What Elite Daily’s Writer Is Listening To Over Thanksgiving Weekend

The Thanksgiving weekend is a much-needed break from the stresses of school and work. Even though you may be working in the kitchen to get Friendsgiving dinner ready for you and your besties, it’s still time off to relax, eat some pie, and listen to your favorite tunes.

Each moment of Thanksgiving break deserves its own soundtrack. For instance, you’re probably not listening to Sabrina Carpenter’s NSFW “Bed Chem” while chilling with your grandma. (Unless, of course, granny is also a Carpenter.) You might also switch out the slow, melancholy songs when trying to hype yourself up for Black Friday shopping. After all, the right songs can truly make or break a situation.

As Elite Daily’s Experiences Writer, who covers everything from Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour to Sabrina Carpenter’s Short N’ Sweet pop-ups and used to host a podcast about mixtapes, I always have my Spotify going. Give me a vibe and a genre, and I can curate the perfect playlist for you.

So for every Thanksgiving weekend activity you might have planned, here’s what you should be listening to.

For Nostalgia Vibes The Day Before Thanksgiving

The day before Thanksgiving (known as “Blackout Wednesday”) is when most people return to their hometowns and reunite with their high school besties. The night is full of nostalgia and you may even be looking up your high school crush to see what their relationship status is now.

For those in-your-feelings moments, you definitely need a playlist with Swift’s “‘tis the damn season” at the forefront. In the liner notes for the song, Swift says it’s about “what happens when she comes back for the holidays and rediscovers an old flame.” To fill in the rest of the playlist, add Swift’s squad and singer-songwriter songs with belt-worthy moments.

• Taylor Swift “‘tis the damn season”
• Gracie Abrams — “I Love You, I’m Sorry”
• Sabrina Carpenter — “Slim Pickins”
• Noah Kahan — “Stick Season”
• Olivia Rodrigo — “drivers license”

For Dancing In The Kitchen While Cooking

The kitchen can be a hectic place on the morning of Thanksgiving, depending on your plans. However, you can lighten the mood with some upbeat pop songs that make you want to dance around while basting the turkey. For this, I recommend songs that sound like TikTok’s remix of Ethel Cain’s “Sun Bleached Flies” with Robyn’s “Dancing On My Own,” like Charli XCX’s “Girl, so confusing” and Ariana Grande’s “we can’t be friends (wait for your love)”.

• Charli XCX — “Girl, so confusing”
• Ariana Grande — “we can’t be friends (wait for your love)”
• Carly Rae Jepsen — “Run Away With Me”
• Taylor Swift — “New Romantics (Taylor’s Version)”
• Chappell Roan — “Good Luck, Babe!”

For Lightening The Mood With Some Comedy

Sometimes, you don’t want to dance while cooking or you just need something playing in the background to liven up the party before it really gets started. To get everyone in a good mood, you need a podcast that’ll have them laughing. Brooke & Connor Make A Podcast with Brooke Averick and Connor Wood as well as The Lonely Island and Seth Meyers Podcast always makes me LOL. If you’re a fan of Therapuss with Jake Shane, add his new comedy album Puss & Poems to the lineup.

• Brooke and Connor Make A Podcast
• The Lonely Island and Seth Meyers Podcast
• Best Friends with Nicole Byer and Sasheer Zamata
• Happy Wife Happy Life with Kendahl Landreth and Jordan Myrick
• Therapuss with Jake Shane

For Getting Into The Holiday Spirit

Once Thanksgiving is over, you can focus fully on the December holidays. Festive tunes and Christmas music are on repeat all weekend as I get into the spirit of the season. I’ll be bumping to Sabrina Carpenter’s Fruitcake, while adding other Christmas songs from my pop girlies like Taylor Swift and Ariana Grande, plus holiday versions of BTS songs.

• Sabrina Carpenter — “A Nonsense Christmas”
• Taylor Swift — “Christmas Tree Farm”
• Britney Spears — “My Only Wish (This Year)”
• Ariana Grande — “Santa Tell Me”
• BTS — “Butter (Holiday Remix)”

For Peeps Who Love To Watch Movies After Dinner

In my family, it’s a Thanksgiving tradition to go see a movie after dinner. If you’re doing the same, this year, you could make it a “Glicked” double feature with Wicked and Gladiator 2. Afterward, you’ll likely want to listen to the Wicked soundtrack nonstop. (That’s what I’ve been doing, at least.) You could even try learning the dance from “What Is This Feeling?” like TikTokers are doing.

• “Defying Gravity”
• “The Wizard And I”
• “Popular”
• “Dancing Through Life”
• “What Is This Feeling?”

For Getting In The Mood To Shop On Black Friday

Swifties planning to get The Eras Tour Book from Target on Black Friday need some pump-up music for waiting in line and shopping in store. For an adrenaline rush, I suggest fast tracks like Rosé and Bruno Mars’ “Apt.” and Lady Gaga’s “Disease.”

• Rosé and Bruno Mars — “Apt.”
• Lady Gaga — “Disease”
• Jin — “Running Wild”
• Chappell Roan — “Hot To Go!”
• Dua Lipa — “Houdini”

For Chill Post-Turkey Relaxing At Home

Chowing down on turkey and pie makes me want to take a nap, so for those post-dinner chill vibes, you need a calming playlist. Any slow tunes from singer-songwriters like Kacey Musgraves and Noah Kahan will do, but you can also include some jazz and R&B.

• Kacey Musgraves — “Deeper Well”
• Noah Kahan — “You’re Gonna Go Far”
• Laufey — “From The Start”
• V — “Love Me Again”
• Kendrick Lamar featuring SZA — “Luther”

For Friendsgiving With Your Chronically Online Besties

Perhaps you’re getting together with your best friends for a Friendsgiving instead of hanging with the fam this year. After all, in the clurb, we all fam, right? For a fun night in with your besties, you need a playlist full of the hits taking over TikTok.

• Gracie Abrams — “That’s So True”
• GloRilla featuring Sexyy Red — “WHATCHU KNO ABOUT ME”
• Beyoncé — “Diva”
• Addison Rae — “Diet Pepsi”
• Connor Price and Haviah Mighty — “Trendsetter”