Burn Your Hits: Desa Warner

It has been difficult for me to sit down to write my Guest List intro this year. I have been so busy at work, my head filled with what is necessary to complete whatever task that is due (or was due two weeks ago…) that even a paragraph’s-worth of my own thoughts feels like it is taking up much needed space. Perhaps it is middle age. Perhaps it is the phase in life that I am in: taking care of my kids and my parents while at an elevated point in my career - responsible for my clients and employees, handling more difficult cases as my experience grows; still paying off the last of my student loans but nervous about saving enough to send the kids to college and retire. The majority of the time I am happy, grateful, and able to maintain my balance. But there are moments when things feel so full, so weighed, so much like I am chasing time. And then there’s the world! When I look up from what is consuming my time and catch the news…well, you all know.

Yet, despite all of this, Katie, Kellen, and my playlist for the year is so joyful, tender, thoughtful, and funny! It comforts me that there are artists out there whose heads have the space for such cleverness and creativity. I collect quotes from books I read and three from this year stand out when I think of our Guest List:

“…how many people go on creating beautiful things even when life is full of pain?” – The Map of Salt and Stars

“Those who shun the whimsy of things will experience rigor mortis before death.” – Still Life with Woodpecker

“Don’t be angry, be productive.” – The Berry Pickers

A thank you to the musicians on our list who channeled their experiences into productivity, who shared the whimsy they found in our world, and who continue to make beautiful things. And a thank you too to my friend Aaron, whose love of music forces me to slow down for an hour each December to make space for my own thoughts.

1. “Sally, When The Wine Runs Out” – ROLE MODEL

2. “Sue me” – Audrey Hobert

3. “I Got A New One” – Elizabeth Nichols

4. “Tennis” – Lily Allen

5. “Keep Me Honest” – Michael Marcagi

6. “Betty” – AJR

7. “I’ve seen ur ex” – flowerovlove

8. “Last Girls At The Party” – The Beaches

9. “Shapeshifting on a Saturday Night” – Avery Cochrane

10. “Grudge” – Carter Faith

11. “How Bad Do U Want Me” – Lady Gaga

12. “When Did You Get Hot?” – Sabrina Carpenter

13. “Call Me When You Break Up” – Selena Gomez, benny blanco, Gracie Abrams

14. “So Easy (To Fall In Love)” – Olivia Dean

15. “I Sit In Parks” – Kelsea Ballerini

16. “holy smoke” – Maren Morris

17. “Voices In My Head, Pt. 2” – bby, Betty

18. “Lucy” – Mt. Joy

19. “catch these fists” – Wet Leg

20. “ANXIETY” – Sleepy Hallow, Doechii

21. “WHERE IS MY HUSBAND!” – RAYE

22. “You You You” – Maisie Peters

23. “Tough Luck” – Laufey

24. “back to friends” – sombr

25. “shoreline” – chloe moriondo

26. “Ordinary Creature” – Of Monsters and Men

27. “Baby Steps” – Olivia Dean

28. “twilight zone” – Ariana Grande

29. “Sex and the city” – Audrey Hobert

30. “Saddle Again” – ROLE MODEL

31. “6 Months Later” – Megan Moroney

32. “Anthems For A Seventeen Year-Old Girl” – Maggie Rogers, Sylvan Esso

33. “I Can Change Him” - Jensen McRae

34. “Time With My Sins” – The Head And The Heart

35. “Dollar Store” – Ben Kweller, Waxahatchee

36. “What Was That” – Lorde

37. “Fucking You To Death” - LAUREL

38. “End of the World” – Miley Cyrus

39. “Opalite” – Taylor Swift

Thursday, December 26, 2024

GL.24.14: Desa Warner

100 Songs: Aaron Bergstrom

GL.24.01: Ilana Bergstrom

GL.24.02: Isabel Vermaak

GL.24.03: Megan Swidler

GL.24.04: Curt Trnka

GL.24.05: Erik Kristjanson

GL.24.06: Caseysimone Ballestas

GL.24.07: Nora Tang

GL.24.08: Tony Schoenberg

GL.24.09: Ben Evangelista

GL.24.10: Kevin Wyckoff

GL.24.11: Jem Stirling

GL.24.12: Dillon North

GL.24.13: Marisa Plaice

GL.24.14: DESA WARNER

GL.24.15: Mario Sanders

GL.24.16: Carl Anderson

***

My mother-in-law died in October. It was expected but still felt like a punch in the stomach. The night we heard the news, my husband, kids, and I played a Dolly Parton song marathon - one of Charleen’s favorite singers. We sang to “9 to 5” and cried to “I Will Always Love You” and “Coat of Many Colors.” It was sad and fun; devastating and healing.

Music has that power. It brings you a little time capsule whenever you hear a song that reminds you of someone or of who you were the first time you heard it. It can bring light to a complicated year. Our guest list does not mirror what the year was like with its words or beats, but rather what Katie, Kellen, and I turned to as we traveled the ups and downs 2024 brought each of us this year.

So, cheers to the pop queens, who had a stunning year. Cheers to the hip hop/country collabs. Cheers to the indie artists and all their poetic emotions. Cheers to the music that accompanied us though 2024, the people who danced beside us, and for the songs that will continue to bring us those who can only dance with us in our memories.

Wednesday, January 3, 2024

GL.23.13: Desa Warner

100 SONGS: Aaron Bergstrom

GL.23.01: Ilana Bergstrom

GL.23.02: Curt Trnka

GL.23.03: Marisa Plaice

GL.23.04: Isabel Vermaak

GL.23.05: Raffa Pantaleo

GL.23.06: Erik Kristjanson

GL.23.07: Lukas Brooks

GL.23.08: Jem Stirling

GL.23.09: Max Einstein

GL.23.10: Tony Schoenberg

GL.23.11: Gina Uriarte

GL.23.12: Ryan Joyce

GL.23.13: DESA WARNER

GL.23.14: Dillon North

GL.23.15: Ryan Joyce (DJ Set)

GL.23.16: Carl Anderson

***

My defining music memory this year is blasting “Dancing in the Courthouse” in the car after winning a hard-fought four-week trial. Lawyer hip hop is a pretty niche genre, so I have to give credit to Dominic Fike for the perfect soundtrack for that moment. Special thanks to “Dial Drunk,” “Heartbroken,” and “You Got This,” which I played on repeat on the way to court each morning of the trial to ease my nerves with some top of my lungs commute singing.

Other memorable musical moments:

“BSC” at the Maisie concert at Ace of Spades with my girl Kellen;
“Dance The Night” and “Speed Drive” when my daughters insisted we play the Barbie soundtrack on repeat for at least a month straight;
Arden in her little three-year-old voice yelling at Alexa to play “That’s Not How This Works,” then asking me every time what the song was about;
Joking with Katie and Kel that “love is embarrassing” would have been Kellen’s high school anthem had it been around 20+ years ago;
Cleaning my house to the sadness and hope of Kelsea Ballerini’s Rolling Up the Welcome Mat album;
ALL the Taylor Swift dance parties.

I never really know what to say about the songs in my guest list each year, but I have no less appreciation for the songs that define my days as each year passes. Here’s to another year of music.

And thanks again Katie and Kellen for compiling this list with me! I fall in love with our list every year.

Dominic Fike - “Dancing in the Courthouse”

Jesse Murph feat. Maren Morris - “Texas”

Zach Bryan - “Tourniquet”

Noah Kahan feat. Post Malone - “Dial Drunk”

Renee Rapp - “Pretty Girls”

The Beaches - “Blame Brett”

Olivia Rodrigo - “love is embarrassing”

Matt Maeson - “Get Happy”

RAYE, 070 Shake - “Escapism”

Kesha - “Fine Line”

Zach Bryan feat. Maggie Rogers - “Dawns”

Gracie Abrams - “Full machine”

Kelly Clarkson - “mine”

Charlie Puth feat. Dan + Shay and Sabrina Carpenter - “That’s Not How This Works”

Kelsea Ballerini - “How Do I Do This”

Taylor Swift - “Is It Over Now?”

Maisie Peters - “BSC”

Knox - “Not The 1975”

Paul Russell - “Lil Boo Thang”

Olivia Rodrigo - “bad idea right?”

Charli XCX - “Speed Drive”

Chappell Roan - “Red Wine Supernova”

Post Malone - “Mourning”

Griff - “Vertigo”

Miley Cyrus - “Used To Be Young”

Diplo feat. Jessie Murph and Polo G - “Heartbroken”

Blake Rose - “Don’t Stop the Car”

The Revivalists - “Kid”

Jenna Raine - “Crickets”

Wild Rivers - “Thinking ‘Bout Love”

Taylor Swift - “Now That We Don’t Talk”

Selena Gomez - “Single Soon”

Tate McRae - “exes”

Dua Lipa - “Dance The Night”

Todrick Hall - “You Got This”

Wednesday, January 4, 2023

GL.22.17: Desa Warner

100 SONGS: Aaron Bergstrom
GL.22.01: Ilana Bergstrom
GL.22.02: Isabel Vermaak
GL.22.03: Dionicio Solano
GL.22.04: Tony Schoenberg
GL.22.05: Curt Trnka
GL.22.06: Scott Lawson
GL.22.07: Remko Van Knippenberg
GL.22.08: Megan Swidler
GL.22.09: Jem Stirling
GL.22.10: Russell Abdo
GL.22.11: Erik Kristjanson
GL.22.12: Marisa Plaice
GL.22.13: Lukas Brooks
GL.22.14: Quan Nguyen
GL.22.15: Max Einstein
GL.22.16: Dillon North

GL.22.17: DESA WARNER

GL.22.18: Ryan Joyce

GL.22.19: Shay Corbett

GL.22.20: Cecilia Tang

GL.22.21: Carl Anderson

***

2022 marks 10 years of Guest Lists by me. Although the archive shows lists dating back to 2013, I know there was an original pre-Spotify list that included Fiona Apple's cover of "Pure Imagination" from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory somewhere out there … [Ed. Note: Here.]

Looking back on the past 10 years of cultivating lists of my favorite songs and pretending I have relevant opinions on music, I have one important thing to say: THANK YOU AARON.

Your love of music has changed the way I listen. Instead of defaulting to 90s hip hop and country jams (like I would have inevitably done for the past decade), I pay attention, seek out new music, look for those little gems that I play obsessively until I know all the words. And by collaborating with my two besties over the past few years on our list, the search for new music has become social.

Beginning in January each year, I create a new working list where I dump every new song I hear that catches my attention. The very best ones I send out to Katie and Kellen. These become our living room dance party songs throughout the year. We have begun to speak the same song language. At one point this year I remember saying, "I think Cate's Brother is 2022's Harry," which is a sentence only Katie and Kellen could understand as a reference to our unanimous instant infatuation with Kelsy Karter & the Heroine's 2019 song on our Guest List that year. Then, in November, we create a collaborative list with all our contenders for the year (this year's resulted in about 10 hours of new music), that I listen to for about a month before starting to narrow down the selections. December is marked with group texts about how hard it will be to decide which Taylor, Maisie, or Miranda song to pick (such agony!) and about discoveries of even more new music. Once our top picks are in place, the Guest List becomes our go-to soundtrack for the next year and the cycle begins again.

Aaron, your call for Guest Lists also gives me a chance to stop and reflect on what my year has been like, and think about whether I can analogize what is happening in the world or my world with the songs on the list (Is "Becky's So Hot" a metaphor for 2022??). I don't do that enough. But I'm doing it right now and it adds value to my year, each year, for 10 years now.

Your essay this year is about finding the balance between ignorant bliss and soul-crushing reality, and your conclusion is that you don't have to choose. It's eloquent, poignant, and well-written (as always), but I have to disagree in part with the conclusion. No, you don't have to pick sides between ignoring the world's hurt and giving into its darkness, but you do have to decide to do something -- to look for the brightness in the debris clouded sky; to listen for a sweet melody created from a screaming soul; to search for new in the old and overplayed; or to answer a friend's call to compile lists of songs that can, over time, change the way you take in the world. I'm grateful you asked and I'm glad I chose to answer.

Thank you, Aaron. Until next year.

- Desa Warner

Desa, Katie, and Kellen's 2022 Guest List

(aka Midnights and some other stuff)

“Bejeweled“ - Taylor Swift

“Cate's Brother“ - Maise Peters

“Becky's So Hot“ - FLETCHER

“emails i can't send“ - Sabrina Carpenter

“Blue“ - Ingrid Andress

“Virginia (Wind In The Night)“ - The Head And The Heart

“Matilda“ - Harry Styles

“Stealing Dark from the Night Sky“ - Arlo McKinley

“complex (demo)“ - Katie Gregson-MacLeod

“HEARTFIRST“ - Kelsea Ballerini

“Circles Around This Town“ - Maren Morris

“Change the Locks“ - King Princess

“My Kink is Karma“ - Chappell Roan

“Want Want“ - Maggie Rogers

“Not Another Rockstar“ - Maise Peters

“Breakfast“ - Dove Cameron

“Jaws“ - Lights

“Beach House“ - Carly Rae Jepsen

“i'm too pretty for this“ - Claire Rosinkranz

“Burning“ - Yeah Yeah Yeahs

“Part of the Band“ - The 1975

“Orange Juice“ - Noah Kahan

“Now You Know“ - Anais Mitchell

“Sweet Symphony“ - Joy Oladokun with Chris Stapleton

“College Town“ - Hailey Whitters

“Strange“ - Miranda Lambert

“Grace“ - Brooke Alexx

“Dance Around It“ - Lucius feat. Brandi Carlile and Sheryl Crow

“About Damn Time“ - Lizzo

“You're On Your Own Kid“ - Taylor Swift