What’s Playing in the Studio: Daring to Stay Soft

Step into What’s Playing in the Studio, my playful music check-in—part experiment, part time capsule, and all about the joy of sharing what’s on repeat. This one is the soft / low-stimulation side of the menu—pretty, moody, lyrics-forward comfort listening with a tender edge. What this post is A tight little menu for soft comfort + tender ache + melodrama-as-release. Pick a section, press play, and let it be what it is. Content note Low-stim, lyrics-forward comfort. Nothing heavy, just “feel your feelings” music. Full projects (listen front-to-back) Whole-world albums: Extraordinary Machine — Fiona Apple (bright-messy comfort) The Idler Wheel… — Fiona Apple (raw + grounding) Melodrama — Lorde (big-feelings theatre) Chris — Christine and the Queens (glitter melancholy) MAGDALENE — FKA twigs (holy-body ache) Six mini-playlists Some sections are short on purpose. This is a menu, not homework. 1) Ground — low light, slow breath Sea of Love — Cat Power Be Gentle With Me — The Boy Least Likely To I Love You Always Forever — Donna Lewis By Your Side — Sade Vienna — Billy Joel I Feel It All — Feist First Day of My Life — Bright Eyes Every Single Night — Fiona Apple Anything We Want — Fiona Apple Paper Bag — Fiona Apple 2) Tender spiral — indie ache, safely contained Chinese New Year — SALES Needs — Verzache If She Wants Me — Belle and Sebastian Get Me Away From Here, I'm Dying — Belle and Sebastian Does He Love You? — Rilo Kiley Werewolf — Fiona Apple Regret — Fiona Apple Jonathan — Fiona Apple 3) Cry pretty — melodrama with a backbone Sober II (Melodrama) — Lorde Writer In The Dark — Lorde Liability — Lorde Supercut — Lorde Kiss of Life — Sade No Ordinary Love (Recorded at RAK Studios, London) — Christine and the Queens People, I've been sad — Christine and the Queens Tilted — Christine and the Queens 4) Float — numb, blank, autopilot alone — WILLOW Born Tired — Jhené Aiko Palace — Tora-i Ophiuchus — Bairi unavailable — Joey LaBeija Miss Understood — Monaleo Sertraline Gang — Trannieb0i, Shurk Let Me Go — Ogi Pale September — Fiona Apple 5) Body electricity — tender feral catharsis cellophane — FKA twigs home with you — FKA twigs mary magdalene — FKA twigs Meet Me At Our Spot — THE ANXIETY, WILLOW, Tyler Cole LIE LIE LIE! — SadBoi JD's REVENGE — Jean Deaux Back 2 You — Jean Deaux My Bad, My Fault — clothegod 6) Loud-soft girls — queer indie-pop comfort You're a Lot — SISTRA new friends — flowerovlove Can we talk about isaac? — Rachel Chinouriri Down to be wrong — HAIM Everybody's trying to figure me out — HAIM Smooth Operator — Sade Heels — Sir Babygirl Over You — HOLYCHILD I Know A Place — MUNA Crying On The Bathroom Floor — MUNA Eyes of a child — Christine and the Queens Track stats (because I’m nosy) Total recs: 54 tracks + 5 full projects Artists (songs): 25 (ish) Repeat offenders (top): Fiona (9), Christine (5), Lorde (5), twigs (4), Sade (3) Genre swirl (rough, overlapping): art-pop, indie pop/rock, alt-R&B, singer-songwriter, electronic Vibe spread:low-stim comforttender achebig-feelings theatrefloaty numbnesscatharsis Your turn Drop 1 “soft side” track you’ve been replaying (or a full album you live inside) — Atila Martin Blog: atilacore.pckt.blog Bluesky: atilacore.bsky.social Contact: atilacore.pckt.blog@gmail.com