A simple playlist for all the loving mothers out there
My mom has always had the biggest influence on my love and taste for music. I can still remember vividly being so little, sitting in the backseat of her early 2000s Kia Sportage as she drove to places I used to think were so far away in a Manila—I thought was 10 times bigger than it really is.
Apple had just released the iPod Classic, and I recall being so enthused by it (to be honest, I still am). On these roadtrip-like rides to what I know now was just Alabang, my mom would blast songs whose meaning I didn’t truly understand, but of which I grew incredibly fond.
She introduced me to some of my biggest musical inspirations, the most prominent to me being Sade. Songs like “Runaway” by The Corrs and “I Don’t Want to Wait” by Paula Cole now always transform me into being a small, wide-eyed girl all over again. The sound trip during the ride was something I always looked forward to, it being the saving grace that countered the dreadful motion sickness I’ve had since then. This has carried on for me throughout the years, as there is always something so therapeutic about putting on your favorite playlist in the car amid the chaos of Manila traffic.
Just a few years ago, in 2019, I curated a playlist of exactly those songs my mom would play while we made our way around the metro. It was the longing of being that child once again that must have urged me to do so. Around this time, I technically “moved out” of my mom’s house, having lived with her all my life, and now into my dad’s. It wasn’t a big move really, they live only a few cities away, but no amount of distance from your mother is ever easy to adjust to. This playlist has become a sonic collection of our best memories suspended in time, an object that bonds my mom and me forever.
When I listen to ‘Rain’ by Madonna, I always remember sitting on the couch next to my mom as we watch the music video on CD while it drizzles outside. It’s the maternal comfort that echoes all around me like a reassuring embrace, something that always makes me feel home.
When I listen to “Rain” by Madonna, I always remember sitting on the couch next to my mom as we watched the music video on CD while it drizzled outside. Cocosuma’s “(Tapping) The Source” reminds me of those nights my mom would put on soft music to help us go to sleep, the warm glow of the lava lamp resembling a sunset. It’s the maternal comfort that echoes all around me like a reassuring embrace, something that always makes me feel home. It still amazes me how certain melodies can trigger within us a sense of nostalgia, how we all have our own unique emotional response to them, somewhat making songs listened to by millions our very own.
As we get older, we sometimes get too fixated on changes and new experiences that we forget that our parents are getting older too. Mother’s Day is a reminder for us to take a step back and remember where we came from and how we’ve become the people we are today.
For a lot of us, our mothers are our biggest supporters, watching us proudly from the sidelines as we grow into our own. And simply to be present and to bond with them in little ways, while we still can, could be the greatest expression of love and gratitude we can give in return.