Melissa Kacar

"vampire" // Olivia Rodrigo "vampire" is the long-awaited first single off of  Olivia Rodrigo 's upcoming sophomore album,  GUTS .  After the massive success she had with   SOUR  in   2021 , she hasn't released any music at all and I really didn't know what to expect from her as an artist going forward. "vampire" starts off as a piano ballad, somewhat like "driver's license" in the structure and melody. It starts to take a turn as she builds to the chorus with "I used to think I was smart, b ut you made me look so naïve, t he way you sold me for parts, a s you sunk your teeth into me, b loodsucker, fame fucker, b leedin' me dry like a goddamn vampire".  It is such a powerful song to release for her comeback and honestly even better than most of the songs off her debut album in every regard. I am definitely looking forward to hearing the rest of her album when it is released in September! "Home To Another One...

strawberries on a summer evening is a collection of some of my essential summer songs, past and present.  This playlist is based on some of the songs and artists that have consistently been the soundtrack to my summers over the years, along with some newer releases that I know I will have on repeat all season.  Many songs and albums capture the feeling of summer so perfectly for me, which I will be sharing more of in future playlists, but with  strawberries on a summer evening  I wanted to specifically curate it based on some of my favorite fun, up-tempo, summer bops that I can listen to a million times and never get tired of.  The title and theme is inspired by the opening lines of " Watermelon Sugar " by Harry Styles , who is an artist heavily featured throughout this playlist. His album  Fine Line   specifically has always sounded like summer to me and is perfect to listen to this time of year. Artists like Ariana Grande , Taylor Swift , and Dua Li...

the record is the debut album by boygenius , the indie-rock group made up of Phoebe Bridgers, Julien Baker, and Lucy Dacus. It is the follow-up to their 2018 self-titled EP and during the five years since, the three of them have gone on to release several solo projects to much acclaim. the record  is one of my favorite music releases of 2023 so far, it really exceeded all of my expectations and I continue to love it more and more every time I listen to it.  Over the past couple of years, Phoebe Bridgers has become one of my all-time favorite artists. Her sophomore release, Punisher , specifically is an album that I absolutely love and am endlessly inspired by. Her talent for songwriting and world building within her music is unmatched. This was my first full introduction to the rest of boygenius, but I have since listened to the rest of Lucy Dacus and Julien Baker's discography and have loved everything I've heard so far. I cannot recommend all of their music enough! An aspe...