What do the DJ’s of KJHK listen when they want to say “nuts” to love? Find out below, as we collected the responses of over 15 Executive and DJ Staff talk about their “Singles Dance”! Stay tuned to Twitter and Social Media for the upcoming Spotify playlist link!
Name: Kyle Wernimont
Year at KU and Major: Junior, Secondary Education
DJ Shift or Position at KJHK: Content Director
Your “Singles Dance”: “NO FUN” by Joji: It’s no secret around KJHK how much I love the Youtube sensation-turned Lo-fi hip-hop darling George Miller aka Joji. I had been waiting for their newest album, “BALLADS 1” ever since the announcement and slew of dark and moody singles, and it did not disappoint. While there are songs on the record that grab my ear more at times, “NO FUN” has this summer-y, infectious, “screw everyone else, I’m gonna be me” vibe that everyone could use a little of every now and again. Joji doesn’t want to be left alone, but sees it as a situation to make the best of’. The song has an unusually hopeful vibe for Joji, and seeing him sing about being content is somewhat of a new lane for the budding artist. The vocal harmonies during the chorus and Joji’s demeanor make this song my number one go to when all I’d like to do is spend a day with one of my best friends: myself.
Youtube or other streaming link:
Name: Sasha Arteaga
Year at KU and Major: Junior, Music and English
DJ Shift or Position at KJHK: Tuesday 12-3am, Music Staff
Your “Singles Dance”: “Still Clean” by Soccer Mommy
I’m generally the kind of person that doesn’t care too much about Valentine’s Day either way.
Youtube or other streaming link:
Name: Cole Billings
Year at KU and Major: Freshman, Film & Media Studies
DJ Shift or Position at KJHK: Wednesday 3-6
Your “Singles Dance”: “Back When I Was 4” by Jeffrey Lewis: A song that goes through the ages of a fictional Jeffrey, it creates a full circle of love, despair, being young and naive, losing your loved ones, and more in a track which spans over 128 years in just under 5 minutes. A true folk tale indeed, Jeffrey Lewis’ opening track to “It’s the Ones Who’ve Cracked That the Light Shines Through” gives you all the emotions you would expect to feel on a lonely valentine’s day. (But don’t worry, you’ll never be truly alone if you have some good tunes to listen to)
Youtube or other streaming link:
Name: Jaya Chakka
Year at KU and Major: Sophomore, Behavioral Neuroscience / Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology
DJ Shift or Position at KJHK: Music Staffer, Rotation DJ
Your “Singles Dance”: “It’s Too Late” by Wild Belle: Relationships can be great, but this isn’t necessarily the case — especially when one person is more emotionally invested than the other. “It’s Too Late” is a punchy song about ditching someone who isn’t treating you right and recognizing your own worth. On top of its empowering message, the song is also a total bop. It’s full of catchy synth bass lines and gritty saxophone solos, which make a surprisingly killer combination. The lyrics might be a little cynical, but this tune is a great reminder that being alone on Valentine’s Day isn’t all that bad.
Youtube or other streaming link:
Name: Caroline McCone
Year at KU and Major: Freshman, Journalism
DJ Shift or Position at KJHK: Music Staffer
Your “Singles Dance”: “Green Eyes” by Wavves: Anxiety knows no name on the topic of relationships; friends, families and partners alike supply some of the most foreboding and intense anxiety there is to give. Although, the brighter side about it is the equally joyous feeling of not really caring about it. “Green Eyes” by Wavves is a rock song that creates a contrast through some mildly depressing lyrics behind an exciting, messy track as frontman Nathan Williams can’t decide between yelling or singing the entire song. In fact, the instrumental doesn’t know whether it should be calm or intense as well. The song’s “I’m afraid all my friends hate me but I don’t really care” and “I think I’m in love but I don’t want to be” attitude is something I’m able to relate to! Although, I’m also too busy being distracted by the insane rhythm of distorted guitars and booming bass to genuinely acknowledge how upsetting the words could be. This song is my go-to single’s song since it embodies one of my favorite pass-times; driving alone late at night with that bliss that I don’t care what anybody thinks.
Youtube or other streaming link:
Name: Miranda Roberts
Year at KU and Major: Junior, Marketing
DJ Shift or Position at KJHK: Music Director, Hickory Wind
Your “Singles Dance”: “O.M.G. (I’m All Over It) by Jenn Champion: We all remember how great Valentines Day was as a kid ‒ endless candy, in-class parties, valentines from your crush. With age comes cynicism, and we now understand this holiday isn’t built on love, but on consumerism. Whether you are single or not, I think a night of dancing is preferable over waiting hours for a table at a restaurant full of PDA. So table those dinner plans and queue up some Jenn Champion. “O.M.G. (I’m All Over It)” is the perfect song for boycotting corporate America’s day of love. She sings, “I don’t wanna fall in love tonight” and that instead, “We’re gonna dance all night.” Hope your 14th is full of furious dancing!
Youtube or other streaming link:
Name: Deegan Poores
Year at KU and Major: Junior, Political Science
DJ Shift or Position at KJHK: Music Staff, For the Record
Your “Singles Dance”: “Pretty Wings – uncut” by Maxwell: A long term relationship I was in ended last fall, so this will be my first Valentine’s Day without a significant other in two years. I’ve been getting heavily into Maxwell over the past year or so, and “Pretty Wings” was an immediate stand-out for me from his 2009 album BLACKsummer’snight. He described the song as being about “meeting the right girl at the wrong time,” and for me that wasn’t the case. We were the right person at the right time for each other for roughly a year, with a year of not wanting to let go of that feeling, even though I realize now that it would have been much better for the both of us if we had. These past few months have been rough, but I have grown so much as a person during that time. I have learned so much about self love and taking care of myself. I have learned so much about discovering areas of myself I didn’t know about and finding worth in myself again. I have learned so much about being able to love someone and knowing that it’s best to not be with them. She has been in another long term relationship since then, and while it hurt for a long time, I’m at a place right now where I feel incredibly happy for her. I’m so glad that she’s able to create memories with this person, and that she’s found the right person for her for this time. I have a lot of ways to grow as a person still, but I’m excited to discover and understand more about myself than I ever have before. It’s still hard at times, and this Valentine’s Day will be difficult, without the romantic dinner and being able to gaze into someone I love’s eyes. However, listening to the vibrant and consoling sound of Maxwell’s “Pretty Wings” on repeat right now reminds me that I’m in a place that I’m more than happy with, and that love for oneself and being able to forgive are incredibly important.
Youtube or other streaming link:
Name: Lily Swanson
Year at KU and Major: Freshman, Film and “Media Studies” (whatever that means)
DJ Shift or Position at KJHK: Saturdays 3:00pm – 6:00pm
Your “Singles Dance”: “Save A Prayer” by Duran Duran
This underrated 80’s gem had your mom in tears.
They smelled like a sound. They were lost. They were found. They were—Duran Duran.
Though their debut album had been well received, they were still very much a group of Bowie wannabes, in the strain of more established acts like Japan. But with the release of Rio in 1982, Duran came the closest they ever would to having a sound of their own. The only slow track on an album with a powerful, driving beat, “Save A Prayer” has been proven to make angels cry.
The track whisks its listener away to a tropical paradise, where twenty-somethings in oversized white suits stare dramatically into open widows, or sit in trees playing guitar to elephants. If you can get past the pretty-boy facade, Nick Rhodes shows off some reasonably innovative synth, and John Taylor, as always, lays down the chillest goddamn baseline you’ve ever heard.
“But Lily!” you say, your stupid face looking up at me, “If you really want something to listen to when you’re lonely on Valentine’s Day, why not ‘Ordinary World’?”
Look here bucko:
“Ordinary World” is 90’s alt-pop trash, albeit, with an iconic guitar solo. But Save A Prayer is a romantic journey into nothing, emblematic of an era we will never live down, and do not deserve to. Now if you don’t mind, I’m gonna go snap on a fanny pack and burn all my scrunchies.
(I would also like to take this time to posit that Def Leppard is terrible, and does not deserve to be nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Thank you.)
Youtube or other streaming link:
Name: Dylan Fox
Year at KU and Major: Senior; Double Major in Political Science and Strategic Communications
DJ Shift or Position at KJHK: Community Engagement Director
Your “Singles Dance”: “The Last Dance,” by Trisomie 21: From Lille, France, Trisomie 21 is a dark/cold wave group from the early ‘80s that hit a resurgence in popularity sometime this decade when more of their material surfaced in anglo-centric music blogs. More notably, this song arose accompanied by footage from a new wave club called Chabiens 777 in 1986. The song is drowned in delay and soaked in a reverb that warbles the moaning vocals. Each gated snare hit cuts into a broad, dejected songscape and punctuates the chuckling, chorus-spinning bass. This is a song for singles, or more particularly, for dancing alone. There is sort of perverse aura around the song that disqualifies it from parties. Like a cranky old hermit, it can no longer communicate what it feels is appropriate outside, instead, a bedroom will suffice.
Youtube or other streaming link:
Name: Fabian Rosales
Year at KU and Major: Freshmen, Journalism: News and Info/ Film and Media Studies
DJ Shift or Position at KJHK: Wednesday 12am-3am
Your “Singles Dance”: “Bruise,” by Ryan Beatty: “Bruise” released with the album “Boy in Jeans” in on July 20th, 2018. This song is a good representation of forbidden love. Beatty sings about him going to a school dance with his girlfriend. While his girlfriend was in the bathroom he was in the bathroom kissing a boy. He sings about how guilty he felt, but also how much he misses the boy. He experienced his first love. In the chorus he sings how he wished he could’ve had danced with him instead.
Youtube or other streaming link:
Name: Patrick Kennedy
Year at KU and Major: Senior, Geography
DJ Shift or Position at KJHK: Co Music Director & Cohost of The Big Sad™
Your “Singles Dance”: Emo bands have no shortage of songs about relationships, and while I’ve been a fan of the genre long enough to know that there are some pretty terrible takes / lyrics, there’s also some great albums that explore subject. My favorite of which at the moment has to be the album Hard Feelings by Future Teens. I’d add the whole album to this playlist if I could, but the song I think fits best is “In Love or Whatever.” I think in the context of the album the song is supposed to be about how using relationships to try to cover up your insecurities only leads to awkwardness and frustration, but that’s just my take!! My other take is that this song undoubtedly slaps.
Youtube or other streaming link:
Name: Bailey Tredway
Year at KU and Major: Sophomore, Photography
DJ Shift or Position at KJHK: Thursday 12am-3am, music staff
Your “Singles Dance”: “Not My Baby” by Alvvays: During Valentine’s Day, people who are single often feel unsatisfied while the concept of love and a relationship is glorified around them, and the perks of being single are often forgotten. However, in “Not My Baby,” Alvvays vocalist and guitarist Molly Rankin sings of just leaving a relationship and the benefits that come with it: going out because you want to, feeling no obligation to check your phone all the time, and finally not seeing the world through rose-tinted glasses. The song resonated a lot with me when I listened to Antisocialites almost religiously in 2018, and still does, especially with Valentine’s Day coming up. Not only is it a great jam (the whole album is), but it’s a wonderful reminder that being single can be great!
Youtube or other streaming link:
Name: Graham Wilhauk
Year at KU and Major: Freshman, English and Journalism (Strategic Communications)
DJ Shift or Position at KJHK: Music Staff
Your “Singles Dance”: “Changes” by David Bowie: Have you ever wanted to slow dance but you don’t have a significant other to dance with? If you feel this way, do you still want to move but also FEEL moved? If this is the case, you should make some ch-ch-ch-ch-changes in your playlist and add this classic right to the top! While other songs may talk about relationships and how they feel about them, David Bowie will just give you some advice to “turn and face the strange changes.” This is not really a song that will shatter you with its depressing and lonesome lyrics but it will instead have you feel like you are slow dancing into a counselor’s office. Sometimes the best advice comes from music and Bowie is definitely a master to learn from!
YouTube or other streaming link:
Name: Savannah Adams
Year at KU and Major: Senior, Microbiology
DJ Shift or Position at KJHK: Music Staff
Your “Singles Dance”: “Break My Stride” by Matthew Wilder: As an avid fan of the 80s, I have to throw in this independent banger. The song kind of sums up my take on being single around Valentines Day as “she said, ain’t nothing gonna break my stride, nobody gonna slow me down, I’ve got to keep on moving.” There’s sort of a pursuit here of the woman by the singer, but she lays it down straight and says hey dude, I’ve got stuff to pursue and I don’t want to put away time to get involved with you right now. And hey, who doesn’t need to invest in themselves from time to time?
Youtube or other streaming link:
Name: Claire Monroe
Year at KU and Major: Freshmen, Graphic Design
DJ Shift or Position at KJHK: 12-3pm on Fridays, Cool Math Games 6-7pm on Sundays
Your “Singles Dance”: “Only Friend” by Gouge Away: Okay, so not only is this a wonderful recommendation given to me from Pat Pat (PAtrick Kennedy), but La Dispute just announced that they are going on a tour with Gouge Away and Slow Mass (another goodgoodgood band that you should check out), and they are coming to the Granada on April 26th! I know that I will be there, and hopefully you will be too. This song is a great go-to for when I’m feeling bothered about the vicious turmoil of dating and the absolute disgrace of a holiday that we know of as Valentine’s Day. Okay, maybe I’m just jaded, but I know some of y’all are too. Anyway, let’s all put in our headphones of choice and crack some darn skulls this Valentine’s Day.
Youtube or other streaming link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJcs0vYnsDU
Name: Quinn Leyda
Year at KU and Major: Freshman, Anthropology / Latin American & Caribbean Studies
DJ Shift or Position at KJHK: Music Staff
Your “Singles Dance”: “Private Presley” – Peach Pit: “Private Presley” would probably not be anyone’s go-to song if they’re looking for something lyrically uplifting, but it is my go to whenever I need a pick-me-up. Sure, the song is about war and its ugly aftermath, but the buttery soft vocals and crisp guitar give it a soothing feel that is anything but sad. The feeling of pure euphoria that Christopher Vanderkooy’s ending guitar solo gives me is second to none, and playing the air guitar along with it makes me feel like an actual rockstar. What’s better than feeling like a rockstar on Valentine’s Day?
Youtube or other streaming link:
Name: Kade Schoenfeldt
Year at KU and Major: Freshman, Biology and Spanish
DJ Shift or Position at KJHK: Music Staff, DJ Sundays 10 AM – 1 PM
Your “Singles Dance”: “Near to the Wild Heart of Life” – Japandroids: When everyone is slow dancing to sappy love songs, it would be extremely liberating to jam to this song about being content with oneself and one’s decisions. The song chronicles the lead singer’s daring decision to move away from his hometown, and the debauchery and happiness he finds along the way. The lyrics and roaring chorus show someone who is experiencing growth and contentment besides being utterly alone in an unfamiliar place. This Valentine’s Day, you don’t need a partner to be “Near to the Wild Heart of Life.” It’s a scam of a holiday, anyway.
Youtube or other streaming link:
Name: Cami Koons
Year at KU and Major: Sophomore, Journalism and Film & Media
DJ Shift or Position at KJHK: Arts and Culture Director/Wed. Local Block
Your “Singles Dance”: “Pitou” by Les Louanges: I’m not sure what it is about French music, but it always makes me want to dance. Beyond the fact that it’s currently my favorite bop, it’s not specifically a single’s dance. I think I’d actually have a harder time finding a couples dance song. #menain’tsh*t.
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