Whether it’s wall-shaking bass or subtle aural wallpaper, no party is complete without music. If you’re a music-lover with the virtual equivalent of crates upon crates of vinyl, deciding how to create the perfect party playlist from your library can be an overwhelming task. After all, there’s more to curating a playlist than playing everything in no particular order. A robot could do that, and, thanks to the shuffle button on our smartphones, a robot often does do that. Here are a few tips for how to bring the subtle art of playlisting into your next event.
Don’t Do Too Much Genre-Hopping
Thanks to the advent of file sharing and the streaming services that arose to legitimize having the entirety of recorded music at our fingertips, 21st-century music tastes are more eclectic than ever. We’ve all heard someone say, “I like everything except rap and country.” There’s a temptation to add a little something for everybody, but trying to please everyone equally will likely please no one. Try to cultivate a well-defined core of songs that share a mood and genre. Deviate from them throughout the night, but take care not to stray too far from home base. In other words, if you follow up a contemporary favorite with classic rock, don’t follow that, in turn, with country, trip-hop, and a song from the Hamilton soundtrack. There’s more to unpredictability than randomness.
Contrast With Care
Think about some of the characteristics of a song: genre, tempo, instrumentation, vocals, runtime, familiarity, or the year of its release. Take what you feel to be the most undesirable of these characteristics and compensate for it in the next song. For instance, if a song is too slow, pick up the pace with the next one. If you sneak in an obscure cut from a personal favorite, snap back to a hit everyone will recognize rather than playing back-to-back deep digs. Follow up a Motown classic with something more modern. If you put a 20-minute Grateful Dead drum solo in your playlist, you can’t follow that with anything, and everyone will probably leave.
How Important Is This, Anyway?
You might believe that, since more people will be passively listening than actively listening, you can flip the app to “shuffle” and let the algorithm take it from there. But where’s the fun in that? Just like a well-cleaned house and delicious snacks, an expertly curated playlist will go a long way toward ensuring your party is a hit. By knowing how to create the perfect party playlist, you can give people songs that will stand out from the usual fare. Our lives have soundtracks, and music makes memories. Help your guests make some new memories of their own with your library, timing, and taste.
