When streaming music first became a thing, I usually ended up searching for the albums I once had on CD or vinyl and listened to songs I already knew. I still have lots of the CDs I purchased through the years though I rarely listen to them because it’s so much easier to ask Alexa to pair with my phone and listen that way or listen on a bluetooth headset. I’m not even sure where the CD player is.
Over the past year or so, I’ve look forward to Spotify’s New Music Friday Playlist because I’ve discovered so many new artists that way. I like to go through the list of new songs and see what catches my ear. Some I skip fairly quickly or only listen halfway and others lead me down a rabbit hole to learn more about the artist’s other music.
Some of the artists I’ve learned about by doing this are Lizzy McAlpine, Kelsea Ballerini and Benson Boone.
When listening to this playlist, I think about what drew me to a particular song - is it the artist’s vocals, the catchiness of the tune, the subject matter or is it how it makes me feel? Does it lift my spirits, make me feel nostalgic, make me want to dance? Sometimes I just admire the lyrics and the way the songwriter told the story.
Last year it was reported by Music Business Worldwide that an average of 120,000 new music audio files are added to streaming services each day. That would be about 840,000 in one week. Spotify’s New Music Friday only has 100 songs and I usually don’t make my way through the whole ist. According to Spotify, this playlist is curated by playlist editors, updates every Friday and has “loads of different versions for different countries and regions.”
I thought for this week, I’d share some of the new releases from last week that caught my ear. I do this not because I’m any sort of an expert on what makes a good song, but as a music consumer and also a songwriter, I’m curious about what makes people like a song.
Here are five favorites from this past week.
“We Still Don’t Trust You” by Future and Metro Boomin. Who don’t they trust? Why? That intrigue was accompanied by a catchy beat so I kept listening. I never figured out what the story was, but I did learn that The Weekend was a co-writer and was featured on the song.
“I’m Back” by girl in red. The song pulled me in right away with a boppy and catchy melody and very personal lyrics. It almost has a confessional feel to it and has some humorous lines and an overall feeling of hope and positivity.
“Big Feelings” by Willow. This one popped out of the playlist - her strong vocals weren't anything else like the songs that came before. There was a lot of variety within the song, some beautiful piano and emotional lyrics.
“My Fun” by Suki Waterhouse was one of my favorites. It was a catchy and fun song that gave me a 60s beach vibe. I didn’t think I had heard of her, but upon further research, realized she was “Daisy Jones & the Six,” a mini-series based on a book that I really enjoyed.
“A Bar Song (Tipsy)” by Shaboozey. It’s super catchy and fun, tells a story with some clever lines and I can envision people singing along to this in a bar.
The other two songs I wanted to mention are covers - The Fleetwood Mac song “Oh Well” cover by Slash and Chris Stapleton rocked and I thought “Would if I Could” by Ernest featuring Lainey Wilson was a new song, but is actually a song written by Skip Ewing and Dean Dillion about 30 years ago. The lyrics are super simple, but catchy and cleverly written and tells a story. This is a good example of a “timeless” song.
The cool thing about music is that different people like different kinds of music so your five favorites may very well be different. And that’s OK.
In case you’d like to hear any of these songs, I created a new playlist that includes them all. Check out A Songwriting Journey playlist on Spotify.
I plan to use the playlist to add different songs mentioned in future episodes.
If you want to learn more about playlists and how Spotify’s algorithm works, there was an interesting interview this past week on the New Music Business podcast with Ari Herstand. Glenn McDonald, who worked for Spotify for many years, discusses the evolution of Spotify playlists and how the algorithm works.
For this week’s original song, I thought I’d share the first song that I released on Spotify, back in 2022. That year I took a class called “Release Music Like a Pro” with music career coach Sherilyn. In her course, she walks songwriters through the steps to release a song and this was the song I released at the end of the course. I had originally written the song in 2019 as our family was in the process of moving to a new house from the home where our three boys lived since they were born. Where they learned to crawl, walk, start school, etc.
I’d work on this song as I was packing up boxes, discarding things we didn’t need anymore and processing this big change in our lives. It really was a form of therapy for me.
As I wrapped up the “Release Music Like a Pro” class, I worked with Producer Sam Knaak of Ear Witness Studios, who played the guitar and mixed & mastered the song. I released it on streaming platforms in May 2022 and that summer it was included on the Women of Substance Music Podcast.
As someone who previously only sang my songs at home or, rarely, at open mics, being able to share my song with the world was a huge milestone for me. Back in 2022, around 60,000 songs were uploaded to Spotify every day so I’m not quite sure how many people actually heard my song, but it was a milestone for me nonetheless. Thank you, Sherilyn, for the guidance you provided in your class. To learn more about her programs, visit likeapromusiccoaching.com.
I released this song, called “Our Home,” under the name Leisah B. Because my maiden name started with a B and because so often there were other Lisa’s in my classes, I was always “Lisa B” in my elementary and junior high years. (It was spelled L-I-S-A at the time, I changed it to the current spelling in high school because there were always so many other Lisa’s). And the B also represents another side of me - similar to the B side of an album - as writing songs has always been something I’ve done more privately and many people I know don’t know that I write songs.
Anyway, here is “Our Home,” about our family’s move in 2019, produced by Sam Knaak, and officially released in May 2022. Listen here.
Our Home
This door welcomed you when you were new
This wall saw you learn to crawl
Your first steps were across this floor
Now you found a new world to exploreWhat makes a house a home, the people living in it
A place to love and grow, a new beginning in it
As we’re movin’ on, our spirit remains strong
We’ll make this house our homeThese rooms will fill with scenes of memories
Those stairs with ups and downs through the years
Our next steps lead down a new road
We’ll follow it to find our way homeWhat makes a house a home, the people living in it
A place to love and grow, a new beginning in it
As we settle in, our next chapter begins
We’ll make this house our homeA new coat of paint, a new set of drapes
Whatever it takes to make this place shine
We’ll hang our pictures, install new fixtures
It may take time, we’ll be fine
What makes a house a home, the people living in it
A place to love and grow, a new beginning in it
As we settle in, our next chapter begins
We’ll make this house our home.© Leisah Woldoff
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