Songs my ADHD Has on Repeat: Part II

For those of you who haven’t read part one of this series, I’ll give you the quick recap:

To my recent discovery, researchers have found that a side effect of severe ADHD is listening to the same songs repeatedly for a short burst of time. Considering I’ve been doing this since the dawn of the original iPod shuffle, where I could clip that beautiful silver bullet to my belt loop and walk around like an absolute boss, I’ve had ADHD much longer than initially thought.

Music has always been a secondary form of therapy for me. Whenever I need to escape my daily routine for a bit, and de-tune from any stress, music has always been the crutch to quiet my mind and continually connect to the world around me. For example, the way certain songs elicit memories or emotions has always amazed me. It's why I don’t have a particular ‘favorite’ genre of music, I just have a favorite feeling I get when I listen to certain songs. Most of my top-played songs remind me of surfing on a Sunday morning or making food around a campfire in the backcountry with my closest friends. Music transports me to those moments of peace and keeps me grounded while my ADHD brain tries to work on overdrive 24/7.

This is why I began sharing the songs I currently listen to on repeat because maybe it’ll help some of you in similar situations get a moment of peace from your crazy schedules. Perhaps you’ve already heard of these songs, or maybe you find a new favorite artist from this list, either way, I hope everyone gets something positive from the songs I’m about to share:

1. Something More by j ember

When this song first found me, I wasn’t sure if I was going to like it or not. The first 30 seconds were intriguing, almost euphoric sounding in a sense, but didn’t hold my attention in the way I wanted them to. At least that was until the chorus dropped 44 seconds in and I was instantly hooked. The mixture of instrumentals, softer vocals, and background bass dropped all at once and I felt transported to driving down Rt 1 with the windows down on the California coastline. The sun shining, you feel the ocean breeze whip your hair around in the car, and your friends are laughing next to you as you drive to your next destination on your road trip. That’s the exact memory that hits every time I listen to this song now. Shout out to Spotify and their curated “Chill Mix” for dropping this hidden gem of a song into my life.

2. Northern Attitude by Noah Kahan

I can’t begin to explain how obsessed I am with this song and artist. Noah randomly popped up on my FYP one day on Tik Tok and I haven’t stopped listening to his music ever since. This song was being marketed for weeks before the official release and has blown up ever since. It was a trending sound on Tik Tok for the summer and the videos attached to it were simply stunning. 90% of the content was about the backcountry, mountains, and exploring the wild outdoors in your 20’s. I’m seeing him in concert in November and I can’t stop imagining jumping up and down, screaming at the top of my lungs, while this song blasts from the speakers. Everyone connects to this song in some type of way, it just makes you want to get up and dance and forget the drama in the world for a bit. For anyone reading this, please check out his other music, I promise you it doesn’t disappoint. His newest album is dropping within the next week or so too!

3. Lasers ‘n Lesbians by Diego’s Umbrella

This song just brings me back to a favorite memory of mine. I was recently sitting on Muir Beach outside of San Francisco having a sunset bonfire with my group of friends and grilling a feast of food. My sister, who works aboard a 137 ft tall ship in the Bay Area, invited the captain of her ship to join us. He decided to bring his acoustic guitar and play some of his music while we were hanging out and just relaxing in the sand around the fire. Well, come to find out, this was the old band that he used to travel around and play all over the world with. He even partied with bands like “Phoenix” (known for their songs 1901 and Lisztomania), opening for them in small venues around Europe before Phoenix got their big break. So, for a few short hours, I got to hang with my favorite people, in my favorite tiny corner of the world, listening to the live version of this song played by the retired band member of Diego’s Umbrella turned tall ship captain. Every time I listen to this song I am now transported back to that afternoon and the sheer joy I felt in those moments. It’s something I won’t ever forget and a story I will be telling my own kids one day.

4. Call Me Home by The Dreggs

This song found me while hiking up in the Colorado Rockies for a family reunion and I felt nothing but love and pure joy from it. The harmonica, acoustic guitar, and light tone of the vocals are the epitome of what I think of when traveling out to the Tetons, Rockies, or Montana in general. I imagine being up in the mountains, breathing in the wild air around you, jumping into Alpine Lakes, and exploring every peak you possibly can in the backcountry. Shout out again to Spotify’s personally curated “Chill Mix” playlist because I had never heard of this artist or song before that day in the mountains. I have not taken the time to listen to any of their other music, but I fully intend to once I’m finally tired of listening to this one song on repeat.

5. Waking Up Easy by Lime Cordiale

This song was introduced to me by my friend Komma on one of our surf adventures down the coast to Pacifica. We packed the boards into the car and hit Rt 1 early on a Sunday morning with a few friends to try and catch some waves before any major crowd showed up. The fog from the Bay had finally cleared, the sun was out in full force, and everyone was bright and chipper despite the early hour and a previous night full of bar hopping. We joked about how the name of the song was so fitting and proceeded to play it on repeat several more times and sang it at the top of our lungs. If you’re looking for a song that will help you fall back in love with life, and romanticize the small moments, then this is the perfect song. It will help you sit back, smile, and realize everything will be okay.

Stay tuned for next week when my ADHD inevitably shifts to a whole new set of songs to play on repeat.

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I have recently become very open about my diagnosis and the quirks that come along with it. Music has been an outlet for me and I hope this can introduce random readers to the same thing. Enjoy!