Melissa Kacar

run from the sunlight is a curated playlist I created to capture some of my current music obsessions. The title is inspired by a lyric from one of my favorite songs of the past year, "Dracula" by Tame Impala . His music has been on constant repeat lately, and I used that song in particular as a jumping off point to shape the rest of the playlist around. Lately, I've been listening to a lot more electronic music, with sounds and synths that give off the same kind of vibe being the focus of this playlist. There are also a lot of longtime favorites that I love and felt naturally fit the theme as well. Tame Impala 's music features heavily throughout, but other songs that shaped the direction of the playlist include "Stateside" by PinkPantheress and Zara Larsson , "Houdini" by Dua Lipa , "Dance No More" by Harry Styles , and more.  Other artists featured heavily throughout include The Dare , Djo , Magdalena Bay , and more. I wanted this play...

At the heart of it, "The One That Got Away" is about yearning for a first love, and maybe even more than that, the yearning for a version of themselves that no longer exists and is forever suspended in a different moment in time. Originally titled "In Another Life", Katy Perry describes the wild days of their youth with memories recalled in vivid detail.  "Summer after high school, when we first met, we'd make out in your Mustang to Radiohead and on my eighteenth birthday, we got matching tattoos," she sings in the opening verse. "Used to steal your parents' liquor and climb to the roof, talked about our future like we had a clue, never planned that one day, I'd be losing you".  Is it possible for one of the biggest albums in pop history to still have an underrated song? In many ways, that's exactly what "The One That Got Away" is for Teenage Dream . It has really sweet lyricism that shows another side of Katy's a...

To usher in this new season of growth and renewal, María Zardoya has released Bloom , the second installment of her Not For Radio solo project. She introduced the project last Fall with her stunning debut, Melt , which is a collection deeply rooted in nature and the stillness of winter. Throughout that record, she circled the core question, "Is love worth all of the pain?" and spent the entire album grappling with the answer. Now, María returns with a three song EP that explores what happens when she finally allows herself to fall fully into love. Once again, this project is deeply tied to nature and and the changing of seasons, this time leaning into the symbolism of Spring and likening her own personal growth to the world blooming around her physically and metaphorically.  Sonically, it lives in the same sonic universe as Melt and much of her work with  The Marías , but with a noticeably more optimistic tone. It feels like such a beautiful extension of everything that has...

"End of Beginning" is a powerful reflection on a time - and even more so, a place - that continues to represent a very specific chapter of Djo 's life. At the heart of it, the song tells a coming‑of‑age story and serves as a love letter to the people and the city that shaped so much of who he is today. For Joe Keery , who has been releasing music under the pseudonym Djo since his debut album in 2019, this song marked a major breakthrough moment for him. Released in 2022, it captured the feeling of being on the precipice of a major life change while simultaneously looking back at how formative living in Chicago was for him. After moving there for college, he spent much of his early twenties auditioning for acting jobs, playing in his band Post Animal, waiting tables, and building a life there as a young adult on his own for the first time.  "And when I'm back in Chicago, I feel it, another version of me, I was in it," he sings in the chorus. "I wave go...