The Best Songs for Springtime

Story posted March 29, 2023 in Arts & Entertainment by Arts & Entertainment Staff.

Spring is finally here! That means it’s time to add new songs to your playlists to get into the springtime mood. Members of our CommRadio Arts and Entertainment Department wrote about some of their favorite songs to listen to during the spring.

“Cornelia Street” - Taylor Swift

Over Taylor Swift's now 17-year-old career, the singer-songwriter has released 10 albums. Due to the content and sound of each album, many projects are agreed upon by Swifities to belong to a specific season.

Swift’s seventh album, “Lover,” is a spring album. One of the best examples of this is her song “Cornelia Street.”

While maybe not the initial aesthetic of a bright and sunny spring day, “Cornelia Street” is reminiscent of a warm and rainy day.

“Cornelia Street” is one of Swift's best in terms of storytelling, and she recounts falling in love and her new fears of losing this relationship.

The mix of a beautiful love story with genuine anxieties and nervousness fits thematically well within the spring season. Lyrics like “that’s the kind of heartbreak time could never mend” are harrowing, regardless of their interpretation.

Swift's storytelling is unparalleled, and “Cornelia Street” is one of her best examples of it. - Sophia D’Ovidio

“1Night” - Daddy NAT

Ah, spring has sprung here in State College. The countdown to summer has begun and students are taking advantage of any sunny or warm day that happens. That being said, it's time to curate a flawless spring playlist, and a perfect song to add to it is “1Night” by Daddy NAT.

“1Night” is an upbeat track with a summery vibe that everyone’s looking for. There’s trumpets galore and paired with the laid-back vocals - it’s the ideal combination.

The opening lyric literally “feels like summer in the low light,” followed by lyrics talking about love and loyalty and some more “summers” sprinkled in with it, makes for an ideal track for the warmer months coming up. The cover art matches the vibe too, with vibrant imagery of a house party at dusk.

If you’re looking for something to get you geared up for the end of the school year and the transition into early summer, “1Night” is for your playlist. - Chloe Rey

“Blow Away” - George Harrison

Spring has always been an uplifting season. One that erases the cold, colorless and bleak landscape of winter, and replaces it with a new vibrant, colorful optimism.

Even the nature of music tends to fit within the “parameters of this season.” George Harrison’s “Blow Away” is a good example of this. 

“Blow Away” is a great melody from former ex-Beatle, George Harrison, who in part had the best solo career outside of the “Fab Four.” The opening verse of the song itself depicts a bleak state before the chorus comes in with a cheerful tone.

The bright and optimistic Spring "blows away” the dreary state of Winter and opens new promise. But is the meaning of “Blow Away” just about the arrival of spring?

The beauty of music is that it can mean different things to a lot of people. Perhaps “Blow Away” represents a spiritually religious or transcendental state, maybe it is about moving on from a loved one, or it is just a song to feel good about.

Nevertheless, George Harrison’s “Blow Away” is a perfect representation of spring because of its symbolism of the bright optimism wiping out the old and bleak.  - Logan Sharp

“Speak Now” - Taylor Swift

While Dr. Swift might still be holding “Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)” hostage, the title track off her third studio album is the perfect song to get in the spring mood.

It opens with a bright, whimsical acoustic guitar, and Swift singing about how she’s not one to “rudely barge in on white veil occasions.”

Ah, nothing like a song about a wedding to welcome us into the season of birds chirping and flowers blooming.

However, all isn’t (too) well for Swift at this wedding – she’s watching the man she loves marry someone else. After daydreaming about running away with the groom, she finally stands up when the preacher says “speak now or forever hold your peace.”

She uses her humorous wit to describe the dirty looks she received for standing up, but she only had eyes for her man.

Swift tells him “You are not the kind of boy / Who should be marrying the wrong girl” and adds a little laugh at the end before revealing that he chose to run away with her.

Clearly this is one of the songwriter’s fictional stories that she has woven into her discography through the years, but it’s without a doubt one of the cutest, most lighthearted songs she’s put out. It’s the perfect spring listen for any hopeless romantic. - Kaitlyn Murphy

"Put Your Records On" - Corinne Bailey Rae

Girl put your records on and go for a walk today, cause guess what? Three words: Winter. Is. Over.

Up here in University Park it’s been a wild winter season, with surprise squalls, snowfall affecting travel just before the break and dangerous wind chills. Surviving all that is something to celebrate.

Anyway, when it comes to tracks that accompany this commencement of the Spring Equinox, Connie Bailey Rae has you covered.

From the lyrics to the music video, “Put Your Records On” exemplifies the Spring season.

This song paints the scene of a peaceful bike ride with the sun beaming at the perfect golden hour angle, a shared dream amongst Penn Staters as they braved the brutal winds and slippery roads for the past 4 months.

Now rather than being stuck indoors, shielded in the cold, green with envy of Bailey Rae’s ability to run through a field of flowers while soaking in the sun, in a short few weeks the same will be possible up here.

So listen to the three little birds sitting on your window telling you not to worry, Spring is officially here. -Abigail Chachoute

Abigail Chachoute is a second-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact her, email axc6070@psu.edu.

Sophia D’Ovidio is a second-year majoring in digital and print journalism. To contact her, email sgd5184@psu.edu.

Chloe Rey is a first-year majoring in telecommunications. To contact her, email ckr5449@psu.edu.

Logan M. Sharp is a third-year Film Production student at Penn State. To contact him, please email lxs5590@psu.edu. 

Kaitlyn Murphy is a first-year majoring in digital and print journalism. To contact her, email kvm6255@psu.edu.