Picture this: You wake up bright and early feeling chilly but on top of the world. You made your matcha (or your coffee, I don’t discriminate) and delicious breakfast. You still have plenty of time to start your car so it’s nice and warm before getting to your 9:00am class. You go to turn the key, and all you hear is clicking. Uh, oh. It’s time to brave the cold and make the frigid hike to campus.
Is this hitting a little too close to home? Well, grab your layers, your hat and gloves, and, of course, your earbuds to listen to these five songs to keep you warm for your cold walk to campus this week.
As you begin your journey to that 9:00am class, click play on “From Eden” by Hozier. Yes, a bit of throwback from Hozier’s self-titled album. As the track starts, you cannot help but feel cheerful listening to playful guitar and drums intertwining together. Then, just like that, Hozier’s rich voice comes into play and you’re not just feeling cheerful, you’re feeling like you are owning this walk. Just like that, the birds are chirping for you (what birds this is Winona, Minnesota during peak winter cold). Life is good. Therefore, that walk is even better for those four minutes and fourty-three seconds. How can it get even better than this? Well, the next song in the queue starts to play.
Yes, going even further back in time, your earbuds begin to play whimsical piano introduction of Brandi Carlile’s “Heart’s Content”. Carlile’s unique sound and the lyrics of her timeless song produced in 2012 start to resonate with you. You cannot help but forget about this cold you’re trekking in, and maybe your heart feels even more content because these songs are keeping you company as you walk to Winona State. The blissful song comes to an end now, and now we need to pick up the pace and get the blood flowing. We cannot forget how chilly it really is. No need to fret.
Now that you’re nearly at campus and class is starting soon, you need to wake up just a little bit and the 60s-inspired ballad, “She Needs Him”, by Her’s will do just the trick. Just hearing the tempo at the beginning of the song, you know you are in for a treat. Those walking shoes you got on are now turning into dancing shoes as you get a kick in your step. Although the lyrics present a clear theme of heartbreak and denial, the fast-paced rhythm and indie sound is going to fill with nothing but warmth as you finally arrive to campus.
As your walk concludes just as this final song is over, you’re going to find yourself playing your own songs that will fill you with warmth or find yourself walking into the toasty building you have class in.
