For me, listening to music is an active activity. I can’t really be doing anything else, unless it’s painting, exercising, or something with my hands. Music is a very consuming experience and I just like what I like. When I listen to music, it’s important to get a sense of the composition, and especially the lyrics. In the past few years, I noticed that water was a theme in a lot of music I like.

I mean duh, it’s an easy metaphor to use. What a strange piece thing to notice. What could I possibly do with that information. So, I challenged myself to make a complete narrative with water as the main theme. Does the story have love? Loss? Betrayal? Who knows? I didn’t.

The kind of music I listen to is lyric heavy, so I began composing this story using what I knew. I initially wanted the whole thing to be a conversation between a man and a woman. While adding music, I found that I couldn’t find an even ratio of people singing about different sides of the same coin. While you’ll see it in the case of Cry Me a River by Justin Timberlake and River of Tears by Alessia Cara, it wasn’t the norm. I found that women were more likely to sing about the transformative and healing powers of water, and a way of signaling a rebirth or cleansing. Men sang about water as a way of just jumping in, having fun, starting something new, and as an obstacle to a relationship. FASCINATING.

I was limited in scope to the kind of music I like listening to. I had to expand it. I mean, if you’re here reading this, you may already know I asked Facebook what their most loved/favorite water themed songs are… And I specifically excluded Moana. Although, listening to the playlist now, I could probably include Moana. I’m open to more suggestions, but I’m actually really digging this playlist.

If you’ve made it this far, great. If you just scrolled down here for the playlist, well. Ok. What do you think? Should I do it again? Am I missing essential songs? Let me know in the comments!