8 years of happy luv [playlist]

one of my most-watched movies growing up was the 1990 film mermaids starring cher, winona ryder, and christina ricci. when winona ryder’s character, charlotte, sees her love interest for the first time, the song “johnny angel” by shelly fabares plays angelically in the background— a true “love at first sight” moment. because of how fundamental that scene was to me as a child, i’ve always thought that song would be playing in the background when i met my soulmate. my brain would just know to turn it on, or maybe my phone would start malfunctioning and randomly play the song, or the cafe i’m at would be blasting it over the speakers— the logistics aren’t important.

before you ask, no, that hasn’t actually happened to me. but i’m not gonna say it won’t happen. i haven’t met my soulmate yet (i think), so there’s still plenty of time for me to have my “johnny angel” moment.

joe (michael schoeffling) in mermaids (1990)

i first made this disgustingly lovey-dovey playlist 8 years ago as a tribute to all the unattainable men-written-by-women and my many fictional crushes. back when i hosted a weekly radio show on KCSB FM, i did a valentine’s day episode dedicated to michael moscovitz from the princess diaries (2001). again, a childhood crush that shaped and sculpted every crush that i developed for the rest of my life. michael was the best friend’s sweet brother, somewhat of a misfit who played keys in a band and worked at an auto shop. he’s the one who “saw her when she was invisible,” the one who just knew her and noticed when the fame was changing her into someone else. of course, he was played by rooney frontman robert schwartzman, so that’s also why i had a crush on him.

perhaps my type is “guys-who-just-know-the-main-character-fundamentally-and-notice-when-she’s-straying-from-her-path” because my probable biggest fictional tv/movie crush of all time is gilmore girls’ resident bad boy, jess mariano, with his famous line, “whY did you drop out of YALE?” i’m a jess defender and lover, so don’t even get me started. but the misunderstood bad boy with his metallica t-shirt who smoked cigarettes and read novels and was kind of mean to everyone but had a soft spot for one special girl? then later grew into a fine young man and even wrote/published a book?? jess is just my type, so if you’re reading this and you know a jess-type please let me know.

anyways.

this is quite a lovey-dovey playlist consisting of some of my favorite love songs that span genres, from ooey gooey oldies to 90s romantic ballads to modern indie rock/pop romantic confessions. i was attempting to oscillate between nauseating love songs and feel-good ones so you feel a little sick listening to it, but you don’t actually vomit.

please join me in celebrating 8 years of this playlist, but a lifetime of loving fictional men more than real ones.

happy valentine’s day!

xoxo
meg