Novella Mood Playlists
Get further insight into my process, by listening to the playlists I composed for each novella, of the Queer Summer Trilogy.
Where The Pink Meets The Blue Type Beat
The playlist I compiled for, and listened to while writing, Where The Pink Meets The Blue.
This one started out with a lot of tracks from Fall Out Boy’s “blue” albums, as I personally interpret their music to hold a sexual potency, woven through melancholy, something I wanted to bring to this novella.
From there I added songs that delved into the lead characters, Stephen Herzig and Lucas Watterson, and their ways of approaching and processing the world around them both.
Overall, the playlist features a lot of rock, some folk, plenty of pop, and a touch of hip-hop, all curated to “boil the frog” from Evanescence to The Veronicas.
Under A Summer Sky In January Type Beat
The playlist I compiled for, and listened to while writing, Under A Summer Sky In January.
This one started out with a lot of tracks from Taylor Swift’s Folklore, as the love triangle is inspired by a sapphic reading of the love triangle explored in Cardigan, August, and Betty.
From there, I added songs that explored the heartbreak, betrayal, reflection, and isolation of cheating, small town queerness, and all three character’s journeys in the story.
Overall, the playlist features a lot of soft-pop, a healthy helping of folk, plenty of era-specific-pop, and a splash of hip-hop, all curated to float through a January in 2011, that hung around for ten years.
We Used To Hold Hands All The Time Type Beat
The playlist I compiled for, and listened to while writing, We Used To Hold Hands All The Time.
This one started out as an exploration of Australian hits (both Aussie and foreign acts) from mostly the 80s, 90s, and 00s, as a way to sew nostalgia into the story, for myself as much as the reader.
From there, I added songs that were a big part of my sexual awakening, as something to mine from for the sexual chapters.
Overall, the playlist is a broad mix, but with a pop through-line. Everything from classic rock, to country, to party bangers, to ballads, all curated to span two lifetimes, and the pains and triumphs along the way.
Character Playlists
Personalised playlists for each main character of the Queer Summer Trilogy. Allowing you insight into their music taste, and by extension, inner lives. The playlist images are the character’s signature colours.
Stephen Herzig Type Beat is the character playlist for Stephen of Where The Pink Meets The Blue.
He’s a big fan of The Wonder Years and Taylor Swift, as mentioned in the novella. Finding their works in particular to be lyrically layered, and personally relatable.
He’s also a Keystone State boy, so the fact both acts are from Pennsylvania, USA, as is he, is also a selling point.
He also enjoys Mitski, Evanescence, Linkin Park, and various songs and artists with similar themes of emotional vulnerability, self-reflection, with the occasional tasty dose of rage.
The man likes to scream lyrics at the top of his lungs, what more can we say?
Lucas Watterson Type Beat is the character playlist for Lucas of Where The Pink Meets The Blue.
He’s a big fan of women in pop, rock, and rap, as mentioned in the novella. Kylie Minogue, P!nk, Megan Thee Stallion, Britney Spears, you name a woman, he’s probably a fan.
He’s drawn to the joy of pop, and the expression of both rock and rap, and finds solace in shoving in earbuds and blasting some Spice Girls on his way to work at Holms & Yorke.
But don’t misunderstand, Lucas WILL cry his eyes out to Sugababes.
The man’s a Bisexual Disaster who worships the divas, what more can we say?
August Tandi-Andersen Type Beat is the character playlist for August of Under A Summer Sky In January.
She loves punk, rock, and the occasional pop banger. She makes an effort to listen to, and support women in rock and punk, ensuring she buys CDs and merch, which isn’t too hard for her to afford.
She uses the strong voices of punk and rock to vent her frustrations, a practice very much supported by her medical professional mother and part-time nurseryperson father.
The girl’s pretty well adjusted, what more can we say?
Celeste Breadseed Type Beat is the character playlist for Celeste of Under A Summer Sky In January.
As the grandchild of a record mogul, they were surrounded by reggae of the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s growing up, and her taste mostly stayed there. They also love funk, Motown, and the occasional pop-rock track.
This music taste a great way to connect with August’s mother, Dr. Faye Tandi, who loves Millie Small, and was a better mother than Lydia Breadseed ever was.
They find the off-beat rhythms and staccato guitars to be a small solace in the family house, which isn’t at all a home.
This one’s trying her best, what more can we say?
Hathor Zaki Type Beat is the character playlist for Hathor of Under A Summer Sky In January.
As the second daughter of Egyptian immigrants, in a small Australian town in 2011, she wants nothing more than to find her tribe.
In the meantime, she wants to keep up with the music of the moment: indie rock. With a little of the RnB, hip-hop, and pop, of the moment.
She’s open to new music, with a soft-spot for women singer-songwriters, especially in the rock space. She bonds with August over this during The Great Queer Friend Date of 2011.
She’s pretty damn lonely, what more can we say?
Matthew Fletcher-Seng Type Beat is the character playlist for Matthew of We Used To Holds Hands All The Time.
As a small-town, young gay boy, he was drawn to jazz and disco as a kid, and grew into pop music of the 00s as a teen. Luckily for him, that was pop rock, emo, and ballads.
His music taste spans decades and genres, but he’s always drawn to interesting lyrics, simple truths, and genuine expressions of difficult emotions.
This one’s an old soul, and nostalgic as fuck, what can we say?
Jesse Oliveira Nunes Type Beat is the character playlist for Jesse of We Used To Holds Hands All The Time.
As an out-going queer boy in a small town, he was open to anything on the radio, or from his big sister Tabitha’s CD collection. But as he grew up, and his attachment to Matthew became more painful, he did what any teen of the 00s did, and turn to pop punk, emo, and rock.
In his case, it came in handy in his career and in his processing of his survivors guilt.
Jesse’s jams are generally some kind of rock, with a sweet spot for any of the pop he grew up around.
He’s a Bisexual Disaster, what can we say?
We Used To Holds Hands All The Time
Chapter Titles, In Order
You didn’t think I’d leave you to figure them all out by yourself, did you?
Every chapter title, in order, as alluded to in We Used To Holds Hands All The Time