What’s This Playlist All About? Pop darling Carly Rae Jepsen was tasked by NPR’s editors with creating a summertime playlist that encapsulates the sound and feel of what they’ve dubbed roséwave. Jepsen, one of their “patron saints” of the genre, accepts the challenge with what she says is “an odd shuffle of songs… some sad, but mostly happy and all epic artists.”
What You Get: An airy mix of American road-trip classics and fresh, slightly left-of-center pop. Fleetwood Mac kick off the playlist in style with “Dreams,” before America, Lou Reed, and Marvin Gaye slide in with their own timeless melodies that go down as smoothly as a glass of bubbly on a hot day. From there, aside from Billie Holiday’s “On the Sunny Side of the Street,” in which the jazz queen urges us to “leave [y]our worry on the doorstep,” Jepsen reserves the rest of the playlist for more modern mellow tunes, including ROSALÍA’s breezy flamenco-pop, Robyn’s honeyed dance-pop, and Amason and Esther’s dreamy melancholic melodies.
Greatest Discovery: Poolside’s soft, shimmery “Harvest Moon,” a refined spin on yesteryear’s chillwave that evokes life in its finest form—perhaps floating in a pool with no care in the world.
What Carly Rae Jepsen Song Belongs on This List, Too? Most of CRJ’s feel-good grooves could easily slip in anywhere here, but we’d choose the soft synth gem “Too Much,” from her latest album, Dedicated, which captures the rush and thrill of a sweet, rosé-soaked summer romance—or at least an impromptu living room dance party.
