of the year, but there were about a dozen of us who showed up consistently for almost all of them.

Over the past 18 months, we’ve danced together to hours and hours of music. These are my favorite songs, curated from what we were listening to between March 2020 and September 2020, during the height of the fear of the unknown. (This playlist is safe for most workplaces, and probably rated at PG or PG-13, for the dancing.)

Here’s the YouTube link to Pandemic Playlist 1.

Here’s a Spotify link to my favorite 20 songs from that playlist, which I listened to over and over again.