On Shuffle for your Sweetheart: The Ultimate Valentine’s Day Playlist

My five-year curation of all things hopeless romantic and love-at-first-sight has accumulated into a six-hour Spotify playlist creatively titled “LOVE.” Musicians seem to never run out of ways of stringing together swoon-worthy melodies and inventive metaphors — all to symbolize their love for someone or something.

Ed Sheeran’s “Thinking Out Loud” and Jason Mraz’s “I’m Yours” have made their marks as the classic go-to for dances or romantic confessions, but my collection proves that there’s a number of under-appreciated and equally heart-warming songs. 

Here’s a handful of some of the ultimate and underrated love songs to celebrate the Valentine’s season.

In My Life | The Beatles

The simple Beatles tune off their album “Rubber Soul,” at first seems to be a love song to all the world. 

But sometimes, no matter how many places you see and people you meet in your life, there’s one person that you’ll always love more. “In My Life” can only be described as soft, like the soft spot for the one person that’s above all the rest. Reminiscent of the past, but focused on the ones that will always be around. 

Favorite Lyric: “All these places have their moments/With lovers and friends, I still can recall/Some are dead and some are living/In my life, I’ve loved them all…but in my life/I love you more.”

Silly Love Songs  | The Wings

In this upbeat, pot-clanging, five-and-a-half-minute bop, The Wings’ lead singer Paul McCartney reassures us hopeless romantics that there’s nothing wrong with a silly little love song. 

And to the cynics who say that people have had enough of silly love songs, as McCartney puts it quite simply, this “isn’t so.” You can never have too many love songs. The chorus, repeated three times, brings us a whopping total of 18 “I Love You’s” — and what’s wrong with that?  

Favorite lyric: “Love doesn’t come in a minute/Sometimes it doesn’t come at all/I only know that when I’m in it/It isn’t silly, love isn’t silly/Love isn’t silly at all”

I Got You Babe | Sonny & Cher

In what’s by far their most well-known song, the famous duo encapsulates the unwavering trust that comes with navigating young love.

The security of a lover is unmatched: to know you’ve got someone to hold your hand, understand, walk with you, talk with you, kiss goodnight and hold you tight, as they put it. 

Favorite Lyric: They say we’re young and we don’t know/We won’t find out until we grow/Well I don’t know if all that’s true/’Cause you got me, and baby, I got you

Do You Remember | Jack Johnson 

Johnson deserves more attention beyond his beloved “Banana Pancakes,” and my go-to tune to feel content and warm is this 2-minute, finger-picking tune that feels like basking in the warmth of love and contentment.   

“Do You Remember” mimics the White Stripes’ “We’re Going to Be Friends,” with its sense of nostalgic and innocent childhood love — running late for class after getting so wrapped up in adventures. Johnson paints the picture of looking back on the early days of a relationship to how far they’ve come 10 years later, yet some things remain the same. 

Favorite lyric: “But I was crazy about you then and now the craziest thing of all, over ten years have gone by/And you’re still mine, we’re locked in time/Let’s rewind.”

First Day of My Life | Bright Eyes

There are some people who change our lives the moment they walk into them. And suddenly, we don’t want to remember what life was like before them, or ever know life without them again. “First Day of My Life” puts this into words. 

Taking a more somber tone than most upbeat love songs, this track places more meaning on the relationships that take hard work, but are still worth it in the end.

Favorite Lyric: “But now I don’t care, I could go anywhere with you/And I’d probably be happy/ So if you wanna be with me/ With these things there’s no telling, we just have to wait and see/But I’d rather be working for a paycheck than waiting to win the lottery”

I’ll Have To Say I Love You In A Song | Jim Croce

Picture the classic scene: late night, a boy throwing rocks at the window to wake up the girl because he just can’t wait confess his love to her. But he can’t quite put it into words, so even better, he sings it!

Love is certainly one of the most complex phenomena. Really, what can be said to express your love to someone? Well sometimes, it can’t be said. It has to be sung. And Croce’s sweet, folksy style does just that. 

Favorite Lyric: “Well, I know it’s kinda late/I hope I didn’t wake you/But what I got to say can’t wait/I know you’d understand.”

Wasteland, Baby! | Hozier

To me, any Hozier song is an instant transportation to the woods, sipping on a foamy oat milk latte. As many people describe it, Hozier’s known for “granola music.” Unlike other pink-coated and heart-scattered pop hits, Hozier’s deep voice strips love down to a more raw, real form.

In “Wasteland, Baby!” he tells the story of a love that triumphs through even the darkest moments — the wastelands of our lives. Sure, maybe it’s not as cheery as Taylor Swift’s “Love Story,” but love isn’t always roses and butterflies. In Hozier’s world, love can be the “stench of the sea and the absence of green.”

Favorite Lyric: “All the fear and the fire of the end of the world/Happens each time a boy falls in love with a girl/Happens great, happens sweet/Happily, I’m unfazed here, too”

New Years Day | Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift — queen of breakup therapy and vengeful, scream-in-your-car hits — proves what real, raw love looks like on her 2017 ‘“Reputation” album. It’s the one that stays long after the chaos. After everyone else has left the party, they’re staying behind to clean up. They come so close you agonize at the thought of them ever becoming a stranger. 

We can all hope to one day love someone so much that you could recognize their laugh anywhere. 

Favorite Lyric: “Please don’t ever become a stranger/Whose laugh I could recognize anywhere”