Spotify Book Tag 2022

I discovered this tag from Lace And Dagger Books as she is the creator of this tag! The idea of this challenge is to put your 2022 playlist on shuffle, and for the first five songs, you pick a book you read in 2022 that fits that song. You don’t necessarily have to explain your reasoning, but I decided to!

I honestly don’t use Spotify that much because I can’t be bothered to pay for Premium, but I use it just enough that I do have a Spotify Wrapped at the end of the year. So let’s get into it!

---

Song 1 – Dream by Tally Hall

I mostly listen to the same albums or discover albums years later than when they were released, which is absolutely the case for Tally Hall. I really just like listening to Marvin’s Marvelous Mechanical Museum in full. This song is predominantly instrumental with some vocalizations, which makes it a little easier to pair the song with a book.

For this first song, I’ve chosen Across a Field of Starlight by Blue Delliquanti, which is a really cool YA sci-fi graphic novel that I feel hasn’t gotten enough hype this year. It’s about two trans teens living in space who met when they were very little and have stayed in contact. One is helping a researcher on a space station, the other is enlisted in a war.

The song just fits the ethereal vibes you’d expect in a sci-fi space story with space travel!

---

Song 2 – Kingdom Come by The Civil Wars

The Hunger Games first album slapped, okay? I can’t help it if these songs still hit years later! This song has always been one of my favorites of the album as well.

I had a little trouble thinking of book to fit with this one, but I finally landed on the most recent entry into the Wayward Children series, Where the Drowned Girls Go by Seanan McGuire. This book follows Cora as she exits Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children and enters Whitethorn Institute, trying to find an escape from the nightmares around her door. I really enjoyed the new characters and intrigue introduced.

I paired this book and song together because Cora’s anxiety is at a peak in this book, and the song repeated the lyric “Don’t you fret, my dear/It’ll all be over soon” as well as lyrics around running away, all of which fits this book.

---

Song 3 – Going to Georgia by The Mountain Goats

I don’t have much to say about this song in particular. I just like The Mountain Goats and will listen to any album of theirs.

And knowing The Mountain Goats, I figured they’ve probably said something about this song, and they did! John Darnielle said of this song that many young song writers think the most romantic thing is writing about big, stupid, grand gestures, and the song is about a man with a gun going to prove his love.

After that, I knew I had to pick Long Shot by Kennedy Ryan for this song. In this sports romance, the main male love interest, August, doesn’t act like that, but that is how Iris’ abusive boyfriend does act, waving a gun around like it’s the ultimate act of love and not abuse.

If you’re looking for a sports romance with forbidden love, and are okay with trigger warnings around domestic abuse, I would recommend Long Shot!

---

Song 4 – Hexie Mountains by Orville Peck

Finally, a song released this year to prove I’m not a dinosaur! Orville Peck is one of my favorite artists and his music is one of the biggest influences on me dipping my toes into country music. Bronco is just a great album.

I paired this song with Wake the Bones by Elizabeth Kilcoyne for a number of reasons. For one, it is a YA Southern Gothic book, so the country music absolutely fits the vibe. Plus, I feel the song just fits Laurel’s internal conflict with coming back home after a failed semester of college and hiding that fact from her friends as she also fights the paranormal element of the book that haunts her family’s farm.

---

Song 5 – Conquest of Spaces by Woodkid

I’ll be honest, I skipped two songs to get to this one. Those two were more sad, break-up songs when you actually listened to the lyrics that I just had zero books to match up with. So, I’m glad I ended up with Woodkid as I’ve loved this song for years now, it’s just such a cool, expansive song.

Irealized I had to connect it with a recent read, The Genesis of Misery by Neon Yang. All of the lyrics about destiny, fighting, and prophecy fit too perfectly for this adult sci-fi re-imagining of Joan of Arc. If you missed it, I posted a review of this book here!

---

If you want to do this tag, consider yourself tagged! Also, tag me in your post!