Friendship Mixtape

For my crowdsourced project, I had two ideas: 1) a time-based series of photos that they would take and send to me with the song they had in their heads that day and 2) what I called The Friendship Mixtape where I’d ask my closest friends what they were listening to and what songs reminded them of moments in our shared past. My good friends Anna, Raquel, and Alex came through because they’re not slackers unlike the less close ones I solicited for pictures (only 1 sent it to me out of 8 people!)

I’ve known these 3 for many years at this point. Raquel and I met on the first weekend of undergrad in the same group of weekend campers. Alex I met later in the semester at my one attempt at capoiera, in later years were in a band together, and I visited him in Portugal the past summer. Anna and I are ex-coworkers who stayed closer longer than either of us were at that old job.

I sent them an email asking for:

1. First song you thought of today
2. Song you’ve listened to most in the past week
3. Song that reminds you of when we first met
4. Song that reminds you of the last time we saw each other
5. Song that reminds you of each other (I meant of them as friends of a friend, but they all took it to mean as the two of us)
6. Song that makes you the happiest right now
7. Last song you thought of today

And made a 15 minute mix out of 13 of the 19 songs they sent back.

It was an interesting experiment. I got to find out what they’re listening to (as diametrically opposed as most of the songs were from my musicals tastes) and challenge myself to make something fun that the 4 of us could enjoy. The best things about friendships to me is the Voltron-like entities that arise when you introduce/hang out with a group of people who know you, but not necessarily each other. Just as I occasionally have to build bridges in real life, this was a fun way to connect 3 very different friends.

The Friendship Mixtape
Tracks:
Youthless – The Beasts
Juiceboxxx – Thunder Jam #3
Britney Spears – Till The World Ends
Oh Land – Son of a Gun (Savage Skulls Remix)
Christina Aguilera – Bionic
Jamiroquai – Cosmic Girl
LCD Soundsystem – Home
CSS – Knife
Florence and the Machine – Howl
The Dead Weather – The Difference Between Us
Cage The Elephant – Ain’t No Rest For The Wicked
Erykah Badu – Bag Lady
The Young Rascals – Groovin’