Playlist #31: Big things, little things
Or, how can one give the "right" amount of attention to "things that matter" if they've got their own personal battles to fight?
There’s a pretty fascinating piece in one of the recent Drowned in Sound newsletters about whether the punk spirit is making a comeback, amidst the hardening of political stances, the flattening of mainstream preferences thanks to big tech, and the return to ubiquity of surveillance in our day-to-day lives. It’s worth a read if you’re keen—it’s not that long a piece, unlike this month’s playlist.
These days I get the urge that whatever I write should have something to say about the larger scheme of things. There’s a lot going on: Israel’s policy of forever war (and genocide) for political survival; the somehow stronger quashing of dissenting voices not just in the media, but in the broader public square as well; back home, the focus on political survival overwhelming actually serving the people. There’s definitely a movement that insists you are complicit if whatever you produce—and this especially goes to creatives, even so-called ones like me—does not explicitly condemn whatever it is that’s going on.
But to be honest, I don’t feel like saying it. Not here, at least.
There’s the fact that I’m not really an activist at heart. I have written some really scathing political essays in the past, sure—does it count against me that I am not a fan of Noynoy Aquino and his yellow-ribbon-or-else ideology?—but there’s also the fact that the Once Monthly is supposed to be a snapshot of things from my perspective, and at this point I am pre-occupied by other things. But I suppose me writing about being lonely and feeling isolated, even if it somehow serves as a comment on how the world is lately, doesn’t satisfy some ultra-militant’s criteria. Also, the other things I do for my day job doesn’t count because they’ll say it aids capitalism, and that makes me complicit in everything.
Ah, whatever. I am concerned about most of the media keeping their heads down. I write this in the aftermath of CBS News settling the lawsuit Donald Trump filed against them, claiming political bias. We knew it was inevitable considering the circumstances, but it’s still disappointing. And, of course, the Philippines is home to a media that’s got no choice but to keep its head down because those crafting the official narratives have somehow leveled the playing field, and the scourge of misinformation has meant they lost the trust of the public. But I won’t spell it out here. Maybe another essay, but not every essay, and most certainly not this one.
This is a post accompanying my monthly playlists, and as I write this, I am reminded of
’s piece on how, in a world of streaming and AI slop, we seek stories around our music. Hey, that sounds like me, if my whole thing about how we perceive music depends on what we’re going through at a given time carries any weight. Am I pointing all this out to claim membership in some wide movement? Maybe. Being part of something feels nice. But in any case, even if I don’t spell out what some want me to spell out, I will continue doing this, like I have for the last thirty months. And on we go.This isn’t the boast you think it is, but for the longest time I managed to avoid Mariya Takeuchi’s “Plastic Love”.
Yep, the song that, decades after its release, pretty much singlehandedly revived our interest in Japanese city pop. I haven’t listened to it. Somehow I felt I didn’t have to—and I say that after reading up a bit on the context and the characteristics, and, yes, a few weeks spent listening to Yukika’s “Soul Lady” on repeat. (This is pretty much the approach I am taking with the songs from KPop Demon Hunters which is everywhere at the moment… but not enough for me to have heard them by accident.)
Maybe it’s also because I grew up listening to smooth jazz radio stations, which in Manila meant a lot of semi-obscure 80s soul mixed in with the pop my parents would have heard growing up. Or maybe it’s because we got YuYu Hakusho (or, as we called it, Ghost Fighter) later on television, which meant I had a little bit more awareness when Matsuko Mawatari’s “Hohoemi no Bakudan” was inescapable. I was really into the drum machines on that one. Is that city pop? I’m sure it isn’t, but it is adjacent.
A couple of weeks ago, the drought ended. I was picking up my parents from the airport and they insisted on buying ramen on the way home. The restaurant’s pipe-in music turned out to pretty much be Now That’s What I Call City Pop! and “Plastic Love” was one of the songs. It caught my attention enough to Shazam in, and it caught my attention a little more to put it on this month’s playlist, but… to me, it didn’t seem that earth-shattering. Or maybe I just missed the moment?
I should clarify—I am not being contrarian. As much as it sounds cool to say “I don’t listen to what everybody else listens to” that just makes zero sense. But longtime readers of the Once Monthly would understand how sometimes it takes a while for a song to cut through. Another song I’m surprised I’m including this month is fun.’s “Some Nights”. Here’s a genuinely good song, and perhaps one of the alternative classics of the past decade, and I didn’t warm to it because the single that preceded it, “We Are Young”, is, and always will be, one of the most annoying things ever. Quite a burden to put on another song altogether.
But then, I’ve been having difficulty sleeping (and staying asleep) these past few months, and when this song came on the radio, it all clicked.
This playlist is one of those collections where a lot of older songs click the whole thing into place. I think it’s because I’ve still been busy but not quite so, meaning there were more chances of things coming down, and my mood going with it as well. Last month, I felt amped; this month, well, hello loneliness, my old friend, my only friend at this point.
But I realize I’m probably selling everything short. One limitation of the Once Monthly format is how it ends up becoming a snapshot of the final moments of the month, when the playlists are being locked. No matter when I added the song, and why, it ends up becoming about what I feel a few days or weeks later. Low, as you know. So let me state for the record that the burst of newer pop songs in the first half—the stretch with Chloe Qisha, Miso Extra and Baby Dont Cry—is supposed to be about a high, however temporary.
The latter group, in particular—it’s another new K-pop girl group, and more fascinatingly, it’s under Psy’s record label, P Nation. I don’t know if anyone’s wondering how a girl group managed by the guy that did “Gangnam Style” would sound like. I don’t know if the answer should be “let Jeon So-yeon produce them”, but you can hear her fingerprints all across “F Girl”, as if the group now known as i-dle got smoothed a little bit more around the edges (like most of K-pop, really, after the NewJeans implosion) and sounded a bit more like call-and-response cheerleader pop. Meaning, it’s irresistible.
Another new song that I scrambled to squeeze in at the very last minute is the new end theme to Witch Watch, from Japanese band Yutori. Well, I guess it’s a given. Longtime readers would know how I like the midtempo pop-rock stuff (also see Regallily’s “Twinkling Ash” on Playlist #17) and the easier I get the lyric translations, the better. A song about unspoken feelings? Obviously, count me in.
月と私のかくれんぼ
Playing hide and seek with the moon and me
私は弱い
I’m weak
あなたの顔を見るだけで負けるのはいつも私
Just seeing your face always makes me lose
What is this a snapshot of? You know that feeling, when you feel confident enough to start believing that you can go all in, only to be stopped by thoughts that all of this—that all you will ever have—is one-way? I’ll be frank with you. I don’t know how one can focus on the bigger things if they feel fundamentally alone, that everything else is just a hyperfixation that will pass and leave me lonelier than ever before. Story of my life. And this is why…
Some housekeeping: from this playlist I’m adding links to the songs featured in this month’s playlist on other streaming platforms. I’ve been grappling with this from the very beginning, honestly, but for now I’ll continue to post the actual playlists on Spotify alone—I know, I know, but I have to reach a wider audience—while accommodating those who use either Apple Music or YouTube Music. I wonder if
uses either, though—it’s her ideas that spurred the idea, after all.A new Plaka Note will drop on 25 July, and a new playlist will drop on 8 August. Yes, it’s getting busier again on the day job, but I really hope to be able to squeeze in another extra post soon. For now, you can always keep tabs with me on the socials, or email me at nicksyoncemonthly@gmail.com. But don’t ask me about the news.
On this playlist
fun.—“Some Nights”
Some Nights (2011)
Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube MusicMariya Takeuchi—「プラスティック・ラヴ」 (Plastic Love)
Variety (1984)
Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube Musicgrentperez and Benny Sings—“Fuzzy Feeling”
Backflips in a Restaurant (2025)
Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube MusicChloe Qisha—”The Boys”
Modern Romance (2025)
Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube MusicMiso Extra—“Pop”
Earcandy (2025)
Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube MusicBaby Dont Cry—“F Girl”
single release (2025)
Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube MusicCharlotte Cardin—“Jim Carrey”
99 Nights (2023)
Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube MusicThelma Plum—“Hurricane”
I’m Sorry, Now Say It Back (2024)
Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube MusicSuede—“Lost in TV”
A New Morning (2002)
Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube MusicDurand Jones & the Indications—“Lovers’ Holiday”
Flowers (2025)
Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube MusicGuillemots—“Made-Up Lovesong #43”
Through the Windowpane (2006)
Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube MusicMariae Cassandra—“Maybe It All Works Out In The End”
single release (2025)
Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube MusicYutori—「月と私のかくれんぼ」 (Hide and Seek with the Moon)
single release (2025)
Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube MusicSeedy and the Years—“Kamasupra”
Cutterpillow: Tribute Album (2025)
Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube MusicMae Martin—“Good Dream”
I’m A TV (2025)
Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube MusicThe Beach Boys—“God Only Knows”
Pet Sounds (1966)
Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube MusicKeane—“Can’t Stop Now”
Hopes and Fears (2004)
Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube Music
Also on the Once Monthly
My latest Plaka Note is on Cutterpillow: Tribute Album, released by Ely Buendia’s Offshore Music record label to mark 25 years since the release of the Eraserheads’ best-selling record. (The Seedy and the Years track in this hour comes from that.) But of course, I talk about more than the album…
Me being instantly enthralled by the Yutori track reminded me of my very first Hyperfocus piece, written two and a half years ago, about how anisong carries a lot of the burden of promoting J-pop to the world. I feel it’s always worth a revisit, especially since I am very much enjoying the ending theme to City, which means… playlist spoiler?
Speaking of, will Bocchi the Rock ever make a comeback, or will I have to make do with Bocchi the Gyaru and Bocchi the Slob?
"There’s definitely a movement that insists you are complicit if whatever you produce—and this especially goes to creatives, even so-called ones like me—does not explicitly condemn whatever it is that’s going on." YES!
I don't like writing about current news because there are better writers than me who already do. I don't want to contribute anything new to the topic, because anything I would say has already been said better and with more sources. Thank you for pointing this out and not giving in to the pressure.
This is great, yay will give this article a deeper read and the new playlist a listen! I like that you embedded the songs as well. Awesome post 👍🏻