Life OST

Moving to SF was a pretty mellow experience — I had 6 months to prepare for it, and this was going to be my 'health and lock-in era' anyways. Though I underestimated how cold the wind chill would be, the city ultimately welcomed me with its colorful sunshine energy. I found myself dressing in brighter colors and quirkier patterns to match it.

This album was the first time I’d heard music created out of spoken word poetry. It was also the first time I experienced AI used intentionally in a way that completed the music, rather than devalued it. My friend Bernardo showed me this song the first time I met him, and I was fascinated then by the lyrics “The head hurts but the heart knows the truth”. I think it Changed me a little bit.

I used to take early morning, sleep deprived subway commutes to Round K for my Sunday barista shifts. As tired as I was, I treasured those mornings when I’d be the one to open cafe and had the whole space to myself for a few hours. I’d prep what needed to be prepped, practice my latte art a couple times, and wait, watching as chinatown gradually awoke.

A hinge date in the winter of 2023 made me a playlist “for olivia” of songs he thought I might like. I didn’t end up liking the first one but he made another as a retry and it had a few gems, like this one. I never saw the guy again but I can’t deny how long this song has stayed with me - somehow it reminds me both of Brooklyn and melancholy drives at home in Texas.

Saudade is the Portuguese word for the profound feeling of nostalgia and longing you experience for something or someone that once was, often described as "the love that remains". This song put me on Maro who was my most listened to artist in 2023. I saw her live eventually in 2025 as my first concert in SF.

My first apartment in New York was the flex of a unit in Lenox Hill with Flo, who had been my roommate for 5 years at that point. My room was barely a room, separated from the kitchen only by a 'wall' that didn't go all the way to the ceiling (the building insisted there had to be a space for fire emergencies), but I had a lot of shelf space and wonderful natural lighting, and I was growing my first fine collection of plants.

During COVID, I spend most of my time in my childhood bedroom in Allen, Texas, with my own thoughts, and (re)discovering hobbies and my love for art and music. I became obsessed with guitar and found this song from a guitar tutorial on Youtube. It then became one of the first riffs I ever learned.

I used to listen to this on every plane ride especially in freshman and sophomore year of college. Now, it brings me back to the trips I’d make to Shenzhen to visit relatives. When I was younger, we’d all go as a family but once I was in high school and especially after I went to college, I started making the trip myself. I still remember how I felt like such a big girl the first time I walked through Customs alone.

I had a k-indie phase in high school when all I'd listen to were these super chill lofi beat instrumentals. They were great for studying but sadly not super memorable. Most of the artists in my playlists from then had names that consisted of a few numbers and randomly capitalized letters. Looking back, I think my music taste then was heavily motivated by the desire to be cool and fit in with my friends.

According to my sister, I first heard this song when I was but a wee child and we were watching the chinese drama this is an OST for（仙剑奇侠传三 from the TV at my grandparent’s place). I have no recollection of watching the drama, but this song must’ve ingrained in my memory because when I rediscovered it again in high school, I knew it was good and very special.

Oh, the way Taylor altered the brain chemistry of the American teenage girl in the 2010s! A core memory of mine is watching the music video for this from the old monitor in our media room back at home in Texas. I was starstruck then. How wonderful and free she is!

There was a series of summers when I would unfailingly spend a week at CYLC (Chinese Youth Leadership Camp), which was an astounding local cultural phenomenon in that 90% of Chinese American kids in the DFW area probably attended it at some point. My 2nd year at this camp, I watched the older guy counselors perform a roguish rendition of this song in the cafeteria, and it henceforth became an iconic karaoke song for me.

This is one of my earliest memories: I had just had a peanut butter sandwich while watching Phineas and Ferb on the TV. I am laying in my parent's bed in my childhood home before an afternoon nap, listening to this song and slowly dozing off awash in the soft green lighting of their bedroom. Life was good.