I Make an Annual Playlist

Here's Why You Should, Too

I released a short solo episode of The Scarlet Edit on Christmas Day, and I did it intentionally.

One of the things I love about podcasting is that an episode doesn’t expire. It’s there for you whenever you need it — not just on the day it drops, but weeks, months, even years later. This one felt like that kind of episode.

Music has always mattered to me. I think it matters to most of us, even if we don’t always stop to think about why. There’s a Trisha Yearwood song called “The Song Remembers When”, and that line has stuck with me for years. You can forget moments. You can forget seasons. But you hear a song, and suddenly you’re right back there. In the feeling, in the memory, in the version of yourself you were at the time.

Years ago, music was something I shared deeply with someone I loved. We bonded over it. We traded songs back and forth. I kept a running playlist of everything we shared, and over time, it became a quiet record of that relationship. When that relationship ended, the playlist ended too.

But my love for creating playlists didn’t.

That’s when I started making annual playlists, one for each year of my life. After a while, I started naming them boldly, without really knowing what the year would bring.

First was 23 Choosing Me.
The next was 24 Do More.
And this year? 25 New Life.

At the time, I had no idea how fitting that name would be. I didn’t know The Scarlet Edit was coming. I didn’t know how much would shift. But looking back, the soundtrack tells the story.

What I love about this practice is that there are no rules. There’s no genre requirement. No mood requirement. Some years are heavy. Some are joyful. Some songs are rage-filled breakup anthems. Others are quiet instrumentals. All of it belongs.

And years from now, when one of those songs comes on unexpectedly, I know I’ll remember exactly where I was when it mattered.

I also talk in this episode about rest, real rest. The kind that lets your mind wander. The kind that creates space for ideas, clarity, and creativity. For a long time, I didn’t think of myself as creative, which is laughable now. Some of my best ideas have come when I stopped doing and allowed myself to just be.

So this is your reminder, a suggestion from an internet friend:
If you’ve never made an annual playlist, maybe this is the year you start.
Not to curate it. Not to perfect it. Just to let it exist.

Your life has a soundtrack. You might as well let it tell the story.

If you want to listen to the episode that inspired this, it’s live now wherever you listen to podcasts.

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