The Tab’s Easter Term Playlist

Exam term is officially in full swing, revision supervisions are happening, and coffee consumption is at an all-time high. But fear not! May Week is on a sunny horizon, and there's only a month or so before we can all let loose. Before that glorious time comes, why not let your hair down with another Official Tab Playlist, filled with feel-good tunes, relaxing classics and a soundtrack to make you feel less guilty about procrastinating. As always, I'll pop the link here and at the bottom of the article, and you can follow by searching us @thetabcambridge on Spotify.

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The playlist begins with one of my all-time favourites: Lorde, and her blissful track 'Supercut' taken from Melodrama. Bittersweet, romantic AF and a general banger, this one kicks off the playlist with a bang. Next up is a track from what I think is one of the best albums of the year so far: Nilufer Yanya's 'Heat Rises', taken off her debut Miss Universe. I love Yanya's voice, and this one mixes it with a warm, fuzzy sound before the drums kick in – one to dance to in your room.

So I was recently very pleasantly surprised to find Spotify telling me that finally Beyoncé had released her masterpiece Lemonade on their platform, and quite frankly I can only thank her for brilliant timing. I've included the penultimate track on the album, 'All Night' on the playlist for its hopeful, loving and simply hopeful feel. In a different relaxing way, Ella Fitzgerald's 'Bewitched, Bothered, And Bewildered' is one of the perfect revision songs – it's beautiful, silken and transports you into a love-struck other world.

There are a couple of warmer instrumental tracks here to get you in the zone as well. There's some Bonobo, with his cyclical 'Kerala', a bit of Gold Panda's wonderful nostalgia with 'In My Car', and one of my favourites from the playlist, 'Two Thousand And Seventeen' by Four Tet, which shuffles along for a bit before blossoming out with a cluster of heavenly plucked strings.

Later on we have some funky pieces courtesy of Tiara Thomas and Maxwell. Thomas' 'Mary Jane' is a strutting ode to being 'turned out by Mary Jane', featuring some quality advice: 'Don't ask me no complicated questions when you know I'm high'. Maxwell's 'Ascension (Don't Ever Wonder)' is a much sexier joint, with that classic falsetto imitating a 'wooing' guitar in the beginning before he drops down to invite us into his world.

I've been really getting back into Eurythmics lately, and I will fight anyone who tries to convince me that 'Love Is A Stranger' isn't a banger for the ages. Annie Lennox is a legend, and the music video for this synthy bop shows her off in all her androgynous splendour – it's queer, it's fabulous and it's classic. On the vein of queer pop, I've included the opener to Troy Sivan's album Bloom, 'Seventeen'. It's an honest and open track about finding sexuality as an LGBT+ youth, and also just a very very sweet song.

The playlist ends with a couple of solid dance tracks. SBTRKT's 'Problem (Solved)' starts off sounding as if it might be a bit sinister, before off-beat piano chords burst into the fore and Jessie Ware's gentle vocals slide in perfectly behind the glee. Finally, Jamie XX's 'Hold Tight' is a masterclass in building a song up from a quiet promise of movement to a glowing crescendo. Perhaps a glimpse of the summery May Ball nights nearly within our grasp?…

Well that concludes it for this newest playlist! I hope you all like this one and that it can provide some much needed relief from the stresses of exam term. Remember, look after yourself this Easter term, don't work yourself into the ground, and take some time out to keep yourself bright, cheery and above all healthy!

Get listening, and good luck for the coming weeks! xx

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