Filled with summery guitar strums, pumping heartbeats, and warming vocals to heal your soul.

I’ve been hearing the phrase “inner child” a lot lately, because I’m no longer a child and instead am a teenager trapped in a woman’s body and somewhere in there is a child who got very lost on her walk home from school years ago and has been floating in the ether ever since. Apparently. 

It’s impossible to live in this world without some sort of suppression, most notorious, that of our inner selves. Art has always helped me understand the world and brought out any of my suppressed emotions. I rely deeply on art to help get me through the days. Most importantly, I rely on my Spotify playlists to help me make sense of my life and help me represent how I’m feeling at any current moment.

This playlist has been my recent endeavor into trying to understand how to heal myself from the inside out. 

“Rome” by Dojo Cuts

Soul guitar strumming over lyrics talking about wanting to remain in Rome in the summertime and forget everything else. This is the initial decent into self love. I want ignorance and bliss. I don’t want to confront the reality in front of me. 

“The Prettiest Thing” by Norah Jones

Norah Jones’ slow and moody jazz song fills me with tears. “The Prettiest Thing” is like looking at yourself in a mirror and seeing someone unrecognizable. It will lull you into a deep hibernation, and hopefully when you wake, you’ll realize that it isn’t you who is unrecognizable, but possibly the life you’ve led yourself toward. 

“Promises” by Cleo Sol

“Promises” is filled with beautiful glimmers and hypnotizing repetition. Cleo Sol’s choral vocals seem to lift listeners off the ground toward a bird’s eye view of their lives to see that somewhere along the way, they started to break their promises to themselves. It’s time to find those past promises and live up to them. 

“It’s Been a Little Heavy Lately” by Joesef

Things are getting heavy. At the end of the day, we’re all just children enjoying the earth. Living is hard work, but Joesef’s masterful production helps us groove our way out of stress. In your search for truth, remember to be light on your feet as you dance your way through life. 

“Woman” by Little Simz feat. Cleo Sol

“Woman to woman I just wanna see you glow.” You’re never in this world alone. 

“Show Me The Right” by NEIL FRANCES

I no longer want blissful ignorance in Rome in the summer. NEIL FRANCES provides us with the perfect sultry and speculative song to help listeners find what’s right and ditch what’s wrong. 

“Jaded” by Miley Cyrus

Hindsight can provide a lot of perspective. Miley Cyrus remind us that as the world got harsher, we blamed ourselves. We stopped protecting ourselves. She reminds us that hindsight provides clarity on the things that didn’t work out for us. Keep moving forward.

“PROBLEMZ” by Jungle

Another upbeat dance groove with a skipping flute motif that brings listeners out of their own funk. The entire last half of the song repeats the lines “If you want me now/Love me every moment,” while background vocals repeat the question “How you doin’?” This mantra like dance track reminds us to stay present and enjoy life at every moment, and to love ourselves equally through every moment.

“Rose in the Dark” by Cleo Sol

Cleo Sol once again reaches into our soul with smooth background vocals that sing “I had to grow the rose in the dark.” Sol’s groovy track blesses us and reminds us of roses that grow from concrete, in dark tunnels underground, and how they, too, could bloom in darkness.

“Golden” by Jill Scott

Wrapping up with Jill Scott’s top tack “Golden.” Scott energizes us with the energy of a thousand suns in this upbeat jazzy R&B track, and seals the deal on healing. 

If there’s one thing I’ve struggled to come to terms with, it’s that nothing in the human experience is linear. Life will always be up and down, but there are some ways to help ourselves through it and this playlist is one of them. Enjoy!

For these songs and more, check out my “Summer Soul Healing” playlist on Spotify: