this was too hard - Cas Young

As soon as you burdened me with the task of making the perfect playlist, of course my mind immediately raced with ideas, but then I took one look at the hundreds of playlists already on my computer and realized I needed some better ideas, so it took me a trip to DC to finally decide.
After lots of thinking, I decided I needed to include songs that I listen to a lot, songs that mean something to me, and because I am a sap, I present to you the long agonized over: Songs to Fall in Love To (Spotify link is here.)

1. Reverie- Ludovico Einaudi
We begin with an instrumental, of course. The first time I heard this song, I was in dance class imagining seasoned dancers on stage in Poland. The second time I heard this song, I was alone in my room and couldn't help but think it sounded like two people falling in love. It starts light and almost dreamy, the introduction, and then it builds like two people building a relationship, it gets fuller, it starts to embody intimacy.

2. End of a Day- Kim Jonghyun
I originally wanted to put this song at the end of this playlist- it is a song about the end of the day, so logically it would be the end of the playlist, but I decided it needed to be after "Reverie" as a transition song because of the main instrument being the piano. This song, if you take the time to search for translations, is about spending time with someone you love at the end of the day. How it's a warm blanket, a hand on the shoulder, it's reassuring and comforting in every way. Jonghyun is able to convey his meaning even without me knowing what it's about, and that was one of the initial draws of the song for me.

3. My Dear- Jeff Bernat
I first heard this song as an outro to a video. The videographer pointed the camera at the sky and, because it was a crappy DSLR, talked about what the stars looked like because the camera could only capture the brightest one. I almost started crying and bought the song immediately. I always think about looking up at the stars when I hear it, or slow dancing on the patio. It's just the right tempo. I also like to think it's a continuation of "End of a Day" because Bernat also talks about how the thought of the person he loves always pulls him through. It's just cute and wonderful and I've wanted to slow dance to this song forever.

4. Moon River- Frank Sinatra
After a relationship matures, it turns into a companionship. The best example I have is my parents. They're still young, they just turned 40, but they have three kids and have made it through long days, and some nights, I find them slow dancing to the Rat Pack station on DirecTV. So, because of them, I always associate Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire, all of the like with romance. I grew up with it. I went through a jazz binge last month and listened to nothing but Sinatra and Billie Holiday and on a late night car ride I found Moon River and it felt like I was in an old movie being serenaded.

5. Scenes from an Italian Restaurant- Billy Joel
In our house, Billy Joel is the gospel. I swear by him, my parents swear by him, when I was a kid I'd beg my dad to sing "Lullabye" for me. This is one of my mom's personal favourites, so of course it's one of mine, too. It's the perfect dancing, driving, and rocking out song, so I had to put it at the end. It talks about Brenda and Eddie (I always thought he said Bender and Eddie...) who were young lovers and had a falling out after they got married. However, rather than divorce, they picked up the pieces and even though they were never the same people they were in high school, they were still happy. But despite the story about Brenda and Eddie, I love the intro and outro the most because it's such a familiar and welcome melody. A bottle of red, a bottle of white...