Melissa Kacar

My favorite rock star forever!  So much of my love for music, fashion, and pop culture as a whole stems from Hannah Montana , and that spark has only grown into a lifelong passion for all of those things. That fact truly cannot be overstated, as Miley Cyrus ' music has been such a big part of my life since I was six years old. She has lived so many lives as an artist since the show premiered in 2006, it has been so special to witness every single one and have her music continue to be such a constant through all of those years. To celebrate two decades since the show premiered feels like honoring the younger versions of ourselves who first fell in love with this world and all of the magic, music, and fantasy within it. This Hannah‑versary is also a reclamation of what has always belonged to her and is a true full‑circle moment amplified by the recent Disney+ special. No one else could have portrayed this character the way she did. Miley didn't just play a fictional pop star; sh...

a million more is a playlist of some of my favorite songs ever - specifically music that, in one way or another, has shaped me as a writer. I wanted this collection to reflect my personal journey over the years I've spent writing on my blog, and to honor the songs that have stayed with me through every version of myself along the way. All of these songs have inspired me and pushed me to grow as both a writer and a listener.  I wanted to share this playlist as a way of celebrating a massive milestone of my blog reaching a million views recently - which is so exciting and surreal! More than half of that number came from the past year alone, and I am so grateful to anyone who has taken the time to read even a single piece of my writing since I started posting in 2017. This space has been such an important creative outlet for me since I was 17, and I'm so proud of the ways it has grown alongside me.  I started out writing beauty reviews, trying to channel some of my favorite infl...

just one more day! is a curated playlist I created to celebrate the first day of spring, featuring songs on my current rotation and the ones I always find myself returning to this time of year.  The title is inspired by the chorus of Djo's "Charlie's Garden" , the unbridled joy that runs through that song and the wistful lyricism feel so perfect for the start of the season. The Crux  as a whole really captures the feelings of spring in the way that every song embodies a bright sense of optimism and renewal that comes with stepping into a new stage of the year. That album is featured prominently throughout the playlist for that reason, and sonically served as a major influence surrounding the rest of the songs I chose.  The motifs of new beginnings and fresh starts are woven throughout the rest of the playlist as well. Spring is a particularly inspiring season for me and every year I tend to gravitate toward music that reflects that energy too. Other artists prominent...

Chemtrails Over The Country Club  is a true gem in Lana Del Rey 's discography and the first of two pandemic-era records she released in 2021 , with  Blue Banisters  following later that year. These sister albums are sandwiched between two of Lana's most beloved and critically acclaimed releases thus far,  Norman Fucking Rockwell!  in 2019 and  Did You Know That There's A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd   in 2023.  Chemtrails  stands as an underrated chapter for Lana between those two masterpieces, giving a glimpse into the direction she would continue to take with future releases.  It features some of her most diaristic writing yet, and is quintessentially Lana in the most personal way possible. The album strips back any persona or grandiosity that defined parts of her earlier catalog, leaving something understated, dreamy, and deeply intimate. Sonically, it is largely rooted in the traditional sounds of 1960's and 70's Laurel Canyon folk mus...

The closing track of Addison Rae 's self-titled debut album , "Headphones On" perfectly encapsulates the emotional arc of the entire project.  "Guess I gotta accept the pain, need a cigarette to make me feel better, every good thing comes my way, so I still get dolled up" she sings in the opening verse and chorus. It provokes a bittersweet sense of optimism, in a way that embraces the broken and the beautiful parts of who we are equally.  The sadness, the insecurities, the pressure, the ache for something more is all laid bare. Above all though, "Headphones On" is a reminder to embrace every high and low, learning to dance in the rain and keep persisting even when it feels hard to. "Every good thing comes my way" feels like such an important mantra to carry throughout life, to hold onto the belief that something better is just around the corner. This song is Addison at her most reflective, grounding the album in the one thing that's bee...